Religious Experience?

Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world. James 1:27

I’m amazed at the things heard on the news these days. The report that caught my attention this week is one telling about the results of a study on psilocybin. Psilocybin is a hallucinogenic drug that is derived from mushrooms and which has been the subject of a study conducted on 36 volunteers who took one dose of the drug and were then polled about the effects. Many of the participants rated their reaction “as one of the most meaningful or spiritually significant experiences of their lives.”
Drug induced spirituality? Can that really happen? Of course, attempts to reach “higher states of spiritual awareness” by ingesting various chemicals are nothing new. For centuries, various folk religion practitioners have used any number of substances to induce psychotic experiences that are described as “spiritual.” But do those “experiences” really indicate that a person has been, in the words of one newsperson commenting on the psilocybin report, “closer to God?”
As you might expect, I have a couple of thoughts about all this. First, I’m troubled by the emphasis on personal experience in most current discussions of spirituality. Once again, it seems to me that too many people have confused religion with feelings and emotion, and too often conclude that they are “religiously deficient” if worship or any other “religious observance” leaves them without the expected emotional high (or low). If religion was all about having the right kind of “feeling,” then Scripture would undoubtedly have included some prescription for mushroom extract to be included with the Lord’s Supper! In fact, the clear teaching of God’s word is that religion is all about what we do, regardless of how we feel! Don’t believe me? Consider the statement, quoted above, from James 1:27 about the quality of pure religion that comes from taking care of those who are in need and from living a holy life!
The second thought has to do with the “self-orientation” of this approach to religion and life. Not surprisingly, those who participated in the psilocybin study were told to “focus their attention inward” while under the influence of the substance. This inward focus is actually fairly characteristic of contemporary life and, not surprisingly, modern worship and religious practice. In contrast to that inward focus, consider the fact that Jesus, our model for religious practice, “came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many" (Mark 10:45).
Looking for a religious experience? Try worshipping God because you love and adore him, and then go out and lend someone a helping hand.
Bobby Wheat

Bulletin Articles

My beautiful and very intelligent daughter recently pointed out to me that I could post my bulletin articles here so that she could read them without waiting for the mail. So, here it comes...

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What’s The Cost?
You were bought with a price; do not become slaves of men (1 Corinthians 7:23).
I just read again a piece that floats through my e-mail inbox about once a year. The writer of the article summarized the effect of the Revolutionary War on those whose signatures can be seen on the Declaration of Independence. Few of them came through those years unscathed. Many of them lost their families or their property, or both. Some of them paid the ultimate price for signing that document and for standing up for what they believed.
The amazing thing is that, apparently, none of those men turned back. They did not recant their declaration when they realized what price they might have to pay. What was the reason for such firmness and dedication? They were convinced that freedom from oppression and the opportunity for a nation to chart its own course were worth whatever price they might pay. And aren’t we glad they did?
I don’t know if those patriots of two hundred and thirty years ago realized the potential cost to themselves before signing the Declaration of Independence. I do know that someone else was keenly aware of the personal cost of his contribution to freedom almost two thousand years ago. In fact, the inspired writer, Paul, made it abundantly clear that Jesus deliberately paid a price that is beyond our comprehension. Jesus, he wrote, “though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped” (Philippians 2:6). To make it possible for us to escape captivity to sin was so important that Jesus “made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men” (2:7). Then, because further action needed to be taken, “he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (2:8).
Jesus left his home, even though it was the most comfortable “place” anyone could ever exist. He left his father in order to do the work his father asked him to do (John 4:34 & 9:4). And he paid, from the human point of view, the ultimate price by giving his life for the freedom of those who would believe and follow him. The cost was high, and Jesus knew in advance what the cost would be, and he still did what was needed.
The appropriate response to the sacrifice of those patriots of the American Revolution is to value, uphold and share the freedom provided to us through their actions. The appropriate response to the sacrifice of Jesus is to value, uphold and share the freedom provided to us through his actions. Or, in Paul’s words, we must continue to “work out” our salvation, “with fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:12) so that we do not again “become slaves of men” (1 Corinthians 7:23).
I’m sure you’ll agree that winning and maintaining freedom are worth the cost.
-- Bobby Wheat

Hard things

Last week was a time for hard things. On Monday, a young couple called to say that a routine pre-natal checkup revealed that (at seven months) there was no heart beat. Up until then, there had been no problems. The mother-to-be is a nurse-in-training, and she has been as careful as a first-time mother should be. We went to the hospital, sat with them, cried with them, prayed with them. Labor was induced Monday night, and she finally delivered on Wednesday at noon. It was hard -- hard for her, hard for him, hard for all the wonderful family members that stayed with them, hard for everyone standing on the sidelines. Everyone wanted to know -- "What went wrong?" Then the hardest thing -- there was really no way to tell what went wrong. The baby looked fine; a sonogram revealed that everything was there and in its proper place. We expect to be able to know the answers to every question, the solution to every problem, and its hard to accept the fact that, often, we just won't ever know. Speaking of hard things -- the graveside service was held Saturday morning, and the mother and father were on time for Bible Class on Sunday morning, and they came back for evening services. God is good, they will heal, there will be more children -- but it will always be hard.

More hard things: I checked the Christian Chronicle website and saw an article publicizing the deaths of two missionaries. Dan Hardin was a pioneer and a mentor to many younger missionaries. When we were in school in the early '80s, we watched Dan cope with severe arthritis, thinking that he wouldn't be able to keep going much longer. He did, even though it was hard, and God used him to do good things for the kingdom.

Harder to read was the report of Cyndi Chowning's death in Benin. Though we had not been in close contact for several years, we still keep up a little with the Chownings. This death is really hard, because it was so senseless -- she stepped back after reaching into her vehicle to retrieve something and was struck by a motorcycle. My heart aches for Richard and for their children. I suspect that he will go on working with the people of Benin, teaching them about a God who loves them, but it will be hard.

So many things are hard -- but I can't help but think of passages like Romans 8 (God is for us; who can be against us?) and Isaiah 40 (those who wait for the Lord will renew their strength). God is a master (of course) at using hard things to make us stronger. By enduring the hard things, by actually facing them and walking through them, he makes us know more fully the joy of the good things. What a wonderful God we serve!

Poke at the Giant

I write a weekly article (at least, I do most weeks) for the church bulletin. It always seems like current events provide something to focus on for writing -- current news, current church issues, etc. Sometimes, I really get fired up about something, as I did over all the nonsense and speculation surrounding Matthew Winkler's murder. Below is what I did not put in a bulletin article. This is my "poke at the giant." I sent this letter to CNN on Tuesday after reading the transcript of Monday's Nancy Grace program...


I am writing to register my disgust at the unbalanced approach to "journalism" taken by your network and, specifically, by Nancy Grace in her interview of Tom Rukala concerning churches of Christ. Mr. Rukala grossly misrepresented churches of Christ (and demonstrated his own ignorance of New Testament teaching in the process).

"Churches of Christ" came into being on Pentecost Day in the year that Jesus was crucified and resurrected, not some 150 years ago as Mr. Rukala suggested. Nor is baptism merely a sectarian requirement for membership, since it is quite clearly presented in the New Testament as God's requirement for membership in His church, along with the other requirements such as faith, confession of Jesus as Lord, and repentance from sin. None of these things goes beyond Mr. Rukala's statement concerning the need to "call on the name of the Lord" (Acts 2:21); they are in fact, all the things that the first converts to Christ were doing in response to that charge.

Ms. Grace indicated that she was having difficulty finding much information regarding churches of Christ. I find that remarkable since there are many areas of this country where one would find several congregations, some of them very large, with numerous members who are very ready and able to explain who we are. Why go to a Baptist minister, and especially one who seems to have an axe to grind?

Finally, I find the whole presentation offensive in light of its apparent intent to demonstrate that Matthew Winkler's murder had something to do with the character of churches of Christ, and in light of it's timing (the night before Winkler's funeral).
I intend to suggest to anyone in reach of my voice that CNN should not be regarded as a trustworthy source of news and information until such time as I hear that you have allowed some knowledgeable and competent representative of churches of Christ to present the other side of Mr. Rukala's and Ms. Grace's story.

Sincerely,
Bobby G. Wheat
Winfield Church of Christ
P.O. Box 158
Winfield, KS 67156

Undoubtedly, others wrote similar letters. I did notice that, on Wednesday night, Nancy Grace included Rubel Shelly in her program. As you might expect, consistent with her "sensational" approach, she hardly let him finish a sentence.
Oh well, I suppose we should never really expect to get fair treatment from the press... I am confident, however, that truth will prevail, whether or not CNN ever catches on...

people in my life...

My life is full of people -- after all, ministry is a "people" business. While there are some people who seem bent on making my life difficult, I honestly have to say that most of the people in my life bring joy in one form or another.
There is that group of older ladies at church who never fail to tell me how much they are glad we are here and how much they miss us when we are gone (as we were for a few days last week). They even declare my preaching to be the best they've ever heard (I just haven't preached too much to them on prevarication and dissemination....)
Then there is the group of 40-somethings that we spend some of our time with. One couple came over last night, brought pizza and watched a movie with us. We can laugh together, cry together, tease each other, and talk about real-life issues, and I always feel better when we have been together.
Of course, above all these comes my family. No man could be more blessed than I am with parents, spouse and children. My wife, Nancy, is my hero. She's the person who holds our family together - with conversation, scripture on the mirrors and cabinet doors, food prepared abundantly and deliciously, and heaping doses of love and acceptance. She is my best friend and much more. She is my spiritual barometer, often my teacher and counselor, very often the person who picks me up when my spirit falls.
My children are joy. To have them all living and learning in the same place right now is a delightful serendipity (is that redundant?). Stefanie, Chris, Ian -- you make me smile, even when you're not here!
Well, there's more, but no time for it now. Sometime I'll pour out more about the people in my life...

unless a seed falls...

Okay, I gave in and started a blog. Just so you know: I can't type without capitalizing proper nouns and pronouns, nor can I keep from editing my own sentences. Sorry kids, you'll just have to deal with it...
The connections between Wheat and seed are obvious, but I think I had in mind Jesus' statements about seed representing the Word of God and also, from John's gospel, about the necessity of a seed dying before before reproduction takes place. May whatever ramblings I produce here act in some way as seed, for my own heart and for others...
Bobby