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https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/a4e5db175de709457eecab9345c84a0c.mp3
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https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/4d03c4545629a83364750b13233ae1aa.pdf
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Free to Care
From the series: The One Covenant of Grace – The Salvation of the World
Text: Galatians 6:2, 9-10
Richard A. Rhem
Christ Community Church
Spring Lake, Michigan
Thanksgiving Sunday, November 22, 1987
Transcription of the spoken sermon
Help one another to carry these heavy loads, and in this way you will
fulfill the law of Christ… So let us never tire of doing good…let us work
for the good of all… Galatians 6:2, 9-10
I am all excited again about being Christ's Community. You may respond, "You
have been excited about it for nearly 17 years," and, of course, you would be right;
I have been. But one goes through stages; sometimes the vision is clear and the
movement strong. At other times the direction seems less clear. Sometimes the
energy flows with great spontaneity; at other times it seems like an uphill grind.
Sometimes the focus is clear; at times I get sidetracked with peripheral matters
and I lose focus.
These past weeks have been rather difficult for me. The preparation to preach has
been a struggle. I take this business very seriously and I have experienced more of
the agony than the ecstasy of preaching.
We have been wrestling with the very center of what Christ Community is all
about. We have a unique identity. It is not the only possible identity for a
congregation. Every congregation has a distinct personality. Every congregation
has its niche. When I say we have a unique identity, I am not boasting. I am
saying, however, that for us, identity has been worked at intentionally and
deliberately. We are self-conscious, self-aware. We have worked at that biblically
and theologically over the past decade and a half. We re-named ourselves in May
of 1971 and we did that in the midst of an explosion of the Spirit's power and
grace. The name spoke a vision of what we wanted to become and it became a
formative influence in our becoming what we are – Christ Community.
Not a community church which represented the lowest common denominator of
biblical and theological understanding. Rather - Christ's Community - a
community of people united in Jesus Christ.
Both words are significant:
© Grand Valley State University
�Free to Care
Richard A. Rhem
Page 2
Christ - The one through whom the grace of God has come to us.
Community - A fellowship of mutual love and support in which we share
life together.
A community of openness and healing for all persons needing the grace of God; a
community consciously seeking to transcend the limits and barriers to fellowship
- ethnic barriers, denominational barriers, confessional barriers, social barriers.
A radio jingle we used for a long time said it well - "A community that cares about
people."
That community finds its source in the radical grace of God. Radical grace is an
old, familiar theme here. Yet in these weeks I have wrestled with it anew. For
whatever reason, the messages have not come easily. But, now at the end of this
series, I sense a deeper grasp or a new conviction about the nature of what we are
and what we must continue to become. For me the focus has become very sharp
again. We are called by Jesus Christ to be a community of care.
If radical grace is our theme, then radical love issuing in radical care must be our
life.
I was struck with the power of the insight that came clear to me last week. Just as
we find in Paul's Galatians letter the statement of a radical grace issuing in
freedom, so we find in that same letter a statement of our radical obligation.
Galatians is about freedom and obligation. Grace sets us free. There is no hedging
on that. Paul's strenuous defense and exposition of God's radical grace issues in
his climactic charge:
Christ has set us free, to be free people. Stand firm, then, and refuse to be
tied to the yoke of slavery again.
You, my friends, were called to be free persons.
Free! That is our state in the grace of God - God's unilateral action binding us to
Himself quite apart from anything we are or any performance on our part.
But, is that not dangerous? Will we not take advantage of such grace that asks
nothing but simply sets us free? Certainly we might do that; we do do that! Paul
was not unaware of the possible abuse of grace. He anticipated the objection to
his understanding of grace in his letter to the Romans. He raises the objector's
question:
What shall we say, then? Shall we persist in sin, so that there may be all
the more grace? (Romans 6:1)
His answer is swift and direct:
© Grand Valley State University
�Free to Care
Richard A. Rhem
Page 3
By no means!
Recognizing the danger, however, does not cause Paul to moderate his insistence
on radical grace. He will not tolerate a compromise – a mixture of law and grace.
Rather, he speaks of the obligation of the person set free by grace in as radical
terms as he had spoken of grace. God's people are called to be free, but, Paul
adds:
…Only do not turn your freedom into license for the flesh, or, for the selfprinciple, but be servants to one another in love. For the whole law can be
summed up in a single commandment: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
Radical grace issues in freedom to love radically. The parallel is very interesting.
In relating his own experience of grace and thereby pointing to the fundamental
experience of grace, Paul wrote:
I have been crucified with Christ: The life I now live is not my life, but the
life which Christ lives in me.
Paul died. The old Paul who so strenuously sought to fulfill the obligations of the
law, thereby justifying himself, was dead. He looked away from self; he looked to
God Who justifies by grace.
Now he is equally dead to self when it comes to the life he now lives. He looks
away from self to the neighbor. Self-ish existence is past in terms both of selfjustification and self-serving. Freed from self, the one graced by God is free for
the neighbor.
Only a free person can give self away. A person engaged in a self-project, a project
aimed at self-justification, self-validation, self-vindication has self at the center.
There is always the compulsion in a multitude of ways to guard, defend, enhance
and authenticate the self. A person who has died to self, having been given the
gift of life by the grace of God, no longer focuses on the self.
The graced self has no need to prove itself, defend itself, promote itself. The selfprotecting, promoting, validating project is over and done with. The terrible
driving, compelling need to be liked, recognized, rewarded is dead. Now one
possesses one's self by grace. God gives one one's life. That self can now give itself
away.
And Paul says the obligation to love is as unconditional and radical as is the grace
that frees and gives new life. One is never through with the obligation to love.
To live by law is easier and much neater. If there were a set of legal obligations I
must fulfill and thus find favor with God, then it would follow that there would
likewise be certain legal obligations incumbent on me in regard to my neighbor.
© Grand Valley State University
�Free to Care
Richard A. Rhem
Page 4
We could probably come up with a code of duties to neighbor. But if it is a legal,
contractual obligation, then I can check off the list of duties and finally have done
with it.
But, if I am loved unconditionally, must I not love unconditionally?
If my obligation is to love my neighbor, I am never through with it. The radical
nature of my obligation to love my neighbor simply follows as a matter of course
from the radical grace that flows from the infinite love of God.
Galatians 6 deals with the obligation to love in terms of caring for one another in
the community of faith and beyond. Life in the community of God's people is
quite in contrast to the situation of human society as a whole. Listen to Paul:
We must not be conceited, challenging one another to rivalry, jealous of
one another.
Pride, competitiveness, jealousy - so characteristic of human society – are not to
be present. They are the consequences of a society of selves at war. But in the
Christian community, self has died.
And what if someone falls and really messes up his life? Ostracize? Criticize?
Trample? Not so! Rather,
... set him right again very gently.
Scott Peck opens The Road Less Traveled with the words, "Life is difficult. Paul
would agree. So he counsels:
Help one another to carry these heavy loads...
Again in verses 9 and 10 he calls us to the radical obligation to care.
So let us never tire of doing good… Therefore, as opportunity offers, let us
work for the good of all…
Do we grow weary of caring?
Sure we do. Compassion fatigue is a common experience. Paul knew that, too.
What are we tempted to do when we grow weary in well-doing? We are tempted
to short-circuit the obligation. We are tempted to say, "Well, I went the extra mile
but no one can expect me to do more." Or, "I tried, but I give up.”
But we can't get away with that with Paul. We ought to be honest. Let's not kid
ourselves. Let's simply admit when the nerve of compassion is cut. Let's
withdraw, find some space to be renewed and then go at it again. But, let's not kid
ourselves that any amount of effort, of care, of compassionate outreach fulfills the
© Grand Valley State University
�Free to Care
Richard A. Rhem
Page 5
obligation. We are never through with loving and caring and we never finally turn
away from another human being having completed the claims of love.
We are graced - given life as a gift.
Therefore we are free of any need to perform to win God's favor. Therefore we are
free to love, free to care. And there is no end to it. In humility, with compassion,
we serve one another in love. We never miss an opportunity to do good to our
neighbor.
That word "opportunity" translates the Greek word Kairos, which is the word for
time, not in the sense of ongoing time, but in the sense of significant time – the
moment filled with opportunity, freighted with eternity. Paul's meaning is that
this time of the new age between Jesus' resurrection and His coming again is a
time for loving and caring.
The call to good to all persons concludes the paragraph that began with the
warning about trying to fool God. Paul reminds us that that simply is not
possible. God is not fooled. What we are is transparent to God and finally, in
God's presence, will be apparent to us ourselves. Within Paul's uncompromising
claim of God's radical grace there is as well his insistence that our lives will be
reviewed. This is not a threat; it is simply reality. How could it be otherwise? Life
is serious. It matters how we live. Grace sets us free from condemnation. It gives
peace with God. We are free from the driving compulsion to measure up – we are
loved just as we are and declared righteous in Jesus Christ. Precisely that
wonderful news changes us, frees us, sets us about responding joyfully to act out
what has been enacted in us, for us, in Jesus Christ.
There is no fear in judgment. Pain there will be. Regret there will be.
Refining fire will be necessary to finish the work in us until we are perfectly
conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. One day we will be just like him and
today is the day of opportunity to walk toward that goal by loving as we have been
loved and caring as we have been cared for.
I am excited all over again about what Christ Community is all about, about our
initial vision and our constant concentration. We are in the business of loving and
caring for people – all kinds of people in all sorts of conditions.
I was reminded this week of what I personally experienced through this
congregation. When I thought it was all over, you invited me back, believed in
me, trusted me, healed me, fed me, clothed me.
Remember my commitment to this congregation was not to a thriving 3,000member church, but to 678 persons in a village congregation. No vision of
grandeur, just a spontaneous response to love and care.
© 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
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
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
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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
Thanksgiving Sunday
Pentecost XXV
Series
One Covenant of Grace - the Salvation of the World
Scripture Text
Galatians 6:2, 9-10
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
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
KII-01_RA-0-19871122
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1987-11-22
Title
A name given to the resource
Free to Care
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 22, 1987 entitled "Free to Care", as part of the series "One Covenant of Grace - the Salvation of the World", on the occasion of Thanksgiving Sunday, Pentecost XXV, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Galatians 6:2, 9-10.
Community of Faith
Freedom
Judgment
Radical Grace of God
Unconditional Love to Others