A unified witness of salvation

April 14, 2025 Mark Brians

In the beginning humans are created in a state on deep and utter union: Adam and Eve share communion with God, communion with one another, a kind of communion with the rest of the created world, and —often forgotten in theological accounts of prelapsarian life— unified within themselves. This is, in God’s words, “very good” (Gen 1:31). It is a blessed state (Gen 1:28). Union is, also, not just how we are made, it is what we are made for.

Jesus among the lampstands: a Palm Sunday pre-game

April 8, 2025 Mark Brians

We should recall from Exodus (25:31–39; and 37:17–24) that the lampstand in the Tabernacle, which was a picture, a microcosm, of the heavenly throne-room, was made in the likeness of a tree. Each of its arms were branches that bloomed into almond blossoms on which were set the seven lamps. It was a tree whose fruit was light. It was another burning bush, but a burning bush that had grown into full maturity.

Dividing to multiply: preemptive wedding thoughts

March 31, 2025 Mark Brians

Over at Logos I wrote a piece last year about the theme of Division-Multiplication in Scripture. You can read it here, if you’d like. As we approach an All Saints wedding this weekend my thoughts are drawn to the creation of Eve and to the way that marriage is itself a picture of this pattern of Division-Multiplication.

Annunciation

March 24, 2025 Mark Brians

This Tuesday is the Feast of the Annunciation —the annual celebration of the day, nine months prior to Christmas, that the angel Gabriel came to Mary to announce the conception of the infant Christ in her womb. We confess in the Creeds and in the words of the eucharistic liturgy that Christ became incarnate by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the virgin Mary and yet we often fail to marvel at the wonder of this. For it is not as if Christ was merely born Christ was conceived —The second Person of the Godhead not only underwent mammalian birth but also mammalian gestation. Oh the long-suffering patience and obedience of the Son to submit to fulfilling the whole span of human experience!

The foxes

March 17, 2025 Mark Brians

Those in power here, both the pharisees and Herod, are afraid of the power of Jesus. And the best policy for those who rule in fear is to exercise dominion and control over others by spreading fear. Spread the worry and bring the upstarts to heel in being anxious about tomorrow’s troubles.

Incommensurate goodnesses

March 13, 2025 Mark Brians

I remember being pushed in a stroller by him through the wild labyrinthine corridors of queues of Disneyland; I remember being asked “are you buckled in?” and “are you hungry?” by him when I was a kid. And now here I am asking similar questions of him. Now I am pushing the cart around. Now I get the valet ticket, now I grab the car, now I have to remember where the car is, etc.

Lifted-up Lent

March 3, 2025 Mark Brians

We can think of Lent as a kind of “lifting-up.” This is literally what “Carnival” means (see my post here), but it can be helpful to help us understand Lent as well.

Transfiguration leading down into Lent

February 24, 2025 Mark Brians

Like Peter we finish-off the season which included Candlemas, the visit of the Magi, the Baptism of Jesus, the Wedding at Cana, and Jesus’ proclamation in the synagogue that he has come to proclaim good news to the poor and freedom to the captive, with awestruck desire to keep it going like this: “Let’s build three tabernacles…” (Matt 17:4). But keeping it going like this is not the answer. The tabernacle served for a season in God’s story to keep the glory (Ex. 25). But now we come to that moment where the glory must break-out (Is. 9:1-2, 58:8; Matt. 4:16). We can no longer be kept safe from its fiery burnings, from the living flame of love (Ex. 3:2-3; Song. 8:6; Is. 33:14).

Carnival: Count-down to Lent

February 10, 2025 Mark Brians

“Carnival” today often conjures-up the worst images of Mardi Gras celebrations: drunkenness, debauchery, sequin-laced costumes, gaudy masks in diamante, etc. Unmoored from the Gospel Carnival loses its Christian origin and becomes little more than a kind of sad “last hoorah” before the severities of Lent, a Barnum and Bailey inspired revolt against the upcoming sobriety. Carnival and Mardi Gras have become in their modern forms the epitome of what Guy Debord criticizes in The Society of the Spectacle…

Wasted time

February 3, 2025 Mark Brians

…in our efficiency addicted culture in which all our minutes must weigh on the scales of utility such moments are fertile for frustration. “Waste of time!” we mutter under our breath when the TSA agent pulls someone aside and stalls the line. We look-up “life-hacks” (wicked terrible evil phrase) to help us avoid the waste of time —which help us make all our moments of waiting ultimately productive and efficient. “Because we look at life exclusively from the perspective of work and performance, we view inactivity as a deficiency that must be overcome as quickly as possible” explains Byung-Chul Han (2024: 1)…

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