Brandon Woosley

Preaching about Singing, Singing about Suffering

Yesterday’s sermon came out of Jeremiah 31:31-34. It’s a passage of hope and beauty about the New Covenant. It’s also a text that’s pointing the reader forward. The original recipients, exiled Judah, were being pointed to a promise that even though they were going back into a wilderness, there was going to be something of God for them on the other side. In fact, there would be something better; unfortunately for them, we’re still waiting for that something. For us, too, we are wilderness walkers, even the best of us, on our way to a place where God’s law courses through our veins and worship is worship, not 3 songs and a prayer that we might learn something new from the preacher today.

So, having looked at that text yesterday and still steeping in it today, I was caught by surprise to realize that i was listening to the old song “Wilderness” by The Choir, one of my favorite bands since, well, pretty much forever, as far as musical tastes go. Here’s the chorus:

Is your faith so right
Are you so blessed
Everybody wanders in the forest
Is your heart so true
Are you that good
Everybody wanders in the woods
Everybody wanders in the forest
Everybody wanders in the wilderness

It’s true. Every one of us. Thank you, God, that we’re not alone.

Words With Friends

I wanted to take this opportunity to either remind you or inform you about a great event that will be happening here in the Chicago suburbs on Monday, March 26th, at 7:00 p.m. The event is called A Conversation on Unity in Christ’s Mission, and it is being held in Edman Chapel at Wheaton College.

In particular, the conversation will be around the opportunities for and challenges to shared mission among Catholics and Evangelicals. Leading the conversation are Dr. John Armstrong, Executive Director of a ministry called ACT 3 (Advancing the Christian Tradition in the 3rd Millennium) which works to equip the church for unity in Christ’s mission, and Francis Cardinal George, Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Chicago. There will be an open time for questions after Cardinal George and Dr. Armstrong speak and interact with each other.

I am so looking forward to this conversation! Relationship between Catholic Christians and Evangelical Christians continues to improve, but there are many of us who still are trying to figure out what that means, beyond social acceptance. How can we work together in our common commitment to the gospel of Jesus Christ without feeling as though we have to leave some part of ourselves out of the mission? What areas have we failed to recognize as fertile ground for shared ministry and mission?

The fragmentation of American culture into unending sub-cultures feels to me like a new way for an old problem to sink roots into the soil – churches find ways to disagree with each other, and then stay separate, with far more energy, enthusiasm and effort than they find ways to agree with each other. I want to see the Spirit of Jesus draw us into deeper unity, not have to work in spite of our divisions!

So, I hope to see you Monday night at Edman Chapel; if you can’t make it, please pray that this would be a fruitful and spiritually generous time of Church community, to the glory of God alone!

Living in the Desert

We’re in the latter stages of the season of Lent, which is a season inviting us to reflect on Jesus’ time of being tempted in the desert by Satan. His temptation season parallels both the time Israel spent between Egypt and Canaan, and our lives lived between being set free from slavery to sin and entering into the fully realized Kingdom of God.

Jesus’ victory over temptation is the event of the three which informs the other two: we see how Israel was meant to live, in faithful dependence on God, and how we are set free to live because Jesus is Messiah.

I’m thinking about all of this tonight because we are listening to Jeremiah 31:31-34 tomorrow morning (actually, now, this morning) in worship – a passage in which the Lord gives Jeremiah a word of hope to Israel about how they will live in yet another desert phase – the dry phase after exile from the promised land because of their failure to be faithful. The other side of that desert is the coming of the Messiah, but they were little able to see that at the point Jeremiah comes speaking to them. As we, too, can often barely begin to imagine what it is like to live free from the brokenness that besets our world.

But one day, that freedom will come. Even in Lent, we rejoice on Sundays.

Correction

I was wrong when I said that only 7 of 8 days had set record highs around here. Turns out the day that I didn’t think made it actually did. 8 days in a row, and tomorrow projects to be 9.

So, what will our summer be? Longer and hotter than usual? Early, then moving to Fall in August? My mind is officially boggled.

The Wonder of Weather

For the last week, the Chicago area has had an unbelieveable streak of warm weather. How unprecedented it truly is has been hitting me slowly over the last few days, as I have heard facts like:

7 of 8 days in this stretch have set records for high temperature; if the 8th day had set the record, too, that would have been the longest stretch of consecutive days with a record high temperature in Chicago.
Today, Chicago was warmer than Havana, Cuba and Cabo san Lucas, Mexico and Cancun.
The low temperatures during the last week have been 10-15 degrees higher than the average high temperature for these dates.

As these bizarre days of warmth have piled up, I have realized that I can’t take the weather for granted. I can’t fall back on any of the tired cliches about what March weather in Chicago is like. Every one of those cliches is a statement of boredom at the variety of weather, and God’s provision within it. Well, for me, I think that’s the case. You might be different. But a week of totally un-likely, unbelievable weather has caused me to actually pay attention to the mundane again. Praise God.