The devil can cite Scripture

March 31, 2026 Mark Brians

Shakespeare notes the way in which “The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose” (Merchant of Venice, I.3). This is what the Devil does when he tempts Jesus in the wilderness (Matt. 4:1-11; Mk. 1:12-13; Lk. 4:1-13). This is part of his much larger deceiving and perverting craft of simultaneously ruining good things and making evil things appear good. As Shakespeare again notes “O, what a goodly outside falsehood hath!”

It is the devil who, for instance, makes a violation of God’s instructions for kings of Israel (a military census) appear like prudence and wise leadership…

Repost: Worshiping under branches

March 23, 2026 Mark Brians

What’s with all the services where Christians worship under branches? We hang greens in the sanctuary in Advent, we decorate Christmas Tress, we burn branches for ashes on Ash Wednesday, and we wave palms on Palm Sunday. Is there any Biblical reasoning behind these practices?

You betcha! It’s all about being a part of God’s Big Story…

The heart's desire of a true squire

March 17, 2026 Mark Brians

No Japan Travelogue yet. I’ll be working on that this week for both you all and for Theopolis and have it out early next week.

Today I just want to share a scene from my fiction reading (which has been sparse as of late). As I tell each fellows cohort at Theopolis: be careful of becoming the kind of person who only reads non-fiction theology, or you risk becoming the kind of person who only reads non-fiction theology...

Japan itinerary

March 2, 2026 Mark Brians

This week Landon and I will be travelling to Japan on the first formal international missions trip of All Saints Honolulu with the main goal of establishing long-term missional relationships there.

What follows is a loose itinerary of our trip —at least, what our itinerary looks like right now. As you think of us in the days ahead, and as you pray for us, this itinerary can help give you and idea of where we are at as you pray…

Listening to Leviticus while nursing a terrible fever

February 24, 2026 Mark Brians

*p/c public domain via wikimedia commons*

…The first two days of the sickness were particularly terrible. Unceasing high-grade fever and a dizzying migraine perpetual, were attended by the whole panoply of aches, muscle cramps, chills, and frequent trips to the lavatory —a veritable Jabberwocky of bodily discomfort.

During those two days I listened to Max McClean read through the books of Leviticus and Numbers as I drifted between various degrees of awareness. And I must say it was an absolute treasure…

Tuesday fat and Tuesday shriven

February 17, 2026 Mark Brians

“Fat Tuesday” and “Shrove Tuesday.” Are these two concepts opposites?

It may be easy to equate the whole tradition of “Fat Tuesday” with all the excesses of Mardi Gras: too much greasy food, too much inspirited beverage, too much skin, etc. And it may be easy to think, as the righteous Anglicans we are, of “Shrove Tuesday” as it’s redeemed antithesis: prayers, sobriety, the long deep breath as we plunge into the austerities of Lent.

I contend, however, this is not so… or, at least, if it is so, that it ought not to be…

Simeon's song and the generations of the Faith

February 2, 2026 Mark Brians

On Candlemas Simeon holds the infant Christ in his arms and, by the power of the Spirit, sees that God has been faithful to the promise given to him —that he would not die before he saw the Lord’s Christ (cf. Luke 2:22-40).

Having seen the Child, Simeon declares those famous lines “Master, now you can let your bondservant depart in peace according to your word, for my eyes have seen your Salvation….” you know the rest.

Doxology and 'the Facts'

January 26, 2026 Mark Brians

Early into his recent book Rumors (Polity, 2025), Mladen Dolar makes a fairly big mistake which sets the whole project (an exciting proposal —to explore the concept of ‘rumor’ philosophically) on a rather shaky footing. Here’s what he says: …

Is an annual parish meeting "spiritual"?

January 19, 2026 Mark Brians

Is an annual parish meeting “spiritual?”

Short answer:
Yes.

Long answer:
It is easy to think of life as an artificial partition between the things that are ‘material’ and the things that are ‘spiritual’…

No such thing as instant confidence

January 13, 2026 Mark Brians

T…he problem is that confidence, precisely because of what it is, “can never be instantaneous” (p.76). “It must be built, earned, over time” (ibid). Confidence, as the capacity to endure and withstand, only exists over the course of time. “It has a tempo.”

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