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Who Says God Says?
Richard A. Rhem
Christ Community Church
Spring Lake, Michigan
July 25, 1993
Transcription of the spoken sermon
"…never again prophesy at Bethel, for it is the king's sanctuary, and it is a
temple of the kingdom." Amos 7:13
"Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing." Luke 4:21
Within the last couple of years we have had a guest at Christ Community; his
name is Niko Terlinda. He is a pastor in Amsterdam. He has an exciting ministry
there. He told of his experience of teaching the Bible at the public school.
Strangely enough, with the secularizing of that country that was so deeply imbued
in the Christian tradition, a minister like Terlinda would go to a public school and
tell Bible stories, not in order to evangelize the children, but simply to keep the
knowledge of the Biblical tradition alive. He tells about the day he told the story
of how God spoke to Amos, when a little nine-year-old raised his hand and said,
“Does God still say something?” As Terlinda noted to us, and as we so note this
morning, that really is a critical question. Does God still say something?
When I came out of seminary in 1960, within a year or two a friend of mine was
called to a sister congregation in the area and I was invited to preach the
ordination sermon. I took a text from one of the prophets. I am not sure just
which one. I can't remember the text, but I remember the sermon very, very well,
and I remember the point of the sermon. I said to this person about to assume a
ministry of the Word of God that, in the case of Jeremiah, the biblical prophet,
Jeremiah could say, “Thus saith the Lord.” But I said to my friend on the
threshold of being ordained into the ministry of the Word, “You can't say that.
What you must say is, ‘Thus hath the Lord said.’” Do you get the difference?
At that time, in the days of my youth, and days of my insecurity and
defensiveness, which I didn't really understand, I wanted every word that God
had ever spoken to be in this book. I wanted to have between the covers of this
book every revealed word, and it would be then from that mind that I would have
the Word, it would be given here, I could manage it, and I could proclaim it. I said
to my friend, “The biblical prophet said, ‘Thus saith the Lord,’ but you will be able
to say only, ‘Thus hath the Lord said.’” I was dead wrong. Somebody should have
come up and taken me by the ear and brought me home. Someone should have
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said to me, “Do you know what you have just done to this young minister? You
have absolutely shackled him. You have ruled out the possibility that God still
speaks. You have ruled out the possibility that there could still be today the
immediacy of God's address of God's people through the proclaimed word.”
Or in answer to the question of the little nine-year-old – "Does God still say
something?”– what I was saying in that message was, "No. God has spoken. God
speaks no more!" We have now to proclaim what once came to expression, but
there was always that indirectness, this truth at second hand. That was safe, and
it was manageable. But it was absolutely wrong. I don't know how long it took me
to figure that out. Thank God I realized at some point that God still speaks. While
this Word is a record of that encounter of God with God's people in the past, and
it becomes still the instrument through which God addresses God's people in the
present, it is the address of God's people in the present about which we are
concerned. We would hear the Word of God now, here and now, addressed to our
lives and our situation. But the moment one would make that claim someone is
going to say, "Who Says God Says?"
I suppose that could be your question. As I preach, you are responsible people,
thinking people, serious people. Sometimes I suppose the question must arise
over against what I am proclaiming: "Who Says God Says?" You know really the
idea of preaching, the conception of preaching in the Reformed tradition, is a
presumptuous idea. Calvin and Luther said that the proclaimed word becomes
the Word of God. In our tradition there is the Word of God written, the Word of
God in flesh, but also the preached Word. That is why the Word has been so
central. The proclaimed Word, the Word of God – that almost smacks of
arrogance to me. This Word, the Word of God – did you ever say, "Who Said God
Says?" Do you ever challenge that preached word? I suspect you do. I hope you
do. I think you ought to, because, as a matter of fact, I stand in the tradition of
Amos, and for that matter of Jesus.
Amos was a farmer, but he got a call one day and he went to the Northern
Kingdom of Israel and to the very royal court itself, and he proclaimed the word
of judgment against that Northern Kingdom and against Jeroboam the king to
the point at which the royal priest – (because every court also had its cadre of
priests because every wise political leader will do his or her best to co-opt the
Church, the messenger of God, so that there can be the union of throne and altar)
– Uzziah, the court priest, came out to this prickly prophet and said, “Go back
home. Earn your bread in Judah, but don't preach here any more.” Well, Amos
said, “Don't call me a professional prophet who earns his bread preaching. I'm
just a farmer. God took me, called me, and sent me to preach.”
But the dilemma. Amos, a man of passion and conviction. Without that no one
listens. Nothing happens. But Uzziah, he had his ordination too. He was a priest.
Maybe he was in it just for the prestige and the pay, or maybe he was a serious
priest of the God of Israel. I don't know, but I know he had a task to do too. As
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one who presided at the royal court, he encounters a prophet. This is not the only
instance of that conflict in Israel's history where the prophetic word was
expressed and the royal response countered it, and I suppose a case could be
made for Uzziah. Israel was at the height of its prosperity and who likes to have a
dour word, a negative word of judgment and critique spoken in the halls of power
where they are trying to keep everything moving positively. Jesus - if you had
been in Nazareth that day and Jesus whom you saw grow up went to the pulpit
and then came to the stool and sat down and said, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon
me. God has anointed me to… and to say this word has been fulfilled in your
presence.” What would you have thought? You see, it’s not so difficult to look
back on Israel's history in the 8th century BCE and to analyze the conflict between
Amos and Uzziah and say obviously Amos had a word from God (and as a matter
of fact, that word did eventuate).
It’s not so difficult for us who are the followers of Jesus to say the people in Jesus'
home synagogue in Nazareth were absolutely wrong. Not that they didn't
understand; the problem is they didn't like what they understood. So, if you don't
like the message, you kill the messenger. But, it wasn't so easy. They didn't really
have any basis on which to judge this one except he'd grown up in the corner
carpenter shop and they had heard some rumors about what he was doing in
Capernaum and neighboring areas. Some of the things he was doing were
unsettling. Then he has the audacity to sit in their midst in the synagogue and to
say, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me. I am anointed to preach.” Would you
have been ready to hear that word, which would have involved the tumbling of
the propositions of one's system of understanding? Or might you have gone to the
parlor and had brunch and said, “I don't know. ‘Who Says God Says?’”
Who Says God Says? That's not so easy, is it? That's not so easy for you because
you have to live with me. You know all the foibles and flaws of this preacher.
Then for twenty minutes on a given Sunday I sit on this stool and I say, “Thus
saith the Lord.” Well, you're not just subservient puppets that you should just sit
there and take it. Discern, test the spirits. But it's not so easy for me either. How
do I know? I know this. With the little bit I do know I begin to know how little I
know. Then I am supposed to say to you, God's people, “Thus saith the Lord.”
That's scary business. That's why I get a headache on Saturday. (Laughter) A
headache before and then one on Sunday afternoon after. Someone said to me
this week, “If I had your job I'd have a headache too.”
Who Says God Says? How in the world do we know? If there isn't passion and
conviction on the part of the messenger, the message will not be heeded. But if
there is a kind of absolutism and dogmatism, and authoritarianism in the
message, the message very naturally is going to be resisted, and rightly so. Who
Says God Says? It isn't simple. And I am not going to turn now to the typical
preacher’s trick of giving you six easy ways by which to know. My point is: It is
not that easy. It is not that simple.
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Richard A. Rhem
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I did talk to a friend of mine yesterday who gave me some help in order that I
could say something that maybe you could go out of here thinking about. He was
recently in England and Scotland and Ireland, and on the trip back from Ireland
to England they came into the harbor of Holy Head in Wales. It reminded him of
a story of an old preacher who had come into Holy Head Harbor in the dead of
night and the darkness was so thick that you could cut it with a knife. This
preacher said to the captain, “How in the world do you know that you are going to
sail into the harbor?” The captain said to him, “Do you see those three lights on
the horizon?” He said, “Yes.” He said, “When those three lights line up as one you
will sail into the middle of Holy Head Harbor.”
If we apply this, we could say on one hand there is that light of the tradition. We
are a people who have been shaped. We have come from a womb that has shaped
us and has implanted deeply within us, woven into the fabric of our being, certain
perceptions, a certain frame of reference, a sense of being. We do not disparage
that rock from which we have been hewn. We have a tradition. We are the
recipients of a great heritage, and that tradition has been written of, spoken of as
scriptures, and we have two thousand years of church history. We are Christians.
We are part of the God of Israel. Going back to the creation, we are a people who
believe in that one who created all things and who was revealed in the face of
Jesus Christ. We come out of a community that has spoken, that has affirmed
some things. So we do have some guidelines. We don't start out from square one,
with a blank slate as it were. But that one light isn't enough because it can then
simply be an external rule to which one would assent mentally but without
inward conviction. That inward conviction must also be there. How does that
inward conviction develop? What do you really believe? What do you really
believe? What would make you stand on your feet and be counted? What would
fill you with rage causing you to move into action? What would break your heart
and cause compassion to flow? What do you really believe?
I speak of my concrete truth. It’s one thing for me to say I am a part of this grand
tradition. It’s another thing for me to say, “This I believe. This I will die for. This I
will live for.” How does that come? Out of our experience? I suppose. Out of the
ongoing communion of the Spirit? God is not done speaking. God says something
still. Jesus said, “The Spirit will lead you into all truth.” Calvin said, “The internal
testimony of the Holy Spirit must confirm what the word or the tradition says to
us.” Somehow or other those things come together until finally I can take my
stand. I can say, “I believe.” So that is a second light.
Then, of course, the tradition has not issued to us in our present experience in a
vacuum. We live in a cultural context in a specific historical setting. As we said
last week, it’s a fascinating time in which to be alive – the knowledge that is
exploding all around us, the fantastic knowledge of the physical universe, of the
human person, of the movement of history, all of this that becomes accessible to
us so that in our own experience tried and true physical theories like that of
Newton are blown sky high. And instead we have quantum physics. We live in a
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cultural context that is alive with all kinds of knowledge that give us new insight.
So I have to take that which shaped me and that tradition in which I was
nurtured, and my experience…my experience of grace…of God…of my human
experience. Then I have to understand myself in this present time, this ongoing
human drama…my time. So our specific time, context, the influence of our
culture is a third light. But it is still not simple.
The Church historically has majored in absolutes. Some of the greatest problems
in the Church are the preachers who want to make it clear and simple, and who
need to be right. But there’s a problem in the pew also. The people would like to
have it simple and clear and tight. It isn’t simple and clear. It is complex, full of
ambiguity, and we cannot know. We cannot know absolutely. To know absolutely
is to deny the nature of our historical existence. And I don’t think the Church over
the centuries has done a favor to people to try to give that kind of security that
will remove all uneasiness and ambiguity from the human situation. In the
ongoing movement of the human drama we need to be open and alive and alert
and humble, and trusting that the Spirit of God will lead us into all truth, and that
underneath are everlasting arms and that God will move and that God's purposes
will be in ways beyond our wildest dreams. But the secret of that is not knowing,
but trusting. To be able to live with questions, all the time trusting the eternal
God who is the foundation, the God who holds the world in God's hand knowing
that there are yet more wonders to behold and dreams to dream and insights to
gain than have ever entered into the human heart. “We walk,” said Paul, “not by
knowledge but by faith.” For he said, “It has not entered into the heart of man to
dream the things that God has prepared for those that love God.” When we walk
by faith, when we trust God, then we can be open to the continuing surprises of
grace and the “aha!”
The Church still today, maybe today more than ever, is making all kinds of
absolute statements. In order to increase summer attendance we decided to add a
Sunday supplement to the bulletin. You've now got a comic strip. I would have
mentioned it earlier, but I didn't want to lose your attention. (Laughter) The little
comic strip on the last page would be funny if it weren't true. People like me have
stood before people like you and have said, “It is abundantly clear that...” and it’s
not. And you don't need to have it so clear, and so neat, all tied up in a little
package. One thing you need: to trust God. Trust God. People like me have
pandered to people like you, succumbed to the seduction of trying to be the font
of all knowledge and wisdom. Giving you answers where there were really only
questions, when what we should have been saying to you was, “On the one hand,
on the other, but nevertheless.” The foundation is solid. God is God, and you can
trust that!
Well sometime I'll be preaching along and I expect one of you will stand up in the
pew and say, “Who Says God Says?” And I'll say, “Time out. You're right,”
because dear friends I believe with all my heart and I preach with all the passion
of my soul, and I know some things. The thing I know more than all is that I don't
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Richard A. Rhem
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know very much when it comes to the real mysteries of life. But I know God will
take care of you…come what may.
© Grand Valley State University
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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Richard A. Rhem Collection
Description
An account of the resource
Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar.
Subject
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Clergy--Michigan
Reformed Church in America
Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.)
Religion
Interfaith worship
Sermons
Sound Recordings
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Rhem, Richard A.
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<a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a>
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Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives.
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Kaufman Interfaith Institute
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English
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KII-01
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1981-2014
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audio/mp3
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Event
Pentecost VIII
Scripture Text
Amos 7:13, Luke 4:21
Location
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Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI
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KII-01_RA-0-19930725
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1993-07-25
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Who Says God Says?
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Richard A. Rhem
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Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
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<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Subject
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Clergy--Michigan
Reformed Church in America
Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.)
Sermons
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Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/
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eng
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Text
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audio/mp3
application/pdf
Description
An account of the resource
A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on July 25, 1993 entitled "Who Says God Says?", on the occasion of Pentecost VIII, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Amos 7:13, Luke 4:21.
Prophecy
Revelation
Trust
Word of God
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PDF Text
Text
When the Crisis Comes – It’s Too Late
From the sermon series: Now – But Then
Text: Isaiah 11:9; I Corinthians 13:13; Luke 1:37
Richard A. Rhem
Christ Community Church
Spring Lake, Michigan
Advent II, December 10, 1995
Transcription of the spoken sermon
Our Advent theme comes from Paul's first Letter to the Corinthians in the 13th
chapter, where he sets in contrast, “Now - But Then.” He writes to this
congregation that was bubbling over with spiritual gifts and enthusiasm run out
of control, and he urges them to seek the best gift, the gift of love. And in the
context of that discussion, he suggests that there are three things that remain faith, hope, love. He encourages the Corinthians to major in faith and hope and
love as that which matter eternally. And in the remaining three weeks of the
Advent season, I want to consider with you faith and hope and love. First of all,
faith, or maybe the word that for us says it better - trust, that basic orientation of
life that is trusting: trusting in God, trusting in life's meaning, in the goodness of
reality. To trust is to have a place to stand and to be and then to be free to be in
the fullness of every moment. To live by faith is to live by an eternal verity. The
gift of faith, the gift of trust enables us to negotiate the passages of life, come
what may. And that's really the issue of this message.
I want to suggest to you that the time to cultivate basic trust is before you need it.
I think it's at the Advent season that we feel the stark contrast between what is
and what might be. It is at this season of the year that we are called to remember
that we are people on the way, we are in a process, something's happening, we're
going somewhere, there is something developing, something emerging, invisible,
unseen. And yet, we're caught up in that process. And to remember, that is to be
reminded that what is falls so far short of what might be. To be human is not to
be locked in to the present, the present moment. It is to be free to unlock from
this moment and to travel backward in time through memory and to experience
again the joys of the past or the pain of the past. To be human is to have that gift
of consciousness that allows us to unlock from this present moment and to travel
into the future and to conceive of what might be, to dream of another possibility.
In the Advent season we recognize that it's precisely because we are people on the
way, going somewhere we have been and we will be, and the contrast between
what is and what might be can be a painful contemplation. And it is only if we
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Richard A. Rhem
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have received the gift of trust that we are able to negotiate every moment with a
certain freedom and serenity.
Isn't it remarkable that from ancient time humankind has conceived of
something different than that which is? Take the dream, the vision of Isaiah, as
we read it a moment ago. There, 2500, 2800 years ago there was a contemplative,
there was a religious spirit that was contrasting that which was his context with
that which was his dream. He dreamed of a day when there would be a ruler upon
whom the spirit of God would fall, a ruler who would not judge by what his eyes
saw or his ears heard, a ruler who would discern down into the depths of things.
A ruler would arise who would rule with equity, with justice. He would be
concerned for society's most vulnerable ones; he would rule with righteousness,
and that righteous rule in the arena of history would spill over into nature so that
the lion and the lamb would lie down together and the child could play over the
adder's den, and they would not hurt or destroy in all God's holy mountain. What
a dream! What a vision! Campaign '96 is warming up. Wouldn't we love such a
candidate for office? Wouldn't it be great if we could cast our ballot next
November for one upon whom the spirit of God would dwell in fullness, who
would judge with equity and rule with righteousness and bring in God's peaceable
kingdom?
Luke believed that that one arrived in the child of Mary's womb, a child conceived
by the Spirit of God, a child who would bring about that peaceable kingdom.
Mary laid hold of the vision and sang a song of praise, The Magnificat, which we
noted last week, about this child who would raise up the lowly and bring down
the arrogant. And yet it seems as though history continues to go along, business
as usual. Well, that's not a new problem. It was recognized 2000 years ago. The
second Letter of Peter, if you want to refer to it – there were scoffers then who
were saying to the likes of St. Luke, "Where is the day of his appearing? It looks
pretty much like the same, tired old world to me." And, of course, it is, isn't it?
Even 2000 years later.
The Advent season gives us opportunity to reflect on the fact that something's
happening. We're moving, we're going somewhere. And we can dream of
something quite other than that which confronts us. And yet, troops move into
Bosnia where there's a paper peace but no peace in the human heart. And Israel
still reels from the assassination of its leader who was seeking peace. And if not
on the national or international scene, there are those within our own community
who enter into crisis, the kind of crisis that makes us wonder what it's all about
and if it's all worth it, and if anybody, anybody is managing this cosmos into
which we are caught up. The issue before us this morning: St. Paul says faith is
that which abides, but, can I believe it? Can I hold on to the vision? Can I dream
the dream? Can I be set free in the present moment because I believe that this
present moment does not proscribe the parameters of my possibility?
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Richard A. Rhem
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You'll never gain trust by observing life. That's my point this morning. It is trust
that you must bring to experience. It is faith that you must bring to the ongoing
story. You'll never gain faith or come to trust simply by observing the story.
One of the great historians of a former generation, H.A.L. Fischer, in his History
of Europe, wrote these words,
"One intellectual excitement has been denied me. People wiser and more
learned than I have discovered in history a plot, a rhythm, a
predetermined pattern. These harmonies are concealed from me. I can see
only one emergency following another, as wave follows upon wave. Only
one great fact with respect to which, since it is unique there can be no
generalizations, and the only safe rule for the historian is that he should
recognize in the development of human destinies the play of the
contingent and the unforeseen."
That's a good statement. If you go out to the beach today, you'll find one wave
crashing on the beach after another - wild, stormy water, wave upon wave
crashing on the beach. And Fischer says, "As I observe history, that's what I see."
One emergency after another, one crisis after another, one valley of darkness
after another. And I see no predetermined pattern. I see no rhythm. I see no
pattern. Honestly, as I look at it as an historian, that's all I can see. And as an
historian, that's all one can see if one starts out with a blank sheet, if one would
simply, neutrally, somewhat objectively survey the human story, then one cannot
say it more eloquently than Fischer has said it. The pattern is not in there to be
seen. The pattern is imposed by those who have faith and that are given eyes to
see it.
I picked up a book last night, which someone sent me. I've been dabbling, you
know, in cosmology, physics, astronomy, that sort of thing. But, this book is
entitled, God and The New Biology, by an Oxford biologist, Arthur Peacocke.
Fascinating discussion in which he acknowledges that it is in physics and
cosmological speculation that science is giving us a sense of mystery before this
unfolding cosmic drama. But, in molecular and sub-molecular biology as well,
there is tremendous ferment and some breakthrough as to the development of
the human person and indeed all living structures. And Peacocke suggests a sense
of God more immanently involved in that process than we have yet conceived.
But he also honors that which has come to light, and that is that there isn't some
prescribed pattern, but rather there is both law and chance. And he suggests that
the Creator has put into the structure of things a kind of law, a kind of regularity,
a kind of structure that gives some stability, but within that, in its sub-molecular
structure, as we learn from quantum physics, there are things that happen at that
sub-molecular level that can only be described as chance. Unpredictable!
Unprogrammable! And Peacock says that's precisely the point at which creativity
is possible. In other words, reality is an open system, not closed.
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Richard A. Rhem
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I think the Christian tradition, or religious people generally, would love to have
the system closed and to know that from the beginning to the end it is all
determined. That's been used as a kind of security blanket to remove us from the
sense of life's fragility and the peril to which our lives are always exposed, but it is
not so, really, and we know it, too, out of our experience. H A.L. Fischer is right!
One wave after another - that's the way we live. God answers prayer, yes. This one
was healed. God answers prayer, maybe not. That one wasn't healed. In all of the
existential experiences of our life we would so much love to be able to boil it down
and get a finger on it, tie it in a package and put a bow on it and say, "Now, there.
That's it. A manageable universe and a secure human existence." But, we know it
is not so. It is not so!
How, then, can I live? How, then, can I be set free from the constant anxiety of
the next moment and tomorrow? By trust. By faith that I do not derive from the
observation of the story, but that I bring to the story. Because I believe beyond
what is observable that there is something happening, and that this process
which is going somewhere will have an end which will not be nothing, but
something, an end which will not be no one, but someone.
Do you want me to prove it to you? Of course, I can't. That's my point. That's my
faith! I trust that. And that's the great divide. Those who live with that trust and
those who live perhaps with an agnosticism that says I don't know, or a bitter
cynicism that says I don't believe it. Those are the choices.
Well, how do you come with such trust? With some struggle, I would hope. And it
is a gift not at our disposal. But a season like this does give us those moments of
reflection. And if one longs for some breath as the Advent carol says, some pulse
of being stirring as in a heart of stone, if in the longing of one's heart there is at
least that openness – at the end of the day, in a moment of reflection – to that
light as a falling star across the consciousness of the night of the heart, then
perhaps we may be probing the edges of that gift of faith which is a gift of God
that is the promise of Advent. And to live by such trust is not to denigrate the
present in favor of the future. It is to give a promise for the future that releases us
to delight in the present, fully to live, with a measure of peace and joy. The gift of
Advent. The gift of the Child.
© Grand Valley State University
�
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
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Richard A. Rhem Collection
Description
An account of the resource
Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar.
Subject
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Clergy--Michigan
Reformed Church in America
Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.)
Religion
Interfaith worship
Sermons
Sound Recordings
Creator
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Rhem, Richard A.
Source
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<a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a>
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Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives.
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Kaufman Interfaith Institute
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<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
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English
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Sound
Text
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KII-01
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1981-2014
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audio/mp3
text/pdf
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Event
Advent II
Series
Now _ But Then
Scripture Text
Isaiah 11:9, I Corinthians 13:13, Luke 1:37
Location
The location of the interview
Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI
References
Arthur Peacocke, God and the New Biology, 1987.
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KII-01_RA-0-19951210
Date
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1995-12-10
Title
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When the Crisis Comes - It's Too Late
Creator
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Richard A. Rhem
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Grand Valley State University
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<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Subject
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Clergy--Michigan
Reformed Church in America
Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.)
Sermons
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Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/
Language
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eng
Type
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Text
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Format
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audio/mp3
application/pdf
Description
An account of the resource
A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on December 10, 1995 entitled "When the Crisis Comes - It's Too Late", as part of the series "Now - But Then", on the occasion of Advent II, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Isaiah 11:9, I Corinthians 13:13, Luke 1:37.
Advent
Emergence
Faith
Love
Shalom
Trust
-
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/bfb1c800a9adfe0ec9458566769fceb5.pdf
345e4ec1d8472d3a9711ca08c8b67dda
PDF Text
Text
What Is Good News?
Article by
Richard A. Rhem
Minister of Preaching and Theological Inquiry
Christ Community Church
Spring Lake, Michigan
Published in
The Church Herald
The Magazine of the Reformed Church in America
February 1989, pp. 24-27
The goal of preaching is not to get something said, but to get something heard. So
contends Fred Craddock in his popular textbook, Preaching. That may sound
obvious, but it is not so at all, at least not from the perspective of the preacher.
Far too often, we who are called to the task of the weekly proclamation
concentrate exclusively on developing something to say and fail to recognize that
the problem is not to say Something, but rather...to be heard. We must never rest
content with delivering a message; we must exercise our best gifts and our
strenuous effort to get a message heard that forms in the consciousness of the
congregation and shapes God's people.
To make this claim is not to deny that whatever is effected through the preached
word is finally the work of the Spirit of God, the Spirit who caused the Word to be
written and who must make it in the moment of proclamation the living Word
that effects the purpose of God. Such a conviction, however, must not be used by
the preacher to evade the responsibility to work seriously at the task of preaching
so as to be effective.
Hans van der Geest studied the effects of preaching from a psychological
perspective. A supervisor in clinical pastoral education in a hospital in
Switzerland, van der Geest became interested in the personality of the preacher
and its impact on effectiveness in the pulpit. Presence in the Pulpit: The Impact
of Personality in Preaching reports his findings and presents a serious challenge
to the traditional emphasis in the training of preachers. Practicing preachers, too,
could profitably evaluate their own practices in the light of what van der Geest
has discovered.
Van der Geest was surprised to find that the most important quality in the
preaching event mentioned by those surveyed was the personal manner of the
preacher. This might well send shock waves through a church of the Reformed
tradition with its heavily intellectual bent. Yet van der Geest, himself steeped in
© Grand Valley State University
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�What Is Good News?
Richard A. Rhem
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the Dutch Reformed Church, found again and again that the content of what is
said is much less important for the process of engaging the listeners than most
textbooks on preaching allow.
The author raises the questions that immediately come to mind as one views the
results of this psychological perspective on preaching: Are we now going to judge
preaching's effectiveness by whether or not it satisfies people? Is it legitimate to
judge preaching by psychological effect?
Van der Geest contends that the listeners' statements of response as to what they
actually experienced have great value:
It's not just primitive or, for that matter, illegitimate wishes alive in them,
but also expectations wakened by worship services in the past and still
alive. At least in part these expectations are a reflection of what a worship
service and sermon intend to mean to a congregation.
Taking the needs of the congregation seriously as they present themselves at
worship is imperative. Van der Geest isolates three dimensions in the experience
of a worship service that must be present if the basic needs that people bring to
worship, and specifically to the sermon, are to be met effectively: the renewal and
restoration of basic trust; a hope for deliverance, a sense of release from the
everyday burdens and struggles of life; and a new perspective from which to gain
understanding in light of the gospel. Security, deliverance, understanding: apart
from these three dimensions, all of which must be present, a sermon will be less
than effective and people will leave without the feeling of having been personally
addressed.
These three dimensions can be delineated for the sake of analysis, but they
cannot be separated; they comprise a unity in the worship event. Van der Geest
writes:
There is admittedly a security without release, but it is an infantile security
addressing only immature people; and without understanding, it is naive.
Release without security is irrelevant; release without understanding is not
dependable. Understanding without security is impersonal; without
release it is sterile. The three dimensions are intimately related. They are
variations of the trio of love, hope and faith.
Security
People need to feel they are being addressed as individuals. In psychological
terms this need represents the necessity of having our basic trust renewed at
regular intervals. Psychologist Erik H. Erikson coined the expression primal
trust, the development in earliest infancy of the conviction that life in this world
is a good thing. Theologically, it is the fundamental conviction of being loved and
secured by God. While primal trust is formed in us through the earliest
© Grand Valley State University
�What Is Good News?
Richard A. Rhem
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experiences of infancy, it is in need of constant renewal. In the face of the deepest
and final questions of life, people need the confirmation of this basic trust in the
worship service.
The questions that play on most people, according to van der Geest, include Do I
have a future? Am I lost or supported? Do I have ground under my feet? Am I left
alone by myself, or is there help? Do I have to defend myself, brace myself, or
should I relax and be giving? Does it make sense to have courage, or should I be
resigned? Life is simple for only very few. Disturbances and dangers are the daily
bread of most. What are people at worship seeking? Here are some sample
responses: I want to forget day-to-day sufferings for a while. I am looking for
strength for the coming week. I would like to get out of the rat race and find a
little quietness. No more arguments. I want a little peace now. Someone has to
talk kindly to us once in a while, too, and give us courage.
Is worship simply a comforter? Is there not also a disturbing side of the gospel?
To be sure. But, as van der Geest points out, what he is advocating is not simply
an affirmation of the status quo. There is more to worship than the renewal of
primal trust, but for anything positive to result, it is essential that the people of
God come into contact with the living God, the God in whose love they rest.
How can this happen through preaching? Van der Geest's research reveals that
feelings of security are aroused only if love is expressed. "Whenever people go
into a worship service to find feelings of security, they are seeking love, clear
signs of love." This happens where the preacher is perceived to be sincere and
genuine in his or her concern for the congregation as individuals. The use of firstperson singular pronouns signals the preacher's personal commitment.
Body language is important, at least as important as the verbal language of
content. A cool, distant preacher signals a lack of emotional involvement.
Rhetorical skill is desirable, but it will never make up for authentic caring and
sincerity.
Colloquial language gives the congregation the sense of being addressed
personally. Pulpit language and any affectation of manner or tone build a wall
between pulpit and pew.
To achieve a renewal of basic trust, a sense of being loved of God, the
congregation's members must sense that they are taken seriously. Just as the
preacher must express personal commitment through the use of the first person
pronoun, so the people must be addressed as "you" and invited to participate in
the proclamation. The sense of participation is heightened by the avoidance of
heavy dependence on a manuscript or written notes, according to van der Geest.
There is much more at stake than those who support the writing down and
reading from notes believe. The personal style, the direct address
indispensable for awakening trust, is in general seriously impaired by
© Grand Valley State University
�What Is Good News?
Richard A. Rhem
Page 4!
reading from notes. This is the case because not only the content, but
precisely the presentation—including the visible—is essential for gaining
access to the realm of emotion. But what does such reading from notes
show us, no matter how sophisticated it's done? The sermon does not
emerge; it comes from yesterday. The preacher misses the "act of
restructuring during the moment of speaking."
The sermon should be as natural as conversation. This, of course, does not mean
less preparation, but more. Preaching personally is speaking in the name of God;
it is not delivering a treatise about God.
Finally, the preacher must communicate a clear expectation of the mystery of
God. From his research van der Geest concludes that "the real mystery of
encounter occurs for the experience of the congregation in the relationship
between the preacher and the listeners."
Deliverance
From the analysis of listener reaction, van der Geest found not only the need for
security but also for a sense of release, of deliverance from the anguish of the
human experience. Deliverance cannot come through a denial of the darkness. If
the dark side of life is not taken seriously, if life’s tragic dimension is rendered
harmless, the congregation will be disappointed and leave dissatisfied. Rather,
van der Geest argues:
The people in a worship service want to have light offered to them in the
darkness of their lives; they want to see the hopelessness of day-to-day life
surpassed by a perspective which can’t be found in that day-to-day life
itself. They yearn for a deliverance from the misfortune, oppression, and
the misery which are, after all, a part of life. In this dimension the key is
the encounter with that aspect of the message which awakens hope, the
words about the beyond. This is the message the worshipers are waiting
for, the language of release.
The congregation looks to the preacher to communicate a hope that is incredible
and that becomes believable only as the preacher manifests a personal wonder
that such a hope should be true. What is sought here are not simplistic solutions
to life's complexity. The reality of darkness must be acknowledged on the one side
and, on the other side, the preacher himself or herself must have sifted through
the results of the modern critical study of the biblical text. But finally the
preacher must take responsibility for the text as it appears relevant to him or her
and then proclaim the incredibly hopeful news of the gospel in the face of the real
anguish of the human situation.
The yearning for release or deliverance presupposes that there is nothing within
the framework of human possibility that can effect transformation. It is into such
a situation of human impossibility that the "nevertheless" of the gospel is spoken,
© Grand Valley State University
�What Is Good News?
Richard A. Rhem
Page 5!
thus arousing wonder. The preacher's own astonishment is fundamental. "For the
mediation of this improbable thing preachers must themselves be struck by the
miraculous."
When a preacher unconsciously ceases to feel the joy and freedom of the gospel
or, even worse, has never really personally experienced the grace of God,
preaching becomes legalistic and moralistic, burdening the congregation with the
tyranny of "we must," "we should," "we ought." Still, the obligation of the gospel
must be made clear, recognizing the reality of guilt and calling for commitment to
a higher standard.
Understanding
If in a sermon trust is awakened and the message of deliverance through the
gospel clearly proclaimed, there remains yet a decisive element. Listener
responses point to that missing element: He was too sure about God and the
beyond for my taste. It's too bad she turned away from the difficult things so
quickly. I don't really know what to do with this unquestionable faith. My
unbelief wasn't taken into consideration.
Listeners are not always ready or able to accept the message. The hymns and
prayers are easier to receive with trust; much greater demands are made of the
sermons. The analysis of listeners' responses reveals that the congregation both
challenges the sermon's claims and, at the same time, hopes to be convinced and
persuaded of its truth. The preacher must reckon with the rhythm of human
experience that is never static, but always moving between the poles of trust and
doubt. It looks like a game, but it is no malicious game; doubts are spread out and
the preacher is tested, but the listener does not want to win the game; he hopes in
fact to lose, to be overcome.
The listener wants to be convinced of the truth of the gospel, but the problem the
preacher faces is that persuasion is being required in an area of life in which
logical arguments have almost no value. Discursive reasoning does not suffice;
rather, it is the preacher's own deep, warm, and living faith that persuades. Says
van der Geest:
The truth sought again by the people in a worship service is not an
objective one, but is rather an existential truth precipitating engagement
and participation, not cool ascertainment...: in the act of persuasion itself
the emotional effect of the renewal of trust is inseparably connected with
cognitive understanding. That process of being persuaded is thus a total
experience, not just an intellectual comprehension.
Sermons must be planned with the temptation to doubt in mind, but the doubt
raised by the text, not the doubt raised by the great religious-existential questions
of life. These questions arising out of tragedy, pain, and human anguish are not
© Grand Valley State University
�What Is Good News?
Richard A. Rhem
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helpfully addressed in preaching. The Christian proclamation does not solve life's
inscrutable mysteries but rather announces the reign of God.
The doubts aroused by the text and the resistance of the listener to the
proclamation of the gospel are not removed by logical, conceptual speech of
discursive reasoning. Rather, it is through story, image, and graphic speech that
persuasion is achieved. Narrative preaching is widely advocated today and
preaching as story is in vogue. Van der Geest's research would indicate that this is
more than a fad, the swing of the pendulum. He points out:
In contrast to the more conceptual approach, something graphic causes
the listeners themselves to become active. Concepts are finished products
which the listeners simply register. They need only to think, to think
abstractly. But if the preacher tells a story, the listeners themselves
construct the forms of the people, the appearances of the events. Now they
can experience something.
Images and stories are suited to the Christian proclamation; concepts are not.
The sermon must activate the listeners' imaginations. Existential truth is grasped
through metaphorical language. As the imagination is stimulated, a person's own
creativity is engaged. Such preaching becomes dialogue. The listeners find
themselves in the story and re-experience their own joy and pain, disappointment
and hope. They are able to identify with the story's situation and characters.
Graphic speech touches more than the cognitive level of our understanding; it
reaches to the subconscious level of inner vision where truth is grasped as a
whole.
In this kind of evidence precisely the apparently impossible happens: The
unseen becomes seen. This occurrence is always impressive and
precipitates intense surprise. People are encountering their life's truth.
Rational, objective truth does not require this kind of evidence; sense perception
and logical argumentation are sufficient. In the worship service and the sermon,
existential truth is being sought. The one who thus perceives is engaged, "struck
at the very roots, and his or her whole life is affected: feeling, thinking, inner
vision and will."
The goal of preaching is not to get something said, but to get something heard.
The experience of the worshiper is thus critical for the evaluation of preaching.
The people have cried out, this is who we are, and this is what we need. Effective
preaching will renew their basic trust, give them a sense of deliverance, and
provide a new perspective, a fresh insight to the understanding. Where these
three dimensions are present, the listener will feel spoken to by the preacher and
by God.
Reference:
© Grand Valley State University
�What Is Good News?
Richard A. Rhem
Hans Van der Geest. Presence in the Pulpit: The Impact of Personality in
Preaching. John Knox Press, 1st English edition, 1981.
© Grand Valley State University
Page 7!
�
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Title
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Richard A. Rhem Collection
Description
An account of the resource
Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar.
Subject
The topic of the resource
Clergy--Michigan
Reformed Church in America
Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.)
Religion
Interfaith worship
Sermons
Sound Recordings
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Rhem, Richard A.
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
<a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a>
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Kaufman Interfaith Institute
Rights
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<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Language
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English
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Sound
Text
Identifier
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KII-01
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
1981-2014
Format
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audio/mp3
text/pdf
Text
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text.
References
Hans Van der Geest, Presence in the Pulpit, 1981
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RA-4-19890201
Date
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1989-02-01
Type
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Text
Title
A name given to the resource
What is Good News? Great sermons must embrace the 3 basic needs of those who listen
Publisher
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The Church School Herald Journal
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Richard A. Rhem
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Language
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eng
Description
An account of the resource
Article created, delivered, or published by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on February 1, 1989 entitled "What is Good News? Great sermons must embrace the 3 basic needs of those who listen", it appeared in The Church Herald, Feb. 1989, pp. 24-27. Tags: Preaching, Gospel, Trust, Love, Mystery, Hope, Sympathy. Scripture references: Hans Van der Geest, Presence in the Pulpit, 1981.
Format
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application/pdf
Gospel
Hope
Love
Mystery
Preaching
Sympathy
Trust
-
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PDF Text
Text
What Are You Afraid Of?
Text: John 4:18; Luke 1:30
Richard A. Rhem
Christ Community Church
Spring Lake, Michigan
Advent IV, December 20, 1992
Transcription of the spoken sermon
There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with
punishment and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love. I John 4:18
Do not be afraid, Mary... Luke 1:30
In Advent, 1992, we’re asking significant questions that have to do with our
human existence and our relationship to God: Do you really think that he will
come - this one who came? Will he come again? Do you expect that? Is there life
after life? Hell? In these weeks, although we have answered those questions in
less than traditional ways, we have affirmed again our Christian faith. We have
affirmed that the God of our beginning is the God of our end, and the God of our
meantime, that God is with us and that the last word is Grace. And if that is the
case, then, “What Are You Afraid of?” What are the fears that dog your steps?
What are the fears that haunt the inner sanctum of your heart? Fear, Henri
Nouwen says, is so characteristic of our lives today that one could speak of our
living in “a house of fear.” Fears that are very personal. Fears that are connected
with those we love. Fears connected with the situation of the world and the
destiny of the cosmos. Category after category of fearful thoughts that often take
possession of us. We live in “a house of fear.” Nouwen, in his little book Lifesigns,
invites us to move from “a house of fear” into a house of love - the house
constituted by Jesus Christ, our Lord, the one who came at Christmas and whose
Advent we celebrate again, and whose birth we will remember this week. To move
from the house of fear to the house of love is the invitation of the Christmas
Gospel.
Easier said than done perhaps, but let’s for just a bit of time think about the
perspective of the writer of this first letter of John, for he tells us that fear and
love cannot coexist. Oh well, I suppose that’s too strong a statement. As a matter
of fact they do coexist in the hearts of us all. But to the extent that there is love,
there will be an absence of fear. And to the extent that there is fear, there will be
an absence of love.
If we did a little word association, if I gave you a word and you were to come up
with the opposite… if I said, “high,” I suppose you would say, “low.” And if I said,
© Grand Valley State University
�What Are You Afraid Of?
Richard A. Rhem
Page 2
“black” you would say, “white.” If I said, “hot” you would say, “cold.” If I said,
“love,” what would you say? Hate? I think there was a time when I would have
said that hate is the opposite of love, but I don’t think so any more. I think,
according to John in this letter, the opposite of love is fear. Perfect love, he says,
“casts out fear.” Love and fear are at enmity with one another. It’s like light and
darkness. To the extent that the light is there, the darkness is absent. To extent
that it is dark, the light is absent. To the extent that the heart is filled with love,
fear is absent. To the extent that fear controls the heart, love is absent. The
opposite of love is fear. Fear is the root of all that destructive behavior, of evil and
darkness. Destructive behavior, born of fear, impinges upon our selves and
reaches out to all of those whose lives we touch. When we are afraid we are
destructive. When we are afraid we cannot love, and we cannot live lovingly. So
John in a very interesting association suggests that love casts out fear. He says,
“God is love. And those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them.”
Love has been perfected among us in this that we may have boldness in the Day
of Judgment, because as He is so are we in this world. There is no fear in love.
Perfect love casts out fear.
In this Advent season when we have been talking about the last things - the last
events - that final encounter - judgment - Hell? -I find it rather interesting that
John associates love as the absence of fear, fear particularly related to the Day of
Judgment. Now you say to me, “Well, fear of the day of judgment. There isn’t a
lot of that around today. Most people have kicked that habit. We don’t have to
fear eternal punishment or damnation or hell - we talked about that last week!”
Most moderns, our neighbors, have put that idea to rest. It isn’t that terrifying
threat that it once was, and yet John says that fear has to do with the experience
of punishment and the fear of punishment. He says that love comes in in order
that we might have confidence and boldness in the Day of Judgment. John seems
to relate our present possibility of living in love without fear in relationship to the
end event.
I just wonder - I wonder if he might be right. I wonder if there is something about
us as human beings that would on a willed, conscious level rid ourselves of the
idea of punishment and judgment, but that fear of it simply goes underground
and in a kind of gorilla warfare disables us, so that much of our action that we
would not directly relate to a fear of judgment and punishment is nonetheless
precisely that. Whether consciously or unconsciously, we know that we are people
who will be held accountable, that there will be a time of reckoning, that there
will be that final encounter. Maybe down in the depths of our being we know that,
so that it doesn’t matter to what extent we may pooh-pooh that final encounter,
that day of judgment; nonetheless, there is something perhaps in the very fact
that we are human that causes us consciously or unconsciously to feel a bit of disease and thus produce in us fear – fear, whose root we don’t understand, but
whose consequences are felt in all of our relationships and all of our doings.
Could that be? John says, “God is love. The one who abides in love, abides in God,
and this love is what gives us confidence in the Day of Judgment because there is
© Grand Valley State University
�What Are You Afraid Of?
Richard A. Rhem
Page 3
no fear in love.” Hm-m-m. Rather interesting association of ideas isn’t it? I
wonder if there could be something to that?
Harold Ellens, the psychiatrist, theologian and pastor, has spoken about the
human condition as a condition of anxiety. I mentioned this a few weeks ago, I
forget in what connection, but that human anxiety is not the consequence of our
sin, it is the consequence of our being human. He speaks of a kind of generic
anxiety which is the consequence of spending nine months all safe and secure in
the darkness and warmth of the womb, only to come splashing and bouncing
down the birth canal into the bright lights of the delivery room to respond to a
whap on the bottom side with a wail! We come into this world wailing. Scared to
death. Fragile. That’s anxiety producing. And then he goes to the Genesis stories
and shows that even in that setting, the human couple there is anxious - there is
an anxiety producing set of circumstances, so that to be human is to be anxious.
Then he goes on to say, and I think quite rightly, that the greatest anxiety
reducing mechanism in the world is religion. Religion is a universal
phenomenon. Stamp it out here and it will pop up there. You can’t seem to get rid
of it. Any place you go in any age, any people, there is some kind of religious
ritual, some form of religious practice. We who are simply a little farther along on
the human story and a little more sophisticated in our religious experience,
nonetheless, crave the basics - a kind of cultic practice. That is, a ritual. The
prayers we offer. The gestures we make, and a certain mode or code of behavior
that we follow, certain creeds that we assent to. They all constitute cult for
worship. A creed to lead, a moral code to follow - those are the ingredients of
religion, whatever the religion may be. And religion, by and large, is a universal
phenomenon which has been a great anxiety reducing mechanism. It is how we
anxious people try to come to terms with our anxiety. It is a way we come to curry
favor with God, to appease God.
There is something endemic in us that knows that we write with crooked lines.
And, accountable people that we are, because we are human, we feel a need for
some kind of buffer against that final moment, that examination, that judgment
day, when God might hold us accountable. So our life is fraught with anxiety. And
Ellens says that we try to devise means by which we can buffer ourselves against
that anxiety, a way by which we may find ourselves acceptable to that all
examining eye of the Eternal God - and so we turn to religion.
That is the story of most religion. That is very much what most religion has been
about. But the problem with most religion is that it becomes the tyranny of the
should and the ought and the must. It becomes a prescription to follow. It
becomes a matter of performance - of doing things, of gaining favor through
ritual acts, creedal belief, and moral behavior. And any time you are in the
business of gaining peace through performance you never make it. We can never
satisfy the demands, the infinite demands. We will always fall short. We will
always come up wanting. We will always be weighed in the balance and found
© Grand Valley State University
�What Are You Afraid Of?
Richard A. Rhem
Page 4
wanting and we know it. There is no peace! Rather, that anxiety reducing
mechanism that we call religion becomes an exacerbation of the anxiety with
which we came into this world, and our religion all too often binds us and makes
us seven-fold more the child of hell than when we began. Religion is too often
binding, controlling, coercive, manipulative. It is not too often good news, but
bad news. And the threat of hell and of judgment, and of damnation and of
condemnation broadly used in the religions of the world, do not reduce anxiety,
but increase it. But, of course, the people cowering in fear are manageable at
least.
John has quite a different thing to say. What he says isn’t the Bible’s only
message, but if we could only hear this. Do you hear it with me? “God is love.” He
has said it before. He doesn’t say “God loves,” he said, “God is love.” That is
whatever God is, whatever God does, God does it in a loving fashion because God
is love, and, “Those who abide in love, abide in God and God abides in them. Love
has been perfected among us in this that we may have boldness in the day of
judgment.” It would seem that what John is trying to say is that if you could get a
glimpse of the love of God, if you could get a grasp of the love of God, then that
intrinsic human guilt and cowering before that final moment of judgment would
dissolve. Because John says that, “there is no fear in love. God is love.” And, love
has been perfected among us in this, that we may have boldness in the day of
judgment because as he is so are we in the world.”
As Christ is. How is Christ? Christ is one with God. Christ is in the presence of
God - crucified, resurrected, received in the presence of God. “As he is so are we
in this world.” Earlier he has said, “Beloved, behold what manner of love the
Father has bestowed upon us that we should be called the children of God, and
such we are now. And it doth not yet appear what we shall be, but when He
appears we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is. Beloved, what matter of
love, we are now, children of God.” If we could only believe it. If we could only lay
hold of it. If we could only know that there is no record that stands against us. If
we could only know that the love of God somehow or other has embraced us so
that the record has been expunged and we are embraced in an everlasting love, so
that there is no need for fear in judgment. I think that’s what John is talking
about. Do you sense that’s about one hundred eighty degrees from where most
religion would take you? From the place of the tyranny of the ought and the
should and the must.
People have challenged me about my promiscuous offer of grace, about the
prodigality of God’s love, about the unconditional love of God that embraces us.
Is that not dangerous? they ask. Will not people exploit that? Will not people take
advantage of that? If that is true - if we are loved already, if we are embraced
already, if judgment is passed already - then why worship? Then why live in
praise and wonder?
© Grand Valley State University
�What Are You Afraid Of?
Richard A. Rhem
Page 5
Why? Precisely because of that! Precisely because of a love so amazing, so divine
that it demands my life, my soul, my all! There is no fear in love. Most of the time
the Church has not dared preach it. Too radical. The people cannot handle it.
They will take advantage of it. Nonsense! Preach fear to the people and you bind
them in fear. Preach fear and you increase resentment. Preach fear and you
exacerbate anger - hostility. Dare to preach love - and you transform. God is love.
And love is perfected in this - that we have boldness before the thought of
judgment. There is no fear in love. Perfect love casts out fear. The one who fears
is not perfected in love. Most of the time the Church would keep you afraid. It’s
safer that way - for the masses. Nonsense. Dear, serious, sincere, religious people
have been forced to cower before the demands of an angry God rather than
hearing the word of the Christmas Gospel. The covenant of grace instituted with
Abraham began when God came to Abraham and said, “Do not be afraid.” Old
Zacharias was in the temple doing his thing and the angel came and said, “Do not
be afraid.” Mary, a young Hebrew maiden doing her cross-stitching was
encountered by an angel who began, “Don’t be afraid.” And Joseph, concerned
about this situation that confronted him, heard from the angel saying, “Fear not.”
The Christmas Gospel is Good News pure and simple. You don’t have to be afraid.
God is love. And love casts out fear and so that endemic human sense of
accountability that causes you to cower has been dissolved by the chemistry of
God’s eternal love.
Preaching on this text one day, Martin Luther King Jr. spoke about the time of
the Montgomery, Alabama bus protest. After one particularly horrendous week in
which he had been arrested and he had received phone calls threatening his life,
and everything seemed impossible, he had to speak to a mass rally. When he was
done speaking he came down from the podium and old Mother Pollard came
forward. She was an old, black woman, uneducated and wise, who marched and
marched, and marched in many protests. She came up to him after he had
finished speaking and said, “Son, come here.” He went to her and gave her a hug
and she said, “What’s wrong with you tonight?” He said, “Nothing, I’m fine.” She
said, “You don’t talk strong tonight. Something’s wrong. Is it that we ain’t
followin’ you enough? Or is it them white folk?” And then she looked at him and
said, “Son, whether we follow you or not, God’s gonna take care of you.” And
Martin Luther King said that from that day, because of the words of old Mother
Pollard, he was able to live without fear. You say, “Well, that’s just fine. He said it
that way at 8:30 but if you remember he died by an assassin’s bullet.” He was
killed after all. Yes, that’s true. The Christmas Gospel does not say that life is not
perilous, that human existence is not fragile, that there is not tragedy and
suffering. Bullets cut us down. Cancer cuts us down. There is brokenness and
pain enough to go around. But Martin Luther King lived the rest of his days
without fear. That is to say, he lived until he died. But when fear enwraps our
hearts we never live before we die.
We will all die one way or another. And we will meet the Lord face to face. The
question is whether we will have truly lived before we die - lived without fear.
© Grand Valley State University
�What Are You Afraid Of?
Richard A. Rhem
Page 6
So what are you afraid of? What are you afraid of? Name it. Speak it before the
face of God - and let it go. Just let it go.
© Grand Valley State University
�
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Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar.
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Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.)
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Rhem, Richard A.
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<a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a>
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Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives.
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Advent IV
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I John 4:18, Luke 1:30
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Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI
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1992-12-20
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What Are You Afraid Of?
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Richard A. Rhem
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Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.)
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Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/
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A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on December 20, 1992 entitled "What Are You Afraid Of?", on the occasion of Advent IV, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: I John 4:18, Luke 1:30.
Fear
Judgment
Trust
Way of Love
-
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/f507b0cfa1ae854fea576fc16e88a5cf.mp3
eb113abf8e118eb5f28b35087094bf5f
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/d27d30490657ff2c35fad3e5fdadd494.pdf
2dedcab7843f92308542ca51a12ac7fa
PDF Text
Text
Weaving Our Way Into God’s Story
Text: Isaiah 55:11; Acts 11:17
Richard A. Rhem
Christ Community Church
Spring Lake, Michigan
Pentecost XIX, October 18, 1992
Transcription of the spoken sermon
...so shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it
shall accomplish that which I purpose, and succeed in the thing for which I sent it. Isaiah 55:11
...who was I that I could hinder God? Acts 11:17
The Old Testament text today is Isaiah 55. I don’t generally push you to get your
Bibles out, but I might today suggest that it would be a good idea. I will give you a
little Bible lesson at no extra cost. If you will open your pew Bible to page 650,
you will be at Isaiah 55, I trust, if the bulletin is correct. And then if you would
page back a few pages to find Isaiah 40.
Biblical scholars believe that Isaiah 40 to 55 is written by a single prophet, not
Isaiah of the 8th century, but a prophet who spoke to the people of Israel, the
people of Judah, who were in exile in Babylon, having been taken there in 586
B.C. and this word, Isaiah 40 to 55, was addressed to those exiles in Babylon,
probably sometime after 550 B.C. To a people who had lost their faith. To a
people who had given up on God. To a people who were full of despair. Just
ordinary people like us. They figured that their future was behind them and heard
that Babylon’s gods must be supreme because the God of Abraham and Isaac and
Jacob and Moses and David had allowed them to be overcome. They were
strangers in a foreign land, a captive people. They simply had lost their faith. It is
always to a concrete context, always to a particular people, that the Word of God
is addressed.
Sometimes we speak about the Bible as being the Word of God, but the Bible isn’t
the Word of God. The Bible is a record of the Word of God that once has been
heard, and that is heard again and again as the Holy Spirit moves upon the sacred
page. But this isn’t the Word of God. We would love to have this be the Word of
God, because then we could get it all between the covers of this book and we
could master it. We could master the Word of God. But that is not the Word of
God. It is a record of how the Word of God in the past has come to expression,
around those originating events of our tradition - Israel and Jesus. And that’s all
it is.
© Grand Valley State University
�Weaving Our Way into God’s Story
Richard A. Rhem
Page 2
Yet the Word of God is always God’s word addressed to concrete people in their
contemporary situation. It is a word of grace, or a word of judgment, but it is
always God’s word here and now. This little section of prophecy in Isaiah 40 to 55
is a beautiful example of it. You will recognize how chapter 40 begins, from
Handel’s Messiah. “Comfort ye, comfort ye, my people, says your God. Speak
tenderly to Jerusalem and cry to . . . etc.” And then in the 6th verse, “A voice says,
‘Cry, and the prophet says, “What shall I cry?” And what he is really saying is,
“What’s the use of crying? What’s the use of speaking? All flesh is grass. All
human flesh is transient, passive, fading. Why should I cry? The grass withers,
the flower fades, the breath of the Lord blows upon it. The people are grass. What
is there in this call now to cry? Why should I cry?” Well, says verse 8, that’s right.
The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.
So, now, get back into the cities of Judah and say, “Behold your God. Lift up your
hearts. Raise your voice in the midst of that people and tell them that I’m not
through. I’m not finished. There’s still something going to happen in the future,
and it’s going to be a word of salvation.”
It ends beautifully in the 40th chapter, verse 28:
“Have you not known, have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the
creator of the earth, he doth not faint or grow weary, and his understanding is
unsearchable. He gives power to the faint and to him who has no might he
increases strength. Even youth shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall
exhausted, but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall
mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk
and not faint.”
So you see, this is the Word of God addressed to this people in their situation and
they are called to hope. Fear not. Hope in God. Watch. Something is going to
happen. I’m not through yet.
And then the 55th chapter is the concluding part of this writing, which has many
beautiful passages in it. If we start at the 6th verse:
“Seek the Lord while he may be found. Call upon him while he is near. Let the
wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous one his thoughts. Let him return to
the Lord that he may have mercy on him and to our God, for he will abundantly
pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts. Neither are your ways my ways,
says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth so are my ways higher
than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain and the
snow come down from heaven and do not return thither but water the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout, giving seeds to the sower and bread to the eater,
so shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth. It shall not return to me
empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose and prosper in the thing for
which I sent it.”
This is the word of the Lord.
© Grand Valley State University
�Weaving Our Way into God’s Story
Richard A. Rhem
Page 3
And the New Testament lesson from the Book of Acts, the 11th chapter, is Peter’s
summary of what he had just been doing because he had had a vision and was
sent by this vision to the house of Cornelius, the Roman leader, where he had told
the story of Jesus and saw the Holy Spirit fall upon them. Now, of course, for
Peter, a Jew, to go to the house of a Gentile was forbidden. And, of course, the
Church then being good Jewish people, they criticized him and so he had to give
account of himself, and the 11th chapter is Peter relating his experience. “Now the
apostles and the brethren who were in Judea heard that the Gentiles also had
received the Word of God, so when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcision
party criticized him saying, ‘Why did you go to uncircumcised men and eat with
them?’ And Peter began to explain to them,
I was in the city of Joppa praying and in a trance I saw a vision, something
descending, like a great sheet let down from heaven by four corners, and it came
down to me. Looking at it closely I observed animals and beasts of prey and
reptiles, and birds of the air, and I heard a voice saying to me, “Rise Peter, kill
and eat.” But I said, “No, Lord, for nothing common or unclean has ever entered
my mouth.”
But the voice answered a second time from heaven, “What God has cleansed you
must not call common.” This happened three times and all was drawn up again
into heaven. At that very moment three men arrived at the house in which we
were, sent to me from Caesarea, and the Spirit told me to go with them, making
no distinction. These six brethren also accompanied me and we entered the
man’s house, and he told us how he had seen an angel standing in his house and
saying, “Send to Joppa and bring Simon, called Peter. He will declare to you a
message by which you will be saved, you and all your household.” As I began to
speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them just as on us at the beginning and I
remembered the word of the Lord how he said: “John baptized with water, but
you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” If then God gave the same gift to them
as he gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could
withstand God? When they heard this they were silent and they glorified God
saying, “Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance unto life.”
This is the word of the Lord.
I suppose it’s the campaign, the political campaign, the election coming and all
the issues that are constantly before us, and we are bombarded by the media from
every angle, but I sense there is a lot of unrest and dis-ease, restlessness and lack
of clarity in the minds of many people. Such ambiguity out there. Maybe I’m just
getting old. Maybe I don’t remember any more former elections, but I don’t ever
remember a time when so many people were so dissatisfied with their favorite
candidate - and when it seems that so many people are going to vote for the least
unliked person. However that may be, all of the issues are before us and it seems
as though we are in a time of social upheaval and chaos. There is just a lot of
unrest in the body politic.
© Grand Valley State University
�Weaving Our Way into God’s Story
Richard A. Rhem
Page 4
But really that isn’t so unusual. All historical times are messy, full of ambiguity.
We only dream of the Golden Age and the Good Old Days and the past; they
never did exist really. We are simply in the midst of times that are changing. That
is always the rule, because history is an ongoing movement, this ongoing tide. We
would love to be able to stop the process somehow or other. We would love to be
able to have some absolutes in the midst of all the relativities. We would love to
have a place to stand in the midst of shifting ground. There is that lust for
certitude in our hearts - that longing for something that is more stable and
something that is certain. But it’s really never that way. It never has been that
way.
The thing that has always tried to dislodge God’s people from that place to stand
is the Word of God. The Word of God is always a word that would unshackle and
set free and propel, and energize and move God’s people in accord with the
purposes of God. And it seems to me that as the people of God, one of the
wonderful assurances that we could have is that our life has meaning and
purpose, and that our life is being woven into a tapestry that God is weaving.
Well, do you believe that? Do you really believe that?
Is there the uncanny that laced into our lives that we cannot explain, but in which
we trust? Is there a purpose and a meaning that infiltrates history? Is there an
invisible hand? Not Adam Smith’s invisible hand that drives the market, but is
there an invisible presence powerful and purposeful that impacts the movement
of things, that engages our willing and deciding and planning and strategizing? Is
there more than meets the eye in the ongoing movement of human history? Is
God “a Weaver of a tapestry vivid and warm...?” Is God able because God is a
“Spinner of Chaos...” to effect God’s purposes - ultimately? That really is the
question. Do you live with that kind of fundamental trust - or aren’t you so sure?
Are things just up for grabs; is it chance? Is all human ingenuity and human
willing? Or is there woven in and through it all the eternal God?
Well, the prophet believed in the Word of God to effect history. In Hebrew it is
interesting that the term for word and deed is the same word, because the
Hebrew conception of God speaking of God’s word was God effecting that word.
A word was not an empty word. A word was an action word. A word was the
Word of God effecting the purpose of God, and so the Hebrews have given us the
prophets and that dynamic sense of history moving toward its goal. Not the old
cyclic eternal return, but this ongoing movement. That’s an Old Testament
conception. The prophet as the spokesperson for God was the effector of those
purposes. The prophet spoke to the people of God, a word from God. And that
word in this case, as we saw in Isaiah 40 to 55, was a word of comfort. It was a
word that said to a people in despair, “Fear not.” The people of hopelessness wait
on the Lord. And that word is full of hopeful expectation. They that wait upon the
Lord shall renew their strength and say to the cities of Judah, “Your God is
abroad. Lift up your voice. Cry out a word of salvation.”
© Grand Valley State University
�Weaving Our Way into God’s Story
Richard A. Rhem
Page 5
This word the prophet says will be effected – it’s going to happen. Oh, you can’t
get a neat blueprint of it. You can’t nail it down and be so certain it is just this way
or that way, because “my ways are not your ways and my thoughts are not your
thoughts. My thoughts are higher than your thoughts.” God never becomes
simply accessible to our human conjure. We can never get it all clear.
I smile at those who claim that there is absolute truth. Well sure there is absolute
truth - but we don’t have it. We only have an approximation, a relative grasp of
that which is beyond us. And we are always groping, always feeling our way,
because we can only know within the rootedness of our lives in that movement of
history. Sometimes, when you hear preachers talk, you would think that
somehow or other they were able to get out of the stream of history and look
down and see the whole picture. Not so. The Word of God comes to us and that
word is released. God’s spirit breathing through that word continues to effect
God’s purposes. That’s why the Reformation insight was that there was the word
in the flesh of Jesus and the Word of God written, and the word preached. The
preaching of the word was presumptuous. And yet right at the heart of our
Reformation tradition was the belief that the Word of God preached becomes
again the Word of God because it addresses concrete people in a concrete
situation with a word – a word of judgment or a word of grace.
So in the Old Testament in the experience of Judah there came this voice, in spite
of the fact that the people were despairing, this voice speaking into that transient
ambiguous human situation encouraging people to be not afraid - to trust in God.
The Word of God is always calling people to trust God, not to know everything
that God is doing, but just to trust God. Fundamentally to trust God, to trust that
there is that invisible hand - that there is that intangible person - that there is
something more than meets the eye that’s going on. But the Word of God is
always a word addressed to God’s people trying to get them moving and setting
them free and finding their lives caught up in this grander purpose of God.
So what happens to Peter living in the wake of that time when God’s people shut
down, rejected the “word made flesh,” the one whom God raised up. In the
experience of that early church we see that once again that word coming, and
nudging and pushing and shoving. Peter says, “Not so, Lord.” The word comes
and says, “Yes, Peter.” And so Peter goes to the house of Cornelius and he says,
“You know I shouldn’t be here. I am not supposed to associate with you folks.
That’s what my religious tradition and my religious training has taught me, but
now I am being pushed to do what breaks and shatters my neat little system of
ideas.” And so there he is in Cornelius’ house and what does he do? He gives the
word. He tells the story - he tells the story of Jesus. And it becomes in the telling
the instrument of revelation and insight, and the Spirit of God falls on these
people. So Peter goes back and they say, “What in the world are you doing
traipsing with Gentiles?” And Peter says, “What in the world was I supposed to
do? Here’s my story . . .” And he just throws up his hands and says, “How could I
hinder God?”
© Grand Valley State University
�Weaving Our Way into God’s Story
Richard A. Rhem
Page 6
I submit to you, dear friends, that it is not the world that hinders God; it is the
Church that hinders God. The Word of God has problems with the people of God
because the people of God always want to shut down - always just love to have it
right here. It’s not right here; it’s beyond us. It’s in things we haven’t yet dreamed
of. It is the word that keeps coming to us here, and wherever, because God is
always calling us to find our lives being woven into a larger pattern and a grander
design in the tapestry God is weaving.
We in our Reformation tradition have found our center back in the 16th century,
but if you read the somewhat recent biography by William Bowsma, you find that
the 16th century was a period of social chaos and unrest, probably not so different
than our own period. It was a period when the Renaissance had permeated the
European scene, and the Reformation was afoot and it was leading to the Age of
Reason. And all of the old forms and all of the old structures were being
challenged and were falling away. All kinds of new configurations were
developing and our saint, John Calvin, was a man whom Bowsma says was
characterized by anxiety. But some reviewer in the New York Times says that,
according to the way Bowsma describes it, it wasn’t simply anxiety; it was angst,
the pain of the world. John Calvin was a man torn.
There were two vivid images that shaped his life: one was the abyss. He was
terrified of the abyss - a kind of a free-fall without structure or order. And on the
other hand the horror of the labyrinth, being entrapped in all kinds of tunnels
and channels and structures. John Calvin was a man who throughout his days
was filled with anxiety, with angst, with the pain of existence. He was a great
Christian leader, but . . . for us today to imagine that the 16th century was some
kind of century of pristine clarity and subtle truth is simply to deny reality. And
for us today to think that the answer is for us to somehow or other hark back to
that - to reassert it, to reaffirm it, to renew it, to revive it, to cling to old structures
and old forms, to buttress them and to shore them up and to buoy them up - is to
fail to see that we are God’s people today and the Word of God addresses us today
for tomorrow!
We’ve always got a choice. It is either to hark back, to shut down, or to trust God
and open up. And it is the call of the Word of God for us to be shapers of the
future, not the guardians of the past. In gratitude for what has been, it is our task
to address the Word of God to shape what will be.
We are at one of those interesting points in history - one of those hinge points in
history. The Renaissance is past, and the Reformation is past, and the
Enlightenment is past. The Modern Age has come to an end. We are in the Postmodern period and its configuration is not yet at all clear, but we are at a time
when there is a shifting and a sifting. The word today is paradigm. Everybody’s
looking for a new paradigm. And at such times there is a lot of fear abroad and
there is a kind of desperate attempt to hunker down and hold on.
© Grand Valley State University
�Weaving Our Way into God’s Story
Richard A. Rhem
Page 7
The fundamentals of the word that some of us are looking at on Wednesday
nights are indications of that social dis-ease with the chaos and the attempt to get
hold of something that is tangible and something that can be grasped, and some
place to stand. You can’t stand. You’ve got to move. The good news is that you
don’t have to be afraid, for the Word of God is always out ahead of us, and out of
the chaos God is able to create beauty. Remember the image of Brian Wren in the
hymns that we have sung here
“Spinner of Chaos,
pulling and twisting,
freeing the fibres
of pattern and form,
Weaver of stories,
famed or unspoken,
tangled or broken,
shaping a tapestry
vivid and warm.”
Have you not heard? Have you not seen? The Everlasting God is not weary, nor is
there any lack of his strength. The Creator of the ends of the earth neither
slumbers nor sleeps. God is not dead, and God’s finest word was not yesterday,
but tomorrow – and today . . . today. So it’s not all settled. So it’s ragged around
the edges. Do you trust God - or not? Are you able to flow with it because you
trust God? Or have you no faith? Do you want it nailed down - i’s dotted, t’s
crossed? The last word spoken back there? Not so. God’s people are always faced
with a choice - to trust God today for tomorrow on the basis of God’s steadfast
love and faithfulness in the past. But it’s always before us, dear friends. And the
Word of God is always “Don’t be afraid.” The best is yet to be - through ups and
downs, through valleys and mountains, darkness and light, but God will not
abandon us.
My friend, Ernie Campbell, in his recent newsletter talks about the urge to shrink
the world. And he says, “As I listen to others who speak for God professionally
and I listen to the murmurings of my own heart, I am forced to conclude that
many of us live with a kind of chronic sense of being overwhelmed.” Can you
identify with that? A chronic sense of being overwhelmed - more questions are
being raised than we can answer. Old reasoning doesn’t fit. Someone in the night
moved all the landmarks. Right? Ministers in their 50s and 60s longing to retire,
(Not this one, thank God, but I’ve got a lot of colleagues that can’t wait to get out.
That’s too bad.) Couples, so happy that their child raising days are over. Too bad.
Can’t God nurture tomorrow’s children? Is God unequal to the future?
Fingers pointing in all different directions to the cause of malaise. Ernie pictures
a castle turret and people going up with binoculars and one looks out in this
direction and says, “The problem with our world is theological; they’re taking our
© Grand Valley State University
�Weaving Our Way into God’s Story
Richard A. Rhem
Page 8
God away.” Another looks in another direction and says, “No, no it’s cultural;
where have all the values gone?” Another looking this way is saying, “No, it’s
economic; the world can’t support what we’ve been used to any more.” And a
fourth one looks off in the other direction and says, “No, it’s the ongoing tide of
history; what is one to do?” Well, that’s what Ernie asks, “What to do?” He
suggests that there is that urge in us, probably all of us at one time or another just
to shrink our world. Cut it down to size. To go back inside; the cloister calls. What
we ought to do is cut back. Stay home. Build a colony of faith in this benighted
world. Doesn’t that sound pious? And then he says that the churches that have
gone back inside are faring better, it would seem, than the congregations that are
still intent upon making a difference in the world. The world of claimed absolutes
tends to be quiet and reassuring, but the charged atmosphere outside where
people claw and scrape for a relatively better rather than an absolutely right will
always be subject to division and hostility. Shrink your world. To God, yes. To
scripture, yes. To prayer, yes. To family values, yes. To growth in grace, yes. Let
the church be the church.
Ernie says, “I have more respect for this position every day. I watch the Orthodox
Jews in my neighborhood, marked by their peculiar dress, simply doing their
thing. It’s tempting.” Withdraw. Shrink to size. Shut down. Now I’m just about
ready to say, “Ernie, Ernie, don’t leave me there. You know you’re my last hope.”
But then in the last paragraph he says, “And yet I cannot.” (Didn’t lose a hero this
time.) He said, “I’ve come too far for that. I may be short of answers, but I believe
that God’s purpose for the world does not collapse when I’m confused. All change
is not decay. The old is shattered that the new may come to birth. I want to help
make it happen. To shrink the world to God and myself in the garden alone, or to
God and the company of like-minded people meeting with closed minds behind
closed doors tortures my theology to an unbearable degree.” We belong outside
the camp, with Him who had the whole world in his heart when he lived and
when he died. Do we shrink the world to fit our faith? Or do we pray for a faith
big enough to match the hour God has given us?
I know not what others may choose, but for me there is only one choice because I
trust in God - the Spinner of Chaos - who says, if hope will listen, love will show
and tell and all shall be well. All things shall be well!
© Grand Valley State University
�
Dublin Core
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Richard A. Rhem Collection
Description
An account of the resource
Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar.
Subject
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Clergy--Michigan
Reformed Church in America
Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.)
Religion
Interfaith worship
Sermons
Sound Recordings
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Rhem, Richard A.
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<a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a>
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Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives.
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Kaufman Interfaith Institute
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English
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KII-01
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1981-2014
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audio/mp3
text/pdf
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Event
Pentecost XIX
Scripture Text
Isaiah 55:11, Acts 11:17
Location
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Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI
Dublin Core
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KII-01_RA-0-19921018
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1992-10-18
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Weaving Our Way Into God's Story
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Richard A. Rhem
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Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
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<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
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Clergy--Michigan
Reformed Church in America
Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.)
Sermons
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Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/
Language
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eng
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Sound
Text
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application/pdf
Description
An account of the resource
A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on October 18, 1992 entitled "Weaving Our Way Into God's Story", on the occasion of Pentecost XIX, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Isaiah 55:11, Acts 11:17.
Divine Intention
Prophetic
Scripture
Trust
Word of God
-
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/ad3714b2e8f6d3762f130322913347d6.pdf
4fd033f50ae55d8c70be0fdd814b33a4
PDF Text
Text
Trust That Survives Tragedy
From the sermon series on the biblical story of Israel
Text: Habakkuk 3:17-19; Psalm 137:1
Richard A. Rhem
Christ Community Church
Spring Lake, Michigan
Pentecost XXVI, November 20, 1994
Transcription of the spoken sermon
Though the fig tree does not blossom, and no fruit is on the vines;…yet I
will rejoice in the Lord; I will exult in the God of my salvation.
Habakkuk 3:17-19
By the rivers of Babylon—there we sat down and there we wept when we
remembered Zion. Psalm 137:1
Israel's story—we have been following in broad strokes the story of that people.
We have been following the story of the people of Israel because it is our story.
The Christian movement that follows in the wake of Jesus is a movement that
comes out of the womb of Israel, for Jesus never intended to be more than an
observant Jew. The God of Israel was his God. The scriptures of Israel were his
scriptures. The hope of Israel was his hope. So for us to understand ourselves, we
need to understand that story. For it is that story that has shaped our identity as
well. We have followed in broad strokes that story, seeing the beginning of Israel
created in the exodus event, when under the leadership of Moses, Israel was set
free from the oppression of Egypt's bondage. We followed them through the
wilderness and into the promised land, into Canaan or Palestine, as we would call
it. We saw them move from a loosely connected tribal confederacy to a monarchy
in order that they might be a nation as other nations. But there was a difference
because, with the rise of the monarch, there was also the rise of the prophetic
word, the prophetic voice that was spoken into the social, economic and political
arena of the life of Israel. The king of Israel was reminded ever and again that he
was not really absolute, not really sovereign, for he served by the grace of God
and under the sovereignty of God, who alone is the sovereign of heaven and earth
and the course of human affairs.
We find them now after that kingdom had gone on for a couple of centuries with
a moment of glory, a golden age, and then downhill all the way. We find them in
722 B.C., the northern kingdom dispersed by the great Assyrian empire, the
© Grand Valley State University
�Trust That Survives Tragedy
Richard A. Rhem
Page 2
southern kingdom, Judah, remaining yet for a time. But in 587 Judah too, is
ripped from her roots, the temple burned, the walls of Jerusalem thrown down,
and the cream of the crop of Judah brought in exile to Babylon.
That's where we find them today. And, it's not the end of the story. But with
Advent Sunday coming next Sunday, the season of Advent, I'll have opportunity
to tell you more of the story. For the Advent hope is really a reflection of the hope
of Israel. The amazing thing is that, although Judah is in exile in a foreign land,
what might have been the end was not the end, for Judah survives and indeed
Israel survives. And that is the amazing truth that I would have you focus on
today. The fact that out of the tragedy and disaster, the natural catastrophe that
overcame this people whose sorrow and sadness was expressed so plaintively in
Psalm 137, there is yet a continuing people because, paradoxically and
surprisingly, it happened as it happens so often that, in the midst of tragedy, trust
is kindled, and out of trust hope is born, and hope lays hold of newness. That's an
amazing truth. It is one of the wonderful learnings from the whole Biblical story that tragedy rather than being the end so often becomes prelude to a new
beginning. That in tragedy trust is born, and from trust hope springs, and out of
the hope, newness arrives. It is really an amazing paradox. It is one of the great
values of learning the Biblical story, of being steeped in that Biblical tradition.
There's nothing there that denies the darkness. There's nothing there that denies
the tragedy. The plaintive tone of Psalm 137 expresses the despair of a people
who are being mocked by their conquerors, who say, "Sing us a song." And they
say, "We can't sing a song in a foreign land." Then they begin to remember
Jerusalem. And isn't it often the case in our experience that we begin to
remember and to value what we have lost? It was in the tragedy of the exile that
they began to remember, and caused them to dig deeper into the spiritual depths
of that tradition that had shaped them as a people. Psalm 137. The last verses
were not sung for you, for how can you sing expressions of raw anger. The last
couple of verses of Psalm 137 are verses that those of us of delicate taste would
wish were not even in the Scripture. They are expressions of anger and hatred so
violent that they could hardly be duplicated, the hatred and the anger focused at
the conquering Babylonians. The awful expression that chills us. "I would that
your little ones were dashed against a stone." But, it's there and it is true to
human experience. No, don't hear me saying this morning that the darkness isn't
really so dark, or the coldness not so cold, or the tragedy not so bad. That's not
being faithful to the Biblical story.
Habakkuk, for example. Habakkuk looked about him also. He was living right at
this hinge-point also. He looked about and he saw the chaos and the corruption
and the violence. He cried out to God, as we have done as well, have we not? "Oh
God, how long... how long?" The mystery of the world is the absence of God when
all goes wrong. Where is God? How long, O Lord, will you cause me to see this
violence? How long will you withhold your hand? Where are you? in other words.
Then there comes to the prophet this consciousness: I am doing a work in your
© Grand Valley State University
�Trust That Survives Tragedy
Richard A. Rhem
Page 3
day that you wouldn't believe if you knew it. I am doing a work in your day,
invisible, unknown to peasant and king alike. But be sure that history is not
simply unraveling apart from my presence. So the prophet says, "I'll go into the
watch tower of faith and I will wait to see the vision. The Word of the Lord comes
to him saying, "Write this vision large so that one running will be able to read it.
Wait for the vision for it will surely come. Know this that the unjust will fail, but
the righteous one will live by faith."
Then the vision comes and in panoramic view he sees, as though the film is
flashing through his mind, the history of his people. In response to that vision we
have that marvelous expression of devotion and praise: "Although I am stripped
bare of everything, yet I will rejoice in the Lord. I will exalt in the God of my
salvation." How do you figure it? How do you figure it?
Will you note this morning that I am not trying to explain it, but I am pointing to
it. I am pointing to a phenomenon concrete in history, Israel's history. As I said a
moment ago, Israel survived. And then I added, "and survives." Israel survives.
When there was no human reason for it to survive except that it remembered and
began again to believe and to hope and to grasp a new beginning. Ah, a conviction
that somehow or other there is some presence or some power engaged with this
whole historical process which we cannot discern or explain, and yet in which we
trust. Was that it? Wasn't that it for Habakkuk? Wasn't that it when he was able
to say, "Take everything away - the crops from the field and the herd from the
stall - take it all away and I will yet rejoice in God, my strength. I will exalt in the
God of my salvation."
How do you explain it? That indomitable trust that issues in hope, that waits for
newness. It is not naive. A faith that has as its center a cross on which one was
crucified cannot be naive. Israel that survives cannot be naive when it looks back
in its own recent history to the cremation of six million of its number in the
Holocaust, standing there as a hard knock in human history. Who can believe
after the Holocaust?
Who could believe after the son of God was crucified? Who could believe? That's
the mystery of faith. I can't explain it. But it's not head-in-the-sand stuff. It's not
pie-in-the-sky stuff. It's the stuff of human experience out of which amazingly the
human spirit yet trusts and hopes and grasps the dawning of a new day. That's
the miracle, which I cannot explain, but to which I point you and why it's so
important that we know that story.
That's why some weeks ago I began this whole tale, because I remember my old
professor Berkhof who told me that he couldn't speak to the younger generation
in secularized society because he said, "They are not prodigals." The prodigals
still knew there was a home and a parent. They are not prodigals; they are the
children of the prodigals. The children of the prodigals don't even know there's a
home or a father. They have no center — homeless. The sign of the end of the end
of the twentieth century, masses of people homeless, adrift, estranged and
© Grand Valley State University
�Trust That Survives Tragedy
Richard A. Rhem
Page 4
alienated, exiled. One of the Biblical images that best bespeaks our own day is
homelessness. No rootage. No place to stand. The story, which continues to be
told, doesn't explain, but it points us to a reality and that is there is no night so
dark but what the dawn will follow. Trust is that which enables one or a people to
survive tragedy, to experience loss, to come to total despair only to find
indomitable faith rising, hope springing, newness dawning. That's the wonder of
the tradition, which has shaped us and given us birth and which we keep alive by
telling the story to those brought to the baptismal font today, in order that with
us they may place their trust in the God, the God of Israel, the God of Jesus.
Next Sunday, Advent I, we'll sing, "O come, O come Emmanuel and ransom
captive Israel that mourns in lonely exile here." And it will be our cry. We'll speak
the Advent word, "Comfort ye, comfort ye, my people says your God." And we'll
find our faith renewed and our hope restored that that same God will surely bring
us home.
© Grand Valley State University
�
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/2480aff3003169db610f067eecaeae80.mp3
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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Richard A. Rhem Collection
Description
An account of the resource
Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar.
Subject
The topic of the resource
Clergy--Michigan
Reformed Church in America
Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.)
Religion
Interfaith worship
Sermons
Sound Recordings
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Rhem, Richard A.
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
<a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a>
Publisher
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Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives.
Contributor
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Kaufman Interfaith Institute
Rights
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<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Language
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English
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Sound
Text
Identifier
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KII-01
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
1981-2014
Format
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audio/mp3
text/pdf
Sound
A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds.
Event
Pentecost XXVI
Series
The First Testament
Scripture Text
Habakkuk 3:17-19, Psalm 137:1
Location
The location of the interview
Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Identifier
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KII-01_RA-0-19941120
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1994-11-20
Title
A name given to the resource
Trust That Survives Tragedy
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Richard A. Rhem
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Subject
The topic of the resource
Clergy--Michigan
Reformed Church in America
Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.)
Sermons
Relation
A related resource
Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Sound
Text
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
audio/mp3
application/pdf
Description
An account of the resource
A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on November 20, 1994 entitled "Trust That Survives Tragedy", as part of the series "The First Testament", on the occasion of Pentecost XXVI, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Habakkuk 3:17-19, Psalm 137:1.
Faith
History of Israel
Mystery
Tradition
Trust
-
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4c29f2bfd768b1583fe119b54ebcd23a
PDF Text
Text
Trust
Third sermon in the series: What the Church Has Forgotten, AA Remembers
Text: Romans 7
Richard A. Rhem
Christ Community Church
Spring Lake, Michigan
July 25, 1982
Transcription of the spoken sermon
"Miserable creature that I am, who is there to rescue me...
God alone, through Jesus Christ, our Lord "
To trust is to have faith or confidence in; to rely or depend upon; to commit
oneself to. Faith is a key word in the New Testament, being the term regularly
used to denote the many-faceted religious relationship into which the Gospel
calls persons - trust in God through Jesus Christ.
Trust in God involves the whole person. If faith is the most common umbrella
term, trust carries with it strong connotations of the total commitment of oneself
to another. When one says, "I believe," it is a conscious and deliberate act, but it
carries with it the idea of surrender to a new reality.
A variety of terms can be used to describe this surrender, but implicit in the act of
faith or trust is the element of acknowledgement - one knows and acknowledges
the one in whom one trusts and the element of commitment - the entrusting of
oneself to another.
Volumes have been written on faith or trust. The nature of faith and its place in
the Christian scheme of redemption have been endlessly discussed and debated.
Too often trust has been defined and delineated in abstraction and what has
resulted is a sterile theological proposition or doctrinal statement. Our interest in
this message is more practical and experimental. We will look at trust as an act
of stepping out of ourselves and outside our experience, looking to a gracious
Power beyond ourselves, surrendering ourselves to the care of that Power - that
Power that for us has been made known as the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ.
In this series of messages we are paralleling the Twelve Step program of
Alcoholics Anonymous with the Gospel of Christ, not in order to learn AA’s
Twelve Steps, but rather to learn again the Gospel diagnosis of the human
situation, the remedy in the Grace of God and the way of life to which the Gospel
© Grand Valley State University
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calls us. These things AA has discovered and by them alone they live. These
things too often the Church forgets, encrusting this way of human transformation
with religious burden and institutional baggage.
Step One: We admitted we were powerless over alcohol -that our lives had
become unmanageable.
Step Two: We came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could
restore us to sanity.
That Power was left undefined, our relationship to that Power left unexplained.
In the AA program - which is spiritual, but not religious, that Power is never
defined, nor must one subscribe to a carefully delineated formula of
relationships.
Step Two is little more than a positive response to the cry out of desperation -Is
there Someone who can help? Step Two points to the existence of a higher
Power.
Step Three takes us further We made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as
we understood Him.
Step Two speaks of little more than our openness to the truth of the existence of a
higher Power - of God. Step Three speaks of opening one's life to God. It speaks of
decision, thus to a deliberate act. The decision is to turn one's will - indeed, one's
whole life - over to the care of God.
Steps One and Two were reflective in nature:
My life is unmanageable!
Possibly there is Someone who will help!
Step Three requires more than the acceptance of the truth of a statement. It calls
for affirmative action. At Step Three the alcoholic is called to act to let God into
his or her life.
It is the profound conviction of AA that anyone can begin to let God into his life if he is willing. Willingness is the key. One has acknowledged he is powerless.
One has come to a point of at least minimal faith that there is a Power - gracious
Power. Now one is at the point of decision; one decides to turn over one's will,
one's life to the care of God.
AA shows great wisdom in separating Steps Two and Three. The world is full of
people who believe there is a God, but too few have ever experienced the power of
God operating in their lives. It is the entrusting of one's life to God that allows the
© Grand Valley State University
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flow of God's power to effect our lives. It is trust - which is more than intellectual
assent to the proposition "God exists" - which puts us into vital relationship with
God. Trust is the action called for when Steps One and Two have become our
profound conviction.
Step Three is the watershed. It is the end of the self-life. It is the beginning of the
God-controlled life. This step is what the New Testament means by conversion. It
is a turning point. A turning from self to God, from independence to dependence,
from self control to God-control, from self will to God's will, from impotence to
Power, from death to life.
There are many people who are religious. Too few people experience power in
their religion. It is when one consciously and deliberately turns from oneself and
turns to God that one is in a place to appropriate the Power that transforms
human existence. Only a vital, personal, total surrender of our wills to God puts
us in touch with His life-changing Power.
There is much that could be said about the background of this commitment
according to Christian teaching. Behind the commitment must be the prior work
of the Holy Spirit convincing us of our need. And the work of the Spirit points to
the Grace of God - His initiative as He reaches out for us and pursues us through
the labyrinth of our human predicament. But it is clearly a biblical teaching that
decision is demanded.
That decision may be an undramatic, quiet resolution of the heart.
That decision may come at the end of a long process of conflict and
struggle.
That decision may be made as a result of a sudden crisis experience.
There is no stereotype that can be advocated. What must be insisted upon is that
one must decide to turn over one's life to God.
There is an interesting aspect of AA's understanding of this decision to turn one's
life over to God which is largely forgotten in the Church - especially that part of
the Church that most stresses conversion. Conversion is not once for all, as
though once accomplished one was through with it. Too much of the evangelical
Church stresses the initial commitment so strongly that the impression is made
that once that is handled one simply goes on as a Christian. Perhaps this is why
there are so many professing Christians who demonstrate little power, little of the
reality of God in their lives.
AA has discovered what the Heidelberg Catechism understood in the sixteenth
century; conversion is not once for all, but daily - the daily dying of the old man
and the daily making alive of the new man. AA goes further; it is the moment-bymoment turning over of one's life to God. One day at a time - one moment at a
time. Living by the power of God is a dynamic process of appropriating that
power, of turning over our wills to His.
© Grand Valley State University
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Richard A. Rhem
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There is another AA insight the Church needs to relearn. While we must stress
the deliberate, conscious act of the will in commitment, we must know that we
are dependent on the enabling grace of God even for such an act of faith. If it
were I who finally chose for God it would still be "I", the self determining the self.
But it is precisely self-sufficiency of which I must be rid. Thus the appeal to the
will of so much hardcore evangelism is still an appeal to self-determination.
Rather than having confidence in his self-determination, the alcoholic says only
he is willing.
To clench my fists, to grit my teeth and to say, "I am determined..."is quite
different from saying, in total self-resignation and surrender, "I am
willing..."
The latter is AA's way. It is a way that acknowledges that rescue comes by grace.
As one recovering alcoholic put it,
You don't reach for God. You become willing to have Him take over, and
He reaches for you!
Trust is surrender. AA lives by this truth and, if we understand ourselves and our
faith, so do we in the Church.
Surrender to God.
Total dependence upon God.
Moment by moment appropriation of His grace and power.
That is salvation, rescue, redemption.
Consider now the experience of St. Paul. I chose Romans 7 as the biblical basis
for this message even though it is not one that would seem to speak to the matter
of conversion as the church has understood it. Yet I believe this passage
illustrates vividly what these first three messages have been trying to point out.
Romans 7 is a hotly debated chapter. Was Paul speaking autobiographically,
telling his own story, or was he speaking of the human situation in general? And
even more hotly contended is the question whether he is describing the
experience of a believer or the experience of one before conversion. Perhaps as
with no other passage, there continues to be little agreement on that question and
excellent biblical scholars, ancient and contemporary, can be lined up on either
side of the questions.
Obviously, I will have to give you space to understand this passage as you become
convinced in your own mind. I will, however, tell you how I read it while
admitting one should not be dogmatic and should always remain open to a new
insight and angle of truth.
© Grand Valley State University
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Richard A. Rhem
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I believe the passage describes the human condition - the enigma of our human
nature; but I believe Paul does that so poignantly, so vividly, so powerfully
because it is a description of his own experience. So much for the first question.
I believe as to the second question that Paul is describing in Romans 7 the
experience of a believer rather than a pre-conversion struggle. As we look at the
passage I trust that my reasons for adopting these positions will be clear.
Let me begin the exposition by pointing to the text - a cry of miserable despair, an
expression of grateful trust. Listen to Paul:
"Miserable creature that I am, who is there to rescue me out of this body doomed
to death?"
There you have despair, although not absolute despair. Paul has not given up on
the possibility of Someone to rescue him. Do you recognize Steps One and Two?
There follows an expression of grateful trust:
"God alone, through Jesus Christ our Lord! Thanks be to God!"
Do you recognize there Step Three?
Although the word trust or faith does not appear, it is obvious that Paul points to
God Who has reached him through Jesus Christ - God alone; God his only hope,
the God of Salvation in Whom he trusts, to Whom he commits himself, the God
to Whom he has made unconditional surrender.
Having begun with the conclusion, let us now examine the dilemma out of which
Paul cried for deliverance. The great question Paul is dealing with is how a person
becomes right with God. Essentially there are two ways, two ways which divide all
religions into two camps. Either through human effort and achievement one
makes oneself right, or one trusts the grace of God to make one right, trusting
God to do what one has found impossible to do.
Paul's position is...
Salvation (being right with God) is God's gift.
It is of grace.
It can never be achieved, earned or merited.
His antagonists, in this case, Jewish legalists, believed
Salvation must be achieved through obedience, the performance of God's
will in obedience.
The Jewish position saw the human will as having the ability, the power, to
perform, to keep the Law.
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Paul saw the human will as powerless so that the more one was concerned fully to
follow the Law, the deeper one mired oneself in the misery of powerlessness.
Paul's position will be illustrated somewhere in this area today. On a beautiful
Summer Sunday with thousands flocking to the beach, the parking lots will be
filled and people will have to park on the street and just off the street. Someone
will misjudge the shoulder, not realizing it is nothing but sand. The car will sink.
As they try to accelerate to gain sufficient power to extricate the car, the wheels
will spin, but rather than propelling the car forward and out of the sand, the
wheels will spin where they are, digging themselves in. The more gas that is
given, the quicker the car will burrow down until the axle will be resting solidly
on the sand. The only possible deliverance is for a power from the outside to pull
the car out - its own wheels moving in response to the power of the other vehicle,
but simply turning as they are turned with no power applied from the buried car
itself.
This was precisely Paul's experience.
Read his autobiographical statement in Philippians 3. He says if you want to talk
about credentials, confidence on external grounds, qualification, achievements,
in sum, one's own record, let me mention mine.
"Circumcised on my eighth day, Israelite by race, of the tribe of Benjamin, a
Hebrew born and bred; in my attitude to the Law, a Pharisee; in pious zeal, a
persecutor of the Church; in legal rectitude, faultless." Phil. 3:5-6
That is some record. Never was one more serious about life's ultimate concern.
Not one of his detractors could match that achievement. Paul knew whereof he
spoke. And where did it get him? In despair.
What did he learn? The powerlessness of his own will to perform what his reason
agreed was the just requirement of the Law. He knew the problem was not with
the Law. He says,
"...The Law is in itself holy, and the commandment is holy and just and good."
But what did that good Law accomplish in him as he tried to follow it fully? It
brought about his death - spiritually. Why? Because he says,
"...The Law is spiritual; but I am not. I am unspiritual, the purchased slave of
sin."
In utter amazement, Paul says,
"I do not even acknowledge my own virtues as mine, for what I do is not what I
want to do, but what I detest."
What is the solution?
© Grand Valley State University
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To look to Someone who can do for me what I cannot do myself.
Here is Step One - Misery; life unmanageable/ Here is Step Two - A Power
beyond myself. And Paul took Step Three - God alone - through Jesus Christ our
Lord!
I believe what Paul describes here is universal. Surely not every person goes
through that agonizing struggle because not everyone has been sensitized by the
claim of God upon his life. Paul acknowledges that, before the Law came,
rebellion was out of the question. But for the person who becomes serious about
being right with God - having one's life in conformity with the Law of love and
justice and compassion, the greater the struggle, the greater the sense of
powerlessness. But I am convinced Paul can speak so vividly of a universal
condition because he read the experience out of his own heart.
Is there no let up, no abatement of the struggle?
Yes, there is. That is why I added the first four verses of Chapter 8. The power of
the Spirit, which is the Power of God, sets us free from the Law of sin and death.
When I entrust my life to another, when I surrender to God through Jesus Christ,
the grace and power of the Spirit accomplish in me what I through my own efforts
could not accomplish. Are there any more blessed words in Scripture than this
marvelous declaration?
" There is now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus."
Here we have the victory cry! Here is rescue, redemption, salvation, help, healing
and wholeness.
Is the struggle over? Do we move from misery to victory once for all? Is Romans 7
the state of unbelief and Romans 8 the state of faith?
I do not think so. I do not think we ever move finally from Romans 7 to Romans
8, from the life of misery to the life of victory. Notice the summary of Romans 7 in
the 27th verse...
"In a word then, I myself, subject to God's law as a rational being, am yet, in my
unspiritual nature, a slave to the law of sin."
To be sure, Paul has made other statements that would seem to contradict this.
For example,
"If anyone be in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away; behold, the
new has come.” II Cor. 5:17
And we know the truth of that statement, too. But it is not as though we move
beyond the first into the second once for all. Here the AA experience has much to
© Grand Valley State University
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Richard A. Rhem
Page 8
show us. It is precisely the day by day and moment by moment appropriation of
the power of God or, to put it more precisely, the moment by moment trusting,
yielding, surrendering to the Spirit that enables us to live in the realm of victory
and escape the situation of misery.
Is there no alternative to the life of Trust?
There is none.
But to live in conscious trust is to live in constant power.
And to live in constant touch with God's saving power is to live in grace.
And to live in grace is to live in gratitude.
And to live in gratitude, in grace, in touch with God's power
is to live indeed!
AA leaves to each person the task of defining God. Note Step Three speaks of God
as we understand him. Here the Gospel of Jesus Christ leaves us no doubt. We
see Him in the face of Jesus. We come to Him through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Jesus said we come to the Father through him and he said, "He that cometh unto
me, I will in no wise cast out."
Have you come to the Father through Jesus, the Son? Can you remember some
moment past that was filled with the glory of His presence, power and grace? Can
you remember when you said clearly and deliberately, "Jesus, I come"?
Have perhaps the years passed and the stress of life taken its toll?
Would you now in the sanctuary of your heart surrender again to the gracious
God Who calls you to Himself, to rest and peace, Who calls you simply to trust
Him and find in Him salvation, healing and health?
Come...
He will set you free!
© Grand Valley State University
�
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Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar.
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Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.)
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Rhem, Richard A.
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<a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a>
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What the Church Has Forgotten, AA Remembers
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Romans 7
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Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI
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1982-07-25
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Trust
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Richard A. Rhem
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Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.)
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Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/
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A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on July 25, 1982 entitled "Trust", as part of the series "What the Church Has Forgotten, AA Remembers", at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Romans 7.
Alcoholics Anonymous
Grace
Spirit
Transformation
Trust
-
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/6e4de325402d055e6ed77eff021b2c5a.mp3
4a14fb17f2ecbf7266b15654afd2f018
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/2a2d8d04182d17b23768b45076643285.pdf
62e56675421ea4018ec860055476ac46
PDF Text
Text
The Worship of God: The Healing of Persons
Text: Psalm 73:16-17
Richard A. Rhem
Christ Community Church
Spring Lake, Michigan
June 19, 1988
Transcription of the spoken sermon
But when I thought how to understand this, it seemed to me a wearisome task,
until I went into the sanctuary of God; there I saw clearly... Psalm 73:16-17
We all love a good fairy tale, children and adults, as well. Perhaps that is because
fairy tales are true. The story comes out right: the good prosper, the wicked are
wasted. Maybe something in the depths of our being responds to that because
something in us knows that is the way it ought to be, should be - will be.
But, the fairy tale is true only if one takes the long-range view; only if God is God,
Sovereign, working God's eternal purposes out, purposes of love and grace and
salvation, bringing about finally a Kingdom in which dwells righteousness and
peace - Shalom.
In the short range, the fairy tale is just that - a fairy tale, meaning a fantasy world
quite out of sync with the real world. In the short range, things do not work out
right – everyone does not live happily ever after. In the short range, one cannot
find the working out of justice, fairness and equity. And if one’s peace of mind
and happiness and wellbeing are dependent upon life being fair and all things
working out in an equitable fashion, one will have slight chance of arriving at
inward peace and joy and rest of soul.
Life is not fair.
There is no justice within the span of a person's existence. No amount of research
on actual, concrete, human stories will demonstrate that things work out right
according to our human standards of what is fair and just. And that is a cause of
much human suffering and anguish. It leads to one of the most serious and
debilitating diseases of the human spirit - cynicism, bitterness, caused by envy
and self-pity.
A cynical and bitter spirit smoldering with jealousy and self-pity has a corrosive
effect on the human spirit; it is to have an acid eating away at one's soul; it is a
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Richard A. Rhem
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source of constant inward pain which is often assuaged by growing callouses on
the soul, hardening oneself against feelings -feelings of joy and sorrow, of
depression and exaltation.
Cynicism is the sneering attitude that denies the sincerity or goodness of human
motives. It is the tendency to criticize and find fault. It flows from one generally
embittered with life, disillusioned with the way things have turned out. Unless it
is checked, such bitterness will become a permanent hardness of heart resistant
to trust, to joy, to spontaneity in any form. It is a kind of spiritual deadness.
There is perhaps no more vivid portrayal of human experience struggling with
cynical loss of faith and embitterment of spirit than Psalm 73. The Psalmist sets
the record straight at the beginning.
Truly God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart.
That is both his conclusion and his premise. He can begin that way because he
has passed through the fires of doubt and struggle and has come to affirm his
trust in God, renewed only after great and painful wrestling with life experience.
Brueggemann comments:
Verse 1 sets the premise for the Psalm, which is also its conclusion. But it
is a different statement when it is conclusion than when it is premise.
When it is premise, it may be taken as pre-hurt, pre-doubt, pre-anguish. It
is then a buoyant statement of naiveté. But as a conclusion, the affirmation
is on the other side of hurt, doubt and anguish. While the words may be
the same, they now bear different freight. Now the unuttered words of
resentment have been uttered. Now the unthinkable thoughts of hostility
have been thought. ... Psalm 73 is an assault on any naive faith. It arrives
tortuously at a second, knowing naiveté. (The Message of the Psalms, p.
116)
Having stated his premise, which is also his conclusion, the Psalmist goes on
candidly to confess that he almost went over the brink, losing his grip on this
fundamental conviction of faith. He writes:
My feet had almost slipped, my foothold had all but given way.
He then goes on to detail his bitter experience of doubt, his dark night of the soul
as he questioned the moral structure of life and the knowledge and care of God.
He speaks vividly, in graphic terms of how everything appeared to him during his
time of intense struggle.
We must recognize immediately that in the midst of his personal torment his
vision is blurred and his judgment warped. He gives us a very distorted view of
things. According to him, the careless, the godless prosper, experience no pain,
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Richard A. Rhem
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no suffering, are strangers to trouble and trial. They grow wealthy, enjoy good
health. They are proud, violent and full of scorn.
Is the picture overdrawn? Probably.
The world is not really divided into two camps, one a camp of white hats, the
other a camp of black hats. To divide the world into the righteous and the wicked
is a bit too simple, too neat. Certainly it is too simplistic for a congregation that
prints on its bulletin week after week the statement of Hans Küng:
The front between the world and God's rule, between good and evil, runs
right through the church, right through the heart of the individual.
Evil is much more subtle and entwines itself in the lives of us all.
This is not to say that there is no difference in people. Certainly there are those
whose lives reflect a commitment to truth, righteousness, justice. There are those,
as well, who seek their own advantage at whatever human cost to another and
with total disregard for what is right and true.
Nonetheless, especially in the Church we need to resist the too simple division of
persons into categories of righteous and wicked. But for the purpose of the
Psalmist's story, it is not so important whether reality reflected what he perceived
or not. The fact is this is the way he felt. This is how it looked to him.
We are indebted to this singer of Israel for revealing his soul to us. He was deeply
hurting. He was angry at the world. He was angry at God. We have been there,
too. And it is helpful to know that this kind of experience is not foreign to God's
people.
The Old Testament is especially healthy in this regard. They stormed heaven with
their wounded spirits and called the Almighty to account. There was no pious
masking of their true feelings. The Psalmist is not the only Old Testament figure
that stormed the citadel of Heaven crying out to God, “How come?”
I wonder what it was that was really rankling the Psalmist. Had he worked hard,
done his best, dealt honestly and lived with integrity, only to have the bottom fall
out of the economy and watch his life's work dribble away? Or had he risked
everything to help a friend, only to have the friend turn on him? Was he
disappointed in love? Did his children prove ungrateful? Had he just learned of a
terminal disease which would soon cut him off?
The particulars are unimportant. Life has more than enough trouble and
heartache to go around and the stuff of which the Psalmist's pain was made is
almost without limit because we can set it down as a fundamental truth of human
experience – Life is not fair.
© Grand Valley State University
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Richard A. Rhem
Page 4
Having admitted that, I want to make a point of application right here; granted,
life is not fair, but
Pain perverts perspective.
If we could learn that well, it would save us much angry bitterness. As we said
above, the Psalmist's view of things was warped, distorted, but this is what he was
feeling. Happy the person who before the crisis promises himself he will make no
world-encompassing generalizations in the midst of his anguish, because, again,
Pain perverts perspective.
Can we understand? Certainly. Have we been there? Most of us, at some time.
But, it can be helpful to recognize ahead of time that how we feel and how things
appear when we are hurting is not a true reflection of reality.
Pain perverts perspective.
When people are in crisis it does not help to try to correct their vision. It does
little good to assure them that “This, too, will pass.” When someone is pouring
out their grief and anguish, just let it come; absorb it; feel it with them. That is
not the time for a brilliant discourse or “a true perspective on Reality.”
However, we can help ourselves be prepared for crisis times if we come to realize
that
Pain perverts perspective.
The Psalmist has already given us his strong affirmation of faith and so obviously
something happened to turn him around. He tells us in verse 16. He had been
quite overcome with his completely negative perception of life. He says,
I set myself to think this out but found it too hard for me, until I went into
God's sacred courts; there I saw clearly what their end would be.
The Psalmist learned the secret of the sanctuary. There, in the presence of God, in
the posture of worship, he gained a new perspective. He found that
Worship is healing.
To make that statement calls for immediate clarification. I am not suggesting that
the primary purpose or focus of our worship is our personal healing. We worship
God. We celebrate the grace of God in response to God's revealing of an eternal
saving purpose, a plan for the establishing of a Kingdom in which dwells
righteousness and justice and peace.
© Grand Valley State University
�The Worship of God: The Healing of Persons
Richard A. Rhem
Page 5
But with that being granted, it is also important to understand the reflexive effect
of our worship - to see how the action of worship has a healing effect on the one
who worships.
The Psalmist says, “ Life was too painful for me; I tried to think it through and I
could not. Then I went into the sanctuary -then I understood.”
In fairness to the text, I should let the whole statement be heard:
... Then I saw clearly what their end would be.
One could hear this as a rather mean satisfaction that “the wicked” will get theirs
and maybe there is some of that operating here. It is a rare person that takes no
satisfaction in the fall of another, particularly if one has been infected with the
disease of bitterness and has wallowed in self-pity.
But even if that is true, there is the discovery here of a fundamental truth about
God and human destiny which is the bedrock of biblical faith. The perspective of
the sanctuary enabled the Psalmist to take the long view and to see that, although
there is no justice in the short run, there is certainly a coming round of all things
in the long run. Within the stream of history there is no possibility of seeing
things whole. It is only in the posture of worship, in the presence of God that one
is able to trust the process, trust the good and gracious and sovereign Lord of
History to effect the promised Kingdom and bring Shalom.
But, beyond the new insight, beyond a renewed vision of God's eternal purpose,
the Psalmist found a Presence. The Presence of God, the God of Abraham, Isaac
and Jacob, the God of Moses and the Exodus, the God of Covenant, the God of
grace and steadfast love, the faithful God. In the sanctuary, in worship, the
Psalmist experienced communion with God.
It is in the gaining of new insight and the experience of communion with God
that healing happens!
Look at the Psalmist's expression of where he was before he worshipped:
My heart was embittered.
I felt pangs of envy,
I would not understand, so brutish was I.
I was a mere beast in thy sight, O God.
Now there was insight - not only on human experience in time and space, but also
self-awareness, self-knowledge, understanding of the paralysis of spirit caused by
his envy, cynicism and bitterness.
The world did not change. Circumstances did not change. The one who
worshipped was changed.
© Grand Valley State University
�The Worship of God: The Healing of Persons
Richard A. Rhem
Page 6
I went into the sanctuary, there I saw clearly.
Thus we have a vivid statement of intense spiritual anguish and suffering and its
cure – going to church! Perhaps that sounds naive. But it is, of course, more than
going to church. It is the experience of worship. The effect of worship on the
worshipper is the healing of the person.
Do we approach the worship of God with such high expectation? Do we recognize
how crucial is the worship of God for the health of our being?
What a strange situation is Sunday morning! Karl Barth describes it vividly in one
of his early essays - the building, the appointments, the songs, the prayers, the
preaching - all of them “saying” more than they say; all of them pointing beyond
themselves to another; all of them crying out, “God is here!”
And we come, Barth says, only half conscious of why - some out of habit, some
out of need or hope - some believing, some not - some open and sensitive, some
hardened by much hard experience. But, we come. And consciously or
unconsciously we come with the burning question, “Is it true?” “Is God God?” “Is
it true?”
Is there reason to hope?
Is there life in the end?
Will grace and truth triumph?
Will there break a dawn which shall know no setting sun?
That's why we come.
And all we do here is in order to lift our lives into the presence of the One Whose
grace will touch us and Whose light will give us light and hope and heal us.
Come, then. Come prayerfully. Come with heart prepared, open, ready to be
encountered. Come and worship, for worship puts us in touch with God.
The wrenching questions are not answered, but there is a Presence.
Yet I am always with thee;
Thou holdest my right hand;
Thou dost guide me by thy counsel
and afterwards will receive me with glory.
Whom have I in heaven but thee?
And having thee, I desire nothing else on earth.
And then he makes this very beautiful expression of absolute trust.
My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and
my portion for ever.
© Grand Valley State University
�The Worship of God: The Healing of Persons
Richard A. Rhem
Page 7
The Psalmist learned to trust when faith came hard. He worshiped and worship
puts us in touch with God. In touch with God. As prayers are offered, hymns are
sung, the Word is proclaimed, trust replaces agonizing doubt, peace mantles my
heart, peace that passes understanding. That is, peace I cannot rationally explain,
but peace I experience.
In the sanctuary, in the posture of worship, the picture clarifies, my perverted
perspective gives way to new perspective; as I worship, I get in touch with God
Who has come close to us in the flesh of Jesus. Reality and truth break in on me. I
see beyond the chaos a larger screen, a heart and purpose of love, a thread of
meaning.
Surely in the awful tragedy and intense suffering that is the daily lot of so many it
must seem that God is dead or worse still, that He doesn't know; that He doesn't
care. But in His Presence, I know He knows, I know He cares.
Here I hear the story again of His own deep plunge into the depths of our
suffering, His own embracing of the worst of our darkness in Jesus, His Son. In
the sanctuary I see the cross and I am reminded that God suffers, too; that God
was crucified with Jesus on the cross; that the heart of the Eternal breaks with
the weight of human sin, rebellion and violence.
In touch with God, I sense that history with its terrible woes and awful suffering
is not all there is; that death and defeat will not have the final say; that the God
Who has joined us in our darkness will finally make some sense out of this
senseless suffering; will yet effect His purposes and cause love to prevail and
peace to be the final word.
In worship, in communing with God, I am healed. I see clearly. I trust. I rest in
the abyss of God's love. Now I can go on.
Amen.
© Grand Valley State University
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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Richard A. Rhem Collection
Description
An account of the resource
Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar.
Subject
The topic of the resource
Clergy--Michigan
Reformed Church in America
Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.)
Religion
Interfaith worship
Sermons
Sound Recordings
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Rhem, Richard A.
Source
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<a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a>
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Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives.
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Kaufman Interfaith Institute
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<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Language
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English
Type
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Sound
Text
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KII-01
Coverage
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1981-2014
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audio/mp3
text/pdf
Sound
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Event
Pentecost IV
Scripture Text
Psalm 73:17
Location
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Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Identifier
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KII-01_RA-0-19880619
Date
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1988-06-19
Title
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The Worship of God: The Healing of Persons
Creator
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Richard A. Rhem
Publisher
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Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
Rights
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<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Subject
The topic of the resource
Clergy--Michigan
Reformed Church in America
Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.)
Sermons
Relation
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Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/
Language
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eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Sound
Text
Format
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audio/mp3
application/pdf
Description
An account of the resource
A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on June 19, 1988 entitled "The Worship of God: The Healing of Persons", on the occasion of Pentecost IV, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Psalm 73:17.
Love
Peace
Presence of God
Suffering
Trust
Worship
-
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/b4ac5666fb2e85eba7516ad43d569866.mp3
84ff4108bf05daa48ee15f33a84418ae
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/57f63e6ac921d1c5d2637de9d7caa88a.pdf
c17c5a4a42a98cece36a251222954c22
PDF Text
Text
The Thread of God’s Plan in the Tapestry of Our Lives
From the sermon series: The Mystery of God’s Sovereign Grace
Text: Genesis 50: 19-20
Richard A. Rhem
Christ Community Church
Spring Lake, Michigan
August 30, 1987
Transcription of the spoken sermon
…Fear not, for am I in the place of God? As for you, you meant evil against me;
but God meant it for good… Genesis 50: 19-20
It is the very nature of our human experience that we can live it only one day at a
time. The present moment can be understood in the context of the past to the
present and such an understanding lends perspective; however, the future is open
and unknown. Consequently, while we are living our lives the meaning of the
whole is not available to us and because the whole is not available to us, neither is
the final meaning of any particular period or event. Thus, not only in regard to
our lives as a whole, but even in regard to single events or limited periods, the
jury is still out.
That may seem unsettling; perhaps we simply don't think about it. Nonetheless, it
is true. Yet we are told that critical for our human wellbeing is meaning and
purpose. The crisis of Western culture, many believe, is precisely a lack of
meaning in human existence. But if we are truly historical creatures and the
meaning of the whole and even the parts is not available to us, from whence can
we derive a sense of meaningful and purposeful existence?
That is the question this series of messages is addressing. We are focusing on the
mystery of God's sovereign grace and such a focus is already an affirmation of
faith as well as an acknowledgement of our human situation. It is an
acknowledgement of our human situation as limited and finite in the fact that we
are speaking of mystery. That is, the meaning of our lives in relation to God's
gracious purpose is not accessible to our human investigation. Human reason is
not competent to unravel the mystery of God's sovereign grace as it embraces our
lives and gives them meaning.
© Grand Valley State University
�Thread of God’s Plan in the Tapestry of Our Lives
Richard A. Rhem
Page 2
But the very idea of a sovereign gracious purpose of God is already an idea which
rests on faith; it is a statement of fundamental trust. It is a faith claim that our
lives find meaning and purpose by resting in and being caught up in a plan and
purpose of God Who is sovereign and gracious.
The specific theme of this message is that the tapestry of our lives is determined
by the thread of God's plan woven through it.
We are often "spooked" by the phrase, "plan of God." Some speak of it too glibly,
too easily as though they are fully informed as to the Divine design. Some speak
of it defensively as though any such plan must reduce human freedom and
responsibility to insignificance. Some speak of it despairingly wondering how in
the world one can ever find it out and fit into it.
Because of the difficulties it raises we have too often been silent about the plan of
God; knowing not how to deal with it, we have simply not dealt with it. Yet what
is more important to our spiritual peace and human wellbeing than a sense that
our lives are meaningful as they are caught up in the plan and purpose of God?
My contention in this message is that one can trust in, if not discern, the thread
of God's plan in the tapestry of our lives. That contention is based on the
conviction that God is working His purpose out in spite of, through and against
every human effort. God does His own work and executes His own sovereign,
gracious purpose at the same time that He fully honors the work of His creatures.
This is a mystery and we honor the mystery; we do not attempt to dissolve it or to
rationalize it. But the contention is essential if we would let God be God and at
the same time reckon with our own freedom and responsibility. Neither the
freedom of the creature nor the gracious sovereignty of God is canceled. They are
not in conflict nor are they to be equated. God's will makes use of all human
action but is domesticated or limited by no human decision or action.
Recall the image of the river. Humans blast away at rock and run bulldozers
through forests and hills to make a canal. God makes the river which meets
resistance and flows another way, but eventually reaches the sea.
The purpose of God may be delayed; it may be held in abeyance; it will not be
defeated. Through every human action and effort runs a transcendent purpose
according to a plan of God, which he will sovereignly effect for salvation and life.
We could soon get bogged down in abstract debate were we simply to argue this
point. This unfortunately has too often been the case in the history of theological
discussion. The Bible does not engage in abstract speculation. Rather, it tells
stories. The narrative of God's going with His people through their history is told
and retold in order to keep memory alive and stimulate hope. The classic story of
God's providence is the narrative of Joseph. It is a familiar story and Joseph is a
favorite Bible character.
© Grand Valley State University
�Thread of God’s Plan in the Tapestry of Our Lives
Richard A. Rhem
Page 3
The story brings to a close the history of the Patriarchs, the history that brings us
up to the Exodus and the creation of the nation Israel. Abraham was given the
initial covenant promise. It passed to Isaac and then to Jacob. Jacob's name was
changed to Israel. He had twelve sons, one of whom was Joseph. He loved Joseph
above the others and showed his partiality openly, giving Joseph a long robe with
sleeves, a mark of his special favor. This offended the brothers and engendered
their hatred.
But Jacob's special favor was not all. Joseph further alienated his brothers when
he related his dreams. While binding sheaves in the field, Joseph told how his
sheaf stood up and the brother's sheaves bowed down to his. It took no special
insight to get the meaning. They hated him!
In another dream, the sun, moon and eleven stars bowed down to him. This was
too much even for Jacob. He reprimanded Joseph.
One day Jacob sent Joseph to see how his brothers were doing with the flocks out
in the field. The brothers saw him coming and decided to do away with him.
Rather than kill him, they sold him to traveling merchants who brought him to
Egypt and sold him as a slave. The brothers ripped his beautiful cloak, stained it
with blood and took it to their father, claiming a wild animal had killed Joseph.
Jacob grieved and would not be comforted.
In Egypt Joseph prospered for the story tells us God was with him. He endured
many trials, but finally was raised to the rank of Prime Minister over all Egypt
because he interpreted a dream of Pharaoh. He said there would be seven years of
plenty and then seven years of famine. He suggested that a plan should be put
into effect to prepare for the lean years. Pharaoh put Joseph in charge and he
proved a wise administrator.
When the famine hit, Jacob and his sons, too, were without food. They went to
Egypt to secure provisions and to whom did they appeal but to Joseph whom they
did not recognize, but who recognized them. In the end, Joseph revealed himself
to his brothers. They were fearful that now Joseph would get his revenge, but
instead he reassured them, saying:
Now do not be distressed or take it amiss that you sold me into slavery
here; it was God who sent me ahead of you to save men’s lives…God sent
me ahead of you to ensure that you will have descendants on earth… So it
was not you who sent me here, but God… Genesis 45:5-8
He then sent them back to fetch father Jacob and there was a moving reunion.
Joseph settled his family in a district of Egypt where they were preserved and
prospered.
But then old Jacob died and again the brothers were fearful. Had Joseph only
restrained his anger until his father died? Would he now wreak vengeance on his
© Grand Valley State University
�Thread of God’s Plan in the Tapestry of Our Lives
Richard A. Rhem
Page 4
brothers? So they came to him, pleading forgiveness. The text tells us they bowed
down before him. (The dream was realized). But again Joseph proved gracious.
In the words of our text he says,
Do not be afraid. Am I in the place of God? You meant to do me harm, but
God meant to bring good out of it by preserving the lives of many people,
as we see today. Do not be afraid. I will provide for you and your
dependents. Thus he comforted them and set their minds at rest.
The Joseph narrative could better be handled in a series of messages for the
richness of teaching that lies embedded therein cannot possibly be handled in the
compass of one message. But let me simply point you to some areas for reflection.
To begin with, note that Joseph speaks of the contrast between the intention of
the genuinely human action of the brothers and the action of God.
You meant to do me harm; but God meant to bring good out of it...
The word for "meant" in Hebrew is hasab. An alternative translation is "plan."
You planned ... God planned...
The reality of our human situation is that we make plans; we plan. It cannot be
otherwise because we are by our very nature creatures open to the future. Some
of us make long-range plans; some of us more or less bump along; still it is a rare
individual who does not at some time think, "Someday I will...”
The scriptures affirm that God plans, too. God is a purposeful Being. Here we
bump into that scary idea of Predestination. Listen to St. Paul.
He has made known to us his hidden purpose – such was his will and
pleasure determined beforehand in Christ – to be put into effect when the
time was ripe; namely, that the universe, all in heaven and on earth,
might be brought into a unity in Christ. Ephesians 1:9-10
God is a God with a plan. Created in God's image, we, too, have the capacity, the
inevitability of planning. It is in the conjunction of our plan and God's plan that
history moves on its way.
Now I could give you a whole list of citations from scripture speaking of God's
plan and human plans. Let me simply say this:
Human planning is a genuinely human action of free and responsible
persons. Those plans are not crushed, tossed aside, treated with derision
by God. They are our acts; they stand. They create their own reality.
God's plan works in, through, in spite of and against our plans.
© Grand Valley State University
�Thread of God’s Plan in the Tapestry of Our Lives
Richard A. Rhem
Page 5
God's plan will finally have its way; sometimes delayed, sometimes
detoured, sometimes held in abeyance; yet God will have God's way.
This the Joseph narrative teaches us.
We must take care holding this truth,
not to claim too much. We must be careful not to picture a God in some ethereal
heaven swooping down and rescuing his people when the going gets tough - a
God who always intervenes to make things right.
That is naive and simplistic and it may create a cozy feeling for some of the time,
but it cannot stand up before the tragedy and suffering of human experience. It
cannot be maintained in light of the experience of Jesus in crucifixion. God is no
"quick fix" for human suffering.
not to claim too little, falling into the trap of a humanism that removes God as
major actor in the human drama, claiming God "has no hands but our hands."
A humanism embarrassed about faith will also miss the point of the biblical
teaching and the confidence and comfort that comes from trusting the working
out of the sovereign, gracious purpose of God. God's rule is no vacuous
sovereignty, the assertion of some absolute but irrelevant power quite removed
from the arena of life and history.
God has a plan. God is working out that plan; we can be certain of it; we can rely
on it. God is working out that plan in and through human willing and planning
and action. God's plan will ultimately have its way.
The text teaches us further, that God plans for our good.
God meant (planned) to bring good out of it.
The series title is “The Mystery of God's Sovereign Grace.” Not raw sovereignty,
not absolute power, not a coercive, crushing, all-mightiness. No, rather a gracious
plan and purpose that will prevail - "for good."
You recognize that word "good." God surveyed the creation He had fashioned and
said, "Very good!" (Genesis 1:31) That is where this book of beginning begins.
Now at its ending, once again we have the affirmation of God's purpose for good
that reminds us of St. Paul's classic faith statement:
God works all things together for the good of those who love him.
When the curtain rings down on the whole cosmic drama, the whole human
story, God will have only one word to speak:
Good.
© Grand Valley State University
�Thread of God’s Plan in the Tapestry of Our Lives
Richard A. Rhem
Page 6
And we shall be wrapped in the eternal praise of God's sovereign, gracious
purpose, finally brought to fruition, and we shall echo the word:
Good. Alleluia!
Thus in our human existence, caught between a world tending toward death and
a God intending life, we live with
Realism - about our human place, its fragility, its peril, its pain. There is no
Pollyanna view of things. Sometimes it is very dark; sometimes it hurts so bad.
Certitude - about the outcome of the whole drama because of the faithfulness of
God.
Realism alone leads to despair because it focuses only on the danger and peril.
Certitude alone leads to romanticism, focusing only on victory and failing to
reckon with battle as though one is immune to the tragedy. Biblical faith is
unflinching in its realism, undoubting about the outcome. Where does that leave
us? Go again to the text; hear Joseph say to his brothers' urgent pleas for mercy,
Am I in the place of God?
Joseph's faith enabled him to wait on the Lord, to commit his way unto the Lord,
to be patient as the drama of his life unfolded. Such a confidence in the
overarching purpose of God enabled him to trust in faith and love.
It saved him from anger, that dissipating emotion that drains one of energy and
creative living, that spoils everything, souring life. How many of us live with
unresolved anger - anger at God, anger at others, anger at ourselves?
It energized him for meaningful action. His administration in Egypt spared the
nation and his own family. God's plan is not the end of human planning, but its
foundation. His life had purpose. Joseph trusted God's plan. Joseph worked the
plan.
As we leave this story, so vivid in its portrayal of God's hidden gracious, sovereign
purpose in and through human purposing, let me leave you with Joseph's
application for our lives. His first word to his brothers was, "Fear not."
That is the word Abraham heard when God called.
It is the word Second Isaiah heard when in Exile in Babylon.
It was the word Mary heard when encountered by Gabriel.
It was the word shepherds heard at the birth of Jesus.
It was the word of the resurrected Christ on Easter morning.
Dear friends, hear it; it is for you. Fear not. Whatever you are facing - fear not.
© Grand Valley State University
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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Richard A. Rhem Collection
Description
An account of the resource
Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar.
Subject
The topic of the resource
Clergy--Michigan
Reformed Church in America
Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.)
Religion
Interfaith worship
Sermons
Sound Recordings
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Rhem, Richard A.
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
<a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a>
Publisher
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Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives.
Contributor
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Kaufman Interfaith Institute
Rights
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<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Language
A language of the resource
English
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Sound
Text
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
KII-01
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
1981-2014
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
audio/mp3
text/pdf
Sound
A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds.
Event
Pentecost XIII
Series
The Mystery of God's Sovereign Grace
Scripture Text
Genesis 50: 19-20
Location
The location of the interview
Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Identifier
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KII-01_RA-0-19870830
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1987-08-30
Title
A name given to the resource
The Thread of God's Plan in the Tapestry of Our Lives
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Richard A. Rhem
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Subject
The topic of the resource
Clergy--Michigan
Reformed Church in America
Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.)
Sermons
Relation
A related resource
Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Sound
Text
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
audio/mp3
application/pdf
Description
An account of the resource
A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on August 30, 1987 entitled "The Thread of God's Plan in the Tapestry of Our Lives", as part of the series "The Mystery of God's Sovereign Grace", on the occasion of Pentecost XIII, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Genesis 50: 19-20.
God's Sovereign Grace
Joseph
Meaning
Trust
-
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/e7ca3560e05a3241f0a4b24309029741.pdf
66162dd6e8ba24367b8ffee05df7d86c
PDF Text
Text
The Old Story Ever New: Formation and Freedom
Richard A. Rhem
Park Church
Grand Rapids, Michigan
November 23, 2014
Transcription of the written talk
I created this title, “The Old Story Ever New: Formation and Freedom,” from
what Max wrote in the “advertisement” about my “talk:”
Rev. Richard A. Rhem will facilitate a discussion on faith, life, heaven, and
the human experience. We will talk about classical interpretations of
scripture, the progressive perspective, and whatever else comes to mind.
Please join us!
I was greatly relieved to read that he promised that I would “facilitate a
discussion” rather than promise that I would lay bare all the mysteries of our
faith and human experience. I was further relieved when our facilitator this
morning, Camille, who has long known me from our Spring Lake days, wrote me,
“I don’t expect you to formally speechify.” You see, she knows me well; I’ve been
known to “speechify” although I had not heard that term before. So I promise I
won’t speechify!
Camille gave me a brief account of the first two discussions in this series and I’m
sure you have had a meaningful time together. From my assignment I sense,
when the series was conceived, your leaders were thinking that after two
discussions on near death experiences, you might be ready to step back and
reflect on human experience in the larger picture –
Is this all there is?
Is there more beyond death’s pale?
What do our classic creeds affirm?
How do we interpret the biblical message?
How do we reconcile ancient creeds and ever-emerging human
knowledge?
If I have sensed correctly that these are questions your leaders anticipated in the
wake of the first two sessions, then it will not be so much answers we seek today
but clarifying the questions with which we live, even as we rest in a fundamental
trust.
© Grand Valley State University
�The Old Story Ever New: Formation & Freedom
Richard A. Rhem
Page 2
As I invite you to reflect with me on these questions and the meaning of our
human journey, let me say a word about how I approach these ultimate concerns.
I see such questions as calling one to serious engagement with the meaning of life
– not questions that have answers.
That was not always the case for me for I was nurtured and formed within a
strong orthodox Reformed dogmatic system.
Dogma is such a familiar term in religious parlance that I can probably take for
granted that everyone knows the meaning of the term. Yet precisely such
familiarity sometimes misses a term’s nuance and depth. I went to the dictionary.
Dogma comes from the Greek – “that which one thinks true, an opinion, decree,
from dokein, to think, seem.” Meanings listed:
1. a doctrine; tenet; belief (also collectively);
2. a positive, arrogant assertion of opinion; dogmatic utterance;
3. in theology, a doctrine or body of doctrines formally and
authoritatively affirmed.
Under “dogmatic” – “asserted a priori or without proof; asserting opinion in a
positive or arrogant manner.”
Checking the synonyms sheds light on the danger of dogma: “imperious,
dictatorial, authoritative, arrogant, magisterial, self-opinionated, positive.”
While I hope I was not authoritative, magisterial, arrogant, etc., I did believe
there were clear answers to ultimate questions and they were to be found in the
inerrant, infallible Word of God.
Although that may sound like I was confident, assured and certain of the
Christian faith I professed and preached, as a matter of fact I was afraid, unsure
and defensive. Every new emerging insight, from growing knowledge of historical
development, from exploding data about biblical formation, from breakthroughs
in the sciences, threatened my neatly formed faith structure.
It has been a long and painful journey for me – so deeply formed, so seriously
threatened. When the carefully crafted structure of orthodox Reformed faith
collapsed in the pursuit of a faith I could rest in, I found there was something
deeper than I had ever known – a fundamental trust that God is Love and Love
is the grain of the universe. I found it to be true for me what the early 20th
century German scholar Rudolph Otto wrote in his book The Holy, where he
attempts to analyze “the feeling that remains when the concept fails.”
I sense that is what you are about in this discussion group – plumbing the deep
questions of meaning in our human pilgrimage. There was a time I would have
felt compelled to have answers. Thank God I now know I can only help clarify the
questions as together we wonder about this amazing human journey.
© Grand Valley State University
�The Old Story Ever New: Formation & Freedom
Richard A. Rhem
Page 3
On further reflection, that early deep formation I experienced was not in vain.
The rational system, the dogma – that, I have learned, was a futile effort to define
the Mystery of Reality – the Sacred, the Holy. But the community, the symbols,
the rituals, the liturgy – the whole religious drama – in my case, the Christian
story – moves me still and points me to the Sacred Mystery of the ongoing cosmic
journey. In her beautiful book Physics and Faith: The Luminous Web, Barbara
Brown Taylor writes,
When I am dreaming quantum dreams, the picture I see is more like that
web of relationships – an infinite web, flung across the vastness of space
like a luminous net. It is made of energy, not thread. As I look, I can see
light moving through it like a pulse moving through veins. I know the light
is an illusion, since what I am seeing moves faster than light, but what I
see out there is no different from what I feel inside. There is a living hum
that might be coming from my neurons but might just as well be coming
from the furnace of the stars. When I look up at them there is a small
commotion in my bones, as the ashes of dead stars that house my marrow
rise up like metal filings toward the magnet of their living kin.
Where is God in this picture? All over the place. Up there. Inside my skin
and out. God is the web, the energy, the space, the light – not captured in
them, as if any of those concepts were more real than what unites them,
but revealed in that singular, vast net of relationship that animates
everything that is.
Marvelous imagery! The whole of reality saturated with the Spirit, the Breath,
that is the energy of the Sacred Mystery we call God, a Sacred Mystery we
describe as Love because, at one moment in the luminous web that enlivens all
that is, a face appeared – the Logos (Word) became flesh, and God, the X factor,
that abstract Ground, Source and Goal of all there is, became concrete. Now there
was a clue as to the nature of the originating, everything-permeating, infinite
Mystery that takes our breath away and gives us breathing room.
Resting there, I readily recognize I have not “proven” anything rationally. But, of
course, that is what I have come to understand – the ultimate mystery of the
cosmic web into which our lives are woven is not available to rational analysis but
rather only to supra-rational or trans-rational, deeply intuitive fundamental trust
before the presence of Mystery.
Brilliant scholars in various fields deny this and conclude quite differently. For
example, the Nobel Prize winning biologist Jacque Monod writes in his work
Chance and Necessity:
If he accepts this (negative) message in its full significance, man must at
last wake out of his millenary dreams and discover his total solitude, his
fundamental isolation. He must realize that like a gypsy, he lives on the
© Grand Valley State University
�The Old Story Ever New: Formation & Freedom
Richard A. Rhem
Page 4
boundary of an alien world; a world that is deaf to his music, and as
indifferent to his hopes as it is to his suffering and his crimes.
Similarly, Erich Fromm, one of the world’s leading psychoanalysts, wrote in Man
for Himself,
There is only one solution to his problem: to face the truth, to acknowledge
his fundamental aloneness in a universe indifferent to his fate, to
recognize that there is no power transcending him which can solve his
problems for him.
If we humans are defined by our reason alone and have to do only with rational
argument – Monod and Fromm define our human situation with clarity – we are
alone and this is all there is.
But there are other thoughtful persons who deny our humanity can be delineated
by reason alone. In his major early work, the Catholic scholar Hans Küng
describes the advent and development of modern atheism in the thinking of
Feuerbach, Marx, Freud and Nietzsche, ending with Nietzsche’s nihilism. A
section on nihilism concludes: “Nihilism – possible, irrefutable, but unproved.”
From that point, Küng’s next major heading is “Yes to Reality – Alternative to
Nihilism.” Within this heading is a subsection he entitles “Fundamental Mistrust
or Fundamental Trust?
Küng obviously will build a case for religious faith building on fundamental trust.
In another work he affirms,
To believe in an eternal life means, in reasonable trust, in enlightened
faith, in tried and tested hope – to rely on the fact that I shall one day be
fully understood, freed from guilt and definitively accepted and can be
myself without fear; that my impenetrable and ambivalent existence, like
the profoundly discordant history of humanity as a whole, will one day
become finally transparent and the question of the meaning of history one
day be finally answered. (Eternal Life, p. 231)
The late Dag Hammarskjold, a General Secretary of the United Nations, wrote in
his spiritual diary, Markings,
I don’t know who or what put the question. I don’t know when it was put. I
don’t even remember answering, but at that moment I did answer “Yes” to
someone or something and from that hour I was certain that existence is
meaningful, and that, therefore, my life in self-surrender has had a goal.
I love that expression – far beyond the limits of rational control – a deeply felt
intuition of the Presence of the Sacred Mystery we call God.
© Grand Valley State University
�The Old Story Ever New: Formation & Freedom
Richard A. Rhem
Page 5
In his Opinion column in The New York Times, David Brooks cites the poet
Christian Wiman who, in his My Bright Abyss, points to the contemporary sense
of cosmic connectedness in reference to the movie “Interstellar”:
But in the era of quantum entanglement and relativity, everything looks
emergent and interconnected. Life looks less like a machine and more like
endlessly complex patterns of waves and particles. Vast social engineering
projects look less promising, because of the complexity, but webs of loving
and meaningful relationships can do amazing good.
As the poet Christian Wiman wrote in his masterpiece, My Bright Abyss,
“If quantum entanglement is true, if related particles react in similar or
opposite ways even when separated by tremendous distances, then it is
obvious that the whole world is alive and communicating in ways we do
not fully understand. And we are part of that life, part of that
communication….”
I suspect “Interstellar” will leave many people with a radical openness to
strange truth just below and above the realm of the everyday. That makes
it something of a cultural event. (David Brooks, NYT, 11/21/14)
As one who began in a serious orthodox understanding of Christian faith which
was defensively reacting to the overpowering movement of Enlightenment
Rationality – thus entering an arena in which it could never prevail, I’ve come to
rest deeply in the fundamental trust in which I was nurtured. With the
contemporary sense of an interconnected cosmic dance of Being, I find great
peace and rest in a conviction that
Heaven is here,
heaven is now
and the best is yet to be!
References:
David Brooks, “Love and Gravity,” New York Times, Nov. 20, 2014
Hans Küng. Eternal Life: Life After Death as a Medical, Philosophical, and
Theological Problem, p. 231. Wipf & Stock Pub., 2003
Barbara Brown Taylor. Physics and Faith: The Luminous Web. Cowley
Publications, 2000.
© Grand Valley State University
�
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Richard A. Rhem Collection
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Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar.
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Clergy--Michigan
Reformed Church in America
Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.)
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Interfaith worship
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Rhem, Richard A.
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<a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a>
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Park Street Discussion Group
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Park Church, Grand Rapids, MI
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David Brooks, "Love and Gravity," NYT, Nov. 20, 2014,
Hans K
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The Old Story Ever New: Formation and Freedom
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Reformed Church in America
Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.)
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A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on November 23, 2014 entitled "The Old Story Ever New: Formation and Freedom", on the occasion of Park Street Discussion Group, at Park Church, Grand Rapids, MI.
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Dogma
Enlightenment
Faith Journey
Love at Core of the Universe
Sacred Mystery
Trust
-
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c0d80f13083483ae20aeb840c0e197c7
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Text
The Mystery of Suffering: Trust in the Darkness
From the sermon series on the Book of Job
Text: Job 13:15, in four translations
Richard A. Rhem
Christ Community Church
Spring Lake, Michigan
Pentecost XII, August 14, 1994
Transcription of the spoken sermon
"He may kill me, but I won't stop;
I will speak the truth to his face, Translation by Stephen Mitchell
"He may slay me, I'll not quaver.
I will defend my conduct to his face." Translation by Marvin Pope
"If he would slay me, I should not hesitate;
I should still argue my cause to his face." New English Bible
"Though he slay me, yet will I trust him:
But I will maintain my own ways before him." King James
I find it is not so easy to bring Job to a conclusion. I struggled in the last service
and am very thankful I don't have such a long struggle this time. I have four
manuscripts in various stages of completion, and had to finally quit and say, "So,
what's the bottom line?" The last word of Job must be this, I believe, "There is a
Mystery of Suffering, in the midst of which we must dare to trust God, even in
suffering’s darkest days."
In his poem, the author of Job makes it eloquently clear that the innocent suffer,
that the kind of world that we live in is a world where cancer strikes "willy-nilly,"
blood clots form, loved ones are ripped from our lives, and sometimes the wicked
prosper and the innocent suffer. The word last week, the voice from the
whirlwind, was God's defense against Job's accusation, which comes to
expression in the text of the morning, "He may kill me, but I'll not quaver." Job
was absolutely convinced that the conventional wisdom was wrong. He was so
convinced that the religious establishment didn't have it right, that he was willing
to stand with his fist raised to heaven. There were moments of deep pathos when
we felt Job reaching out. "Oh that I knew where I might find him," says Job,
because he was convinced that he had a case to make. Ironically, Job in some
ways still shared the erroneous conventional wisdom of his friends. Job still felt
that somehow or other God sent that suffering. And if God sent that suffering,
God was unjust, for in his case, God was in the wrong. Job cried out to heaven
© Grand Valley State University
�The Mystery of Suffering: Trust in the Darkness
Richard A. Rhem
Page 2
and said, "If it takes my life, I'm going to state my case." Well, God showed up, as
we noted last week, and out of the whirlwind Job was given a panoramic view of
cosmic reality and it literally blew him away. He said, "Well, I knew God is big. I
never denied that. I knew if I ever did get my opportunity to state my case I'd
probably have no chance against God so now I will be silent." But he was still
thinking the same way. Once again the voice sounds and God says, "Job, come on
and take my place. What would you do if you were God for a day? Because you
see, Job, the issue is not whether or not I have absolute power. The issue is: What
does one with absolute power do in a world where there are other values as well,
values that I have woven into the fabric of creation—freedom of choice, moral
choice, spontaneously offered worship, virtue done for its own sake? How does
one guard those values in a cosmos like this as one seeks to manage the world,
even if one be God?" God is saying, it seems to me, "The world is not perfect, it is
a world where cancer strikes, a world where people die, it is a world where
darkness can be oh, so dark, but I, God, given the values to which I am committed
and the created order I am weaving together – I, God, am doing the best I can
do."
Well, where does that leave us? Is that a God in which you can find comfort and
security? It certainly isn't the traditional view of God that we have been nurtured
on, is it? The traditional view of God that we've been nurtured on is a God of the
omni's: omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient, knowing all, present everywhere,
all powerful, able to do all. Some of us, at least, who have come out of the
Reformed tradition have had that large word "predestination" hovering over us
throughout all of our days; that is, that all things ultimately are predetermined,
that there is a predestinating will of God that determines all that happens.
I heard a delightful story the other evening. It was a family story about a young
man courting a young lady whose father was a sturdy Christian, of strong
persuasion that predestination is indeed the rule, and that God indeed
determines all that happens. As they were walking the back 40 acres, a donkey
happened to bray and the young man, the interlocutor, said, "You mean at 3:00
in the afternoon on this given date, God determined that that donkey should
bray?" The old man said, "Absolutely. My God is a God that makes it so that
whatever is going to happen is going to happen, whether it happens or not."
(Laughter) Now, Yogi Berra would have been proud to have said that, wouldn't
he? If you think about it, "whatever is going to happen is going to happen
whether it happens or not," now that's a muscular God, that's a macho God, that's
a no nonsense God, that's a God in control. If we want anything, we want God in
control, and understandably so. We don't want to be orphans in a pathless
wilderness leading nowhere. We don't want to feel abandoned and alone on this
spinning mud-heap. But if I hear the voice from the whirlwind correctly, then
that old classic idea of God of the omni's is flawed. In the light of what we know
about cosmic reality, if we know anything about our world, the cosmos, we know
there is a kind of randomness about it. There is an unpredictability, there is the
Huizenberg second law of thermo dynamics (which of course, you all
© Grand Valley State University
�The Mystery of Suffering: Trust in the Darkness
Richard A. Rhem
Page 3
understand), a law that on the one hand was able to open a cause and effect
universe that had no room for miracle or eruption of the new, but on the other
hand shows us that this cosmos is so much more mysterious than we ever
dreamed of. Perhaps the people today, who stand in the greatest awe, are the
physicists who study the mystery of the universe and are continually mystified at
ever deepening reality.
So, the God of the whirlwind is a God who suggests that, while this is not a perfect
world, God is nonetheless engaged in moving it in that direction, and invites us
who are created in the image of God to grow up and to become mature and to join
our shoulders to the task as well. It is not so much that I look at God in my pain
and say, "Why are you doing this to me?" But rather, I sense the presence of God
with me in the midst of the darkness, moving toward the Light. What I really
need to know, I think, is what Job needed to know. He longed not to receive a
logical and rational answer to the mystery of suffering, but to know that there was
someone who would show up, that there was a Voice, that there was Someone
engaged and involved. When Job saw that, Job said, "I didn't know. I didn't
understand. I didn't realize."
If we're honest, I think we would all have to own the fact that we would love to
have God simply a littler larger than our parents, a divine parent, someone who
could make it all right, someone who could fix it all, soothe it all, salve the
wounds. Friends, it isn't so. You know it isn't so. If in that old classic idea of God
where God is throwing all the switches and pulling all the strings, there is an
awful lot of darkness and pain and horror in this world that then has to be
attributed to God. It won't do simply to say that all the darkness and the pain and
the horror of the world is the consequence of human sin and rebellion. There is a
grand residue of darkness for which there is no explanation, and for which there
seems to be no meaning and no purpose.
There is a contemporary school of theology that has been very helpful to me. It's
called "Process Theology," which does not deny God's ultimate power and
purpose, rather sees God neither aloof nor pulling the strings, but rather a God
who is in there with us, a fellow traveler, a fellow struggler, a fellow sufferer, One
who has invited us to join in the creative purposes that would move reality
toward the realization of love and mercy and justice. The vision of Shalom, that
beautiful word, which we translate as "peace," is more than peace. It is a vision of
the total harmony of things. If I understand the God who speaks through the
whirlwind, if I understand the message of the poet-Job, there is a picture there of
a God, who, in the midst of this cosmic reality, is far beyond our ability even to
conceive. It is a vision of a God who is engaged in the movement toward
wholeness and toward Shalom, and invites us to become one with God and the
establishment of justice, and the doing of mercy, and the building of community
for the purpose of Shalom. A God like that I can trust in the darkness, a God who
is for us.
© Grand Valley State University
�The Mystery of Suffering: Trust in the Darkness
Richard A. Rhem
Page 4
This was Paul's conviction. "What can separate us from the love of Christ, famine
or nakedness or peril or sword? Know in all things that we are more than
conquerors through him who loved us. For I am persuaded that there is no angel
or principality or power or thing in the heights or the depths, nothing in all
creation that can ever separate us from the love of God, in Christ Jesus our Lord."
That God I can trust in the darkness, believing that God is for us, that God's
purposes of love are for wholeness and health and Shalom, and that God is doing
all God can do. Given not only God's absolute power, but also God's absolute
commitment to our human freedom and our moral choice, and the universe in
which there is elbowroom for the reality and authenticity of a human creature
living in the image of God. A God like that I can trust.
Ironically, the religious always try to protect God and to blunt human
responsibility. So that as you read the citation of William Safire in the bulletin
states, the translation of Job 13:15, is not as we read it this morning as it is
accurately translated, "Though he killed me, yet I will not quaver," but rather the
mistranslation of, "Though he slay me, yet will I trust him." This translation plays
down the darkness and blunts the edge of Job's charge. But ironically the
mistranslation may actually better articulate the bottom line in the book of Job.
It is said, perhaps even better, in Psalm 23, by the Psalmist who had also
struggled with the prosperity of the wicked and yet says, "Whom have I in heaven
but Thee, there is none on earth that I desire beside thee." I like it better in the
words of Habakkuk who struggled with the place of God in human events, who
finally said, "Though there be no olive crop, though there be no cattle in the stall,
though all be lost, yet I will rejoice in God, my Savior." There is that witness in
our tradition. There is that Biblical witness that is able to say, "Nevertheless... Let
it all be stripped away, nevertheless ... I will trust." That's where Job came to rest.
And that's finally where Job would invite us to rest.
As I said last week, the evidence is divided, the circumstances full of ambiguity.
There is no simple and easy unraveling of the knot of the Mystery of human
suffering. But, finally, the alternatives are embittered cynicism and cursing the
darkness, or trust in God that will sustain one through hell itself—
"Though he slay me, yet will I trust Him."
© Grand Valley State University
�
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/8fd6010e9c25529043ffde293385aeb4.mp3
7317fab644e3402970396d5eb576e560
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Richard A. Rhem Collection
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An account of the resource
Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar.
Subject
The topic of the resource
Clergy--Michigan
Reformed Church in America
Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.)
Religion
Interfaith worship
Sermons
Sound Recordings
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Rhem, Richard A.
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
<a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a>
Publisher
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Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives.
Contributor
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Kaufman Interfaith Institute
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<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
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English
Type
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Text
Identifier
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KII-01
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1981-2014
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audio/mp3
text/pdf
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Event
Pentecost XII
Series
The Job Series
Scripture Text
Job 13:15, Romans 8:39
Location
The location of the interview
Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI
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KII-01_RA-0-19940814
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1994-08-14
Title
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The Mystery of Suffering: Trust in the Darkness
Creator
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Richard A. Rhem
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Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
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<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
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Clergy--Michigan
Reformed Church in America
Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.)
Sermons
Relation
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Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/
Language
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eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Sound
Text
Format
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audio/mp3
application/pdf
Description
An account of the resource
A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on August 14, 1994 entitled "The Mystery of Suffering: Trust in the Darkness", as part of the series "The Job Series", on the occasion of Pentecost XII, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Job 13:15, Romans 8:39.
Hebrew Scriptures
Meaning
Nature of God
Pentecost
Presence
Shalom
Trust
-
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/f60998192905d443efa05e6dcbf72d98.mp3
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The God Who Is Absent
From the sermon series: God, Our Ally
Text: Job 23: 3, 10; Mark 15: 34
Richard A. Rhem
Christ Community Church
Spring Lake, Michigan
July 21, 1985
Transcription of the spoken sermon
Oh, that I knew where I might find him… Job 23: 3
But he knows the way that I take; when he has tried me, I shall come forth as
gold. Job 23: 10
…My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Mark 15: 34
God, our Ally.
That is the focus of this series of messages. The reiteration of that theme over a
sustained period of time will write it indelibly on our minds and weave it into the
fabric of our hearts. With such a conviction being foundational to our lives, we
will be able to negotiate life's perilous way with confidence and hope.
At no time will that be more important and necessary than at those times when it
seems that the God with Whom we have to do is absent. It is such times that this
message addresses and it is with such times that Christian preaching must
honestly deal lest it become superficial sentimentality, a kind of religious
"whistling in the dark."
The proclamation of the Gospel, the announcement of Good News, must never be
an upbeat, positive message of good cheer that communicates the idea that one
should simply keep one's chin up because it is really not as bad as it seems. If the
Church conveys that impression; if Christian preaching is no more than
cheerleading, then it will serve well those who live on the surface of life with no
depth of experience and certainly no encounter with suffering, but it will fail
miserably and soon alienate more serious souls who have been brushed with the
mystery of evil and suffering in the world.
Not only will such superficiality offend those who know the experience of
darkness; it will also fail to do justice to the full spectrum of biblical truth, for the
© Grand Valley State University
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Richard A. Rhem
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biblical message never makes light of the darkness but rather announces a Light
the darkness can never overcome.
But, darkness there is. Real. Devastating. Causing fear and trembling.
God is our Ally. God is there for us.
That affirmation of faith I am attempting to declare from Scripture, approaching
that truth from various angles. But certainly one of the most critical situations
from which to trust that truth is the experience of God's absence.
One of the greatest concerns I have in preaching is that the Truth declared may
leave the one who needs it most in a worse state than before, simply because the
dark night of the soul is so deep, the pain so great, the feeling of desolation so
overwhelming that a message that promises joy and triumph simply cannot be
received. That may sometimes happen in spite of the sensitivity of the preacher.
But it will certainly happen if the message fails to acknowledge the hell of
experiencing the absence of God.
If Scripture is faithfully taught, there will be no danger of soft-pedaling the
darkness, the horror of being alone, lost, in a world from which God is absent.
Let us look then for a moment into the soul of Job. This Old Testament drama
deals in classic fashion with the problem of suffering. Its theme is familiar and its
purpose well known.
The book was written to counter the prevailing idea that there is always a
connection between human sin and human suffering. It is a drama. The opening
verses present the greatness and prosperity of Job. Then scene one takes place in
the Court of Heaven. God speaks of Job's righteousness; Satan, the accuser, says
it is not surprising that Job is so good - see how he has prospered. God says, "Go
ahead, remove everything, test him." So Job loses everything; great calamity and
loss are his. But through it all Job remains faithful. His classic response:
Naked I came from the womb, naked I shall return whence I came. The
Lord gives and the Lord takes away; blessed be the name of the Lord.
(1:21)
Scene two: Again the Court of Heaven. Obviously God won round one. Job was
stripped bare but yet worshiped the Lord. Satan says that the real test comes
when Job’s own health, his flesh and bone are touched. God says, “Go ahead, test
him but do not take his life.” And it happens. Job suffers terrible physical disease.
His wife cries out angrily,
Are you still unshaken in your integrity? Curse God and die! (2:9)
But Job remains a rock.
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Richard A. Rhem
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If we accept good from God, shall we not accept evil? (2:10)
The suffering was massive. Friends came to comfort but for seven days simply sat
there, numbed by the magnitude of the horror.
Now we have the setting for the lesson of the drama. Job finally breaks out in
bitter complaint. He curses the day of his birth. He lets it all spill out. His friends
had been silent, quite overwhelmed by the magnitude of his suffering and as long
as he bore it in silence they too said nothing. But now that he has finally broken
out in bitter complaint, they find their own preconceived notions and pre-set
judgments threatened. Now they feel constrained to answer because what they
believe - their little systems of making sense of the world - was being challenged.
They would have claimed that they were coming to the defense of God, of truth,
of the proper view of things. In reality of course they were coming to the defense
of their own dogmatic opinions. They had certainly come with good intentions of
being comforters to Job in his affliction, but they had also come knowing the
answer to the mystery before they heard the question. Their religious system was
now under attack and so their intention to bring comfort was now overcome by
their need to preserve intact their own world and life view. Listen to Eliphaz go
on the attack:
... now that adversity comes upon you, you lose patience; it touches you,
and you are unmanned. (4:5)
Then he comes to the point:
... what innocent man has ever perished? Where have you seen the
upright destroyed? (4:7)
That was the prevailing opinion. That is what everyone took for granted. It was a
life axiom, no longer even questioned. But Job questioned. He refused to bow to
popular opinion - "What everyone knew." He was a good man. There was no
secret iniquity he was hiding. His probing of the mystery is eloquent.
The dialogue continues: Job's friend defending God for punishing Job, convinced
that whatever Job gets he has coming to him; Job defending himself against their
insensitive taunts. Finally Job cries out in despair at the blindness and obstinacy
of his friends and makes his appeal to God.
Oh, that I knew where I might find him, that I might come even to his
seat! I would lay my care before him ... Behold, I go forward, but he is not
there; and backward, but I cannot perceive him; by the left hand I seek
him, but I cannot behold him; I turn to the right hand, but I cannot see
him. (23:3-4, 8-9)
Job found no comfort or understanding from his friends whose insensitivity has
gotten them the label "miserable comforters." He refuses to accept the popular
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wisdom. He refuses to believe God is doing this to him as a punishment. He
refuses to believe that God would not solve his terrible dilemma.
But, God is absent. He cannot find him. This is the point I want to make for the
purpose of this message. Sometimes God is absent.
Let me simply summarize the resolution of the drama of Job. There is never given
an answer to the why of suffering, the suffering of the innocent, the pervasive
presence of Evil in God's good creation that brushes us all at some point. What is
soundly refuted and persuasively denied is that there is a correlation between sin
and suffering.
God does reveal Himself to Job. Job is quite overwhelmed by the majesty of God.
His persistent questioning seems almost silly in the light of the revelation of Who
God is. He bows and worships.
No answer is given.
But the absent God does reveal Himself. And Job finds that God is enough. A
light scatters the darkest darkness when the Presence is known.
But let us remain with Job in his anguish for a moment. It is so very real and so
very terrifying. In the midst of that darkness, no light is visible, not because there
is no light, but because one is so numbed by the pain that one simply cannot
penetrate the shroud of darkness that envelops the soul.
Perhaps in the Church we do not deal well with the darkness because it makes us
nervous - like Job's friends we rush to God's defense - not that God needs to be
defended but the darkness threatens our own little security systems. We are
really defending ourselves against that darkness. We grow anxious when
someone close to us in a time of great trauma seems to question God or even to
deny that God is, is good and merciful, is there for us.
Job's friends did not do wrong in coming to Job. They did well in coming and
being silent before the awful reality of his suffering. They seriously erred when
they spoke, trying to explain, to rationalize, to defend God.
God needs no defense.
We often simply have no answers. It is our proper posture just to be there and
wait in silence, bringing the comfort of a presence that cares even when it cannot
fathom.
Sometimes God is absent. Sometimes we must simply trust, holding on with
white-knuckled grip.
Job did not give up on God. But he could not find him. Thus his piercing cry,
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Richard A. Rhem
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"Oh, that I knew where I might find him!"
Job's darkness was terrible indeed; yet it did not match the darkness of another
whose cry is differently expressed, yet essentially the same; a cry of total
abandonment and utter desolation:
"My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?"
Still there was a clinging to God - the address is a personal address, "My God."
Yet there was a sense of being abandoned, of being alone in the darkness.
The darkness is real. There is a mystery of Evil in the world. Sometimes there is
no clue - no answer to the anguishing, "Why?" Let us simply acknowledge that.
Perhaps the most horrible instance of such darkness and suffering of the innocent
occurred in our own time. The Holocaust, which claimed the lives of six million
Jews in Nazi death camps, can never be fully taken in. The most eloquent
statement of the darkness I have ever encountered is in Elie Wiesel's account of
his own childhood nightmare in the camps, seeing the smoke rise from the gas
furnaces that consumed his mother and sister and watching his father die by
inches. His account is entitled simply Night.
He writes,
Some talked of God, of his mysterious ways, of the sins of the Jewish
people, and of their future deliverance. But I had ceased to pray. How I
sympathized with Job! I did not deny God's existence, but I doubted His
absolute justice. (p. 55F)
One day a young boy was executed, hung from a gallows with the whole camp
marched out to witness. Elie Wiesel watched, too, himself only a boy. As the child
twisted in the air suspended from the noose, someone behind Wiesel said,
"Where is God? Where is He?"
Again, as he was marched by the child dying agonizingly, he heard it again,
"Where is God now?"
And he writes,
And I heard a voice within me answer him, Where is He? Here He is - He
is hanging there on the gallows... (p. 76)
The Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah, was at hand and on the eve of that day is
a great Jewish festival celebration. In the prison camp the Jews gathered for
worship. Wiesel writes his thoughts.
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"What are you, my God," I thought angrily, "compared to this afflicted
crowd, proclaiming to You their faith, then anger, then revolt? What does
Your greatness mean, Lord of the Universe, in the face of all this weakness,
this discomposition, and this decay? Why do You will trouble on their sick
minds, their crippled bodies?" (p. 77)
…
"Blessed be the Name of the Eternal!" Thousands of voices repeated the
benediction; thousands of men prostrated themselves like trees before a
tempest.
…
Why, but why should I bless Him? In every fiber I rebelled. Because He
had had thousands of children burned in His pits? Because He kept six
crematories working night and day, on Sundays and feast days? ... How
could I say to Him: "Blessed art Thou, Eternal Master of the Universe,
Who chose us from among the races to be tortured day and night, to see
our fathers, our mothers, our brothers, end in the crematory? Praise be
Thy Holy Name, Thou Who hast chosen us to be butchered on Thine
altar?" (p. 78)
…
This day I ceased to plead. I was no longer capable of lamentation. On the
contrary, I felt very strong. I was the accuser, God the accused. (p. 79)
And what was the sensation of this awful situation?
My eyes were open and I was alone - terribly alone in a world without God
and without man. Without love or mercy. (p. 79)
Elie Wiesel has become a strong advocate of the Jewish cause. I do not know
where he is now in relation to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. But certainly
the poignancy of the pain could hardly find more powerful expression than he
gives it in his account.
In his book, The Meaning of Christ, Robert C. Johnson records an incident from
the ministry of H.H. Farmer.
Many years ago I was preaching on the love of God; there was in the
congregation an old Polish Jew who had been converted to the Christian
faith. He came to me afterward and said, 'You have no right to speak about
the love of God, until you have seen, as I have seen, the blood of your
dearest friends running in the gutters on a gray winter morning. I asked
him later how it was that, having seen such a massacre, he had come to
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believe in the love of God. The answer he gave in effect was that the
Christian gospel first began to lay hold of him because it bade him see God
- the love of God – just where he was, just where he could not but always
be in his thoughts and memories - in those bloodstained streets on that
grey morning. It bade him see the love of God – not somewhere else, but in
the midst of just that sort of thing, in the blood and agony of Calvary. He
did at least know, he said, that this was a message that grappled with the
facts; and then he went on to say something the sense of which I shall
always remember though the words I have forgotten. He said, "As I looked
at that man upon the cross, as I heard him pray, 'Father, forgive them, for
they know not what they do,’ as I heard him cry in his anguish, ‘My God,
my God, why hast thou forsaken me?’ I knew that I must make up my
mind once for all and either take my stand beside him and share in his
undefeated faith in God ... or else fall finally into a bottomless pit of
bitterness, hatred, and unutterable despair. (p. 46F)
That I submit to you is a profound and moving response to the incomprehensible
mystery of human suffering. The darkness is real. Wiesel’s God died in the
onslaught of senseless suffering, human cruelty and the absence of God. The
Polish Jew found the love of God in a similar life situation because he sensed that
in the awful agony of another Jew, Jesus, who expressed that absence, there was
yet an undefeated trust in God - even in the depths of hellish torment. He sensed
that Christian faith, the Gospel, if you will, was not a superficial pep pill that
asserted God was in His heaven and all was right with the world, but was an
invitation to trust in the God of love in the deepest darkness, not because an
explanation was offered for the suffering, but that the God of Jesus and the Cross
is a God present in the moments of most acute abandonment. He trusted God in
the darkness because the alternative was horrible beyond description – a
bottomless pit of bitterness, hatred and unutterable despair.
That is the choice we must finally make.
The darkness is real. Biblical faith never denies its reality. Sometimes one finally
cries to heaven,
"Oh, that I knew where I might find him!"
Sometimes one's God dies on the gallows of human evil as did Wiesel's.
Sometimes one cries,
"My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?"
Sometimes - realizing this God invites us to trust him at the very point of history's
darkest hour, one comes to find the love of God just there, as did the Polish Jew.
© Grand Valley State University
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Richard A. Rhem
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Biblical faith never takes lightly the darkness; Biblical faith declares a light that
the darkness cannot overcome - the Light of Easter, of resurrection, of the
promise of God's final triumph over the darkness.
Good Friday was not the last word. Had it been the last word, there would have
been no further word. But Good Friday found its answer in the Easter wonder of
Jesus' resurrection.
That is the one supreme moment of God's revelation - within history, a moment
from beyond history, illuminating history's meaning. An event of the End
happening in the middle of history, throwing its light forward and backward,
giving meaning to the whole and filling the whole with meaning - that life is not a
cruel joke, a cosmic mistake; that life is not a tragic moment bracketed by
oblivion before and oblivion beyond; that life with all the vicissitudes of our
human experience is undergirded and overshadowed by the Presence of the God
Who sometimes seems absent.
St. Paul said it well:
"God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself."
The French Christian writer, Francois Mauriac, wrote the foreword to Elie
Wiesel's Night. This is how he ended:
And I, who believe that God is love, what answer could I give my young
questioner, whose dark eyes still held the reflection of that angelic sadness
which had appeared one day upon the face of the hanged child? What did I
say to him? Did I speak of that other Israeli, his brother, who may have
resembled him - the Crucified, whose Cross has conquered the world? Did
I affirm that the stumbling block to his faith was the cornerstone of mine,
and that the conformity between the Cross and the suffering of men was in
my eyes the key to that impenetrable mystery wherein the faith of his
childhood had perished? Zion, however, has risen up again from the
crematories and the charnel houses. The Jewish nation has been
resurrected from among its thousands of dead. It is through them that it
lives again. We do not know the worth of one single drop of blood, one
single tear. All is grace. If the Eternal is the Eternal, the last word for each
one of us belongs to Him. This is what I should have told this Jewish child.
But I could only embrace him, weeping. (p. 10f)
The Gospel we proclaim points to a gracious God, our Ally, Who will overcome
the darkness with His light. God is our Ally; God is God. The darkness is real but
it is not final. But Mauriac was quite right not to speak but to embrace the
suffering one, weeping. That sensitive silence was the most cogent invitation to
trust in the darkness.
© Grand Valley State University
�The God Who Is Absent
Richard A. Rhem
Page 9
If that is where you are, or if tomorrow that should be your lot, cling to God Who
seems absent but Who feels our pain more deeply than any human support and
who promises that dawn will yet break and light break through. Amen.
Reference:
Elie Wiesel. Night. English translation, Hill & Wany, 1972, 1985.
© Grand Valley State University
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Richard A. Rhem Collection
Description
An account of the resource
Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar.
Subject
The topic of the resource
Clergy--Michigan
Reformed Church in America
Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.)
Religion
Interfaith worship
Sermons
Sound Recordings
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Rhem, Richard A.
Source
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<a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a>
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Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives.
Contributor
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Kaufman Interfaith Institute
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<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Language
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English
Type
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Sound
Text
Identifier
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KII-01
Coverage
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1981-2014
Format
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audio/mp3
text/pdf
Sound
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Event
Pentecost VIII
Series
God Our Ally
Scripture Text
Job 23:3, 10, Mark 15:34
Location
The location of the interview
Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI
References
Elie Wiesel, Night, 1972, 1985
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Identifier
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KII-01_RA-0-19850721
Date
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1985-07-21
Title
A name given to the resource
The God Who is Absent
Creator
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Richard A. Rhem
Publisher
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Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
Rights
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<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Subject
The topic of the resource
Clergy--Michigan
Reformed Church in America
Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.)
Sermons
Relation
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Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/
Language
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eng
Type
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Sound
Text
Format
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audio/mp3
application/pdf
Description
An account of the resource
A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on July 21, 1985 entitled "The God Who is Absent", as part of the series "God Our Ally", on the occasion of Pentecost VIII, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Job 23:3, 10, Mark 15:34.
Grace
Hebrew Scriptures
Job
Nature of God
Sin
Suffering
Trust