Wise fool

November 18, 2024 Mark Brians

Sauron, dark Lord of Mordor, is a “wise fool.” His knowledge and cunning is great, but he reckons wrong because he reckons only according to his own scales — of power, control, and anxiety. Sauron learns that the Ring is abroad and calculates carefully:

“He supposes that we are all going to Minas Tirith [the great stronghold city of the “good guys”]; for that is what he himself would have done in our place. And according to his wisdom, it would have been a heavy stroke against his power. Indeed he is in great fear, not knowing what mighty one may suddenly appear, wielding the Ring, and assailing him with war, seeking to cast him down and take his place.”

On singing together; a short entry

November 12, 2024 Mark Brians

This Friday folks from All Saints Honolulu and folks from Saint Benedict Hall (and folks whose families span both worlds) will gather to spend a little over an hour together in song and fellowship. It’s also the eve of the day that we remember King David Kalākaua, the “Merrie Monarch” who brought back to Hawaii much in the way of song and dance. In an age such as ours we are justified in asking why we might spend a Friday night this way. With all the digital technology to render private listening “as good or better” than in-person singing we are often tempted to think that the goal of music is to be heard. But that is a cheating lie, it only tells a half truth. The goal of music is not only to be heard, the goal of music is also to be made. Just as there is a joy in baking as much as there is in eating cake, so also there is a joy in singing as much as there is in hearing song.

In the Psalter things get political

November 4, 2024 Mark Brians

How does one pray on election day? I get this question a lot and as of late I find myself always encouraging people to pray the psalter. The general protest is usually revealing: “the psalms are just words of encouragement… election day needs something political.” This is just factually inaccurate. There are encouraging Psalms, of course. But the whole book is a deeply political series of songs and prayers. They have offered and do offer God’s people his words to pray over circumstances which are beyond our immediate control (e.g. I alone cannot determine the election… that is precisely what an election is). I can cast a vote. I can do a myriad of advocacy things. But the election itself is an event which exceeds my vote and my activism. The Psalter offers us a liturgical remedy: eternal prayers, sung and prayed before the living God, songs which are both the Christ’s songs and Church’s songs, which lift my election anxiety from the ballot to the throne room of heaven.

Repost: Why celebrate Alhallowtide? And what is it, exactly?

October 29, 2024 Mark Brians

There is a series of days which exists in the Church’s calendar which has all but disappeared from the Christian calendars of contemporary American Christianity save for one lingering event: trick-or-treating on Halloween.

The 24-25 annual exhortations

October 21, 2024 Mark Brians

During this year’s annual meeting I gave an exhortation (which is a strong encouragement not an soft obligation) to our parish of simple ways we can live-into the mission of the Kingdom of Jesus this year in our context. So that those who weren’t with us last night, and for those who were but were helping watch kids or clean-up, or for any of those sitting int he back who could not hear, or for anyone who cannot now remember what they were, here they are:

Better than a Google search for "What is Annual Parish Meeting?"

October 13, 2024 Mark Brians

On Sunday we will have (cue epic action movie trailer voice) an “Annual Parish Meeting.” What is that? What do I need to expect? Or, as one of my beloved children have said, doesn’t this “sound boring” to put it bluntly?

More importantly, maybe, for some, is the question of hallowedness: “What does all this ‘business meeting’ stuff have in God’s house —isn’t this why Jesus turned-over the tables on the rulers of the Temple...?"

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A brief note on the first episode of the new "Penguin" series

October 7, 2024 Mark Brians

Rachel and I were talking with Trevor and Sierra and they told us that they had been watching the new “Penguin” series and that they were impressed with the quality of it. For those who don’t know, the series traces the rise of the batman villain Oswald Cobblepot, aka “The Penguin.” I thought I’d give the first episode a try when I found that my one-month trial prime membership allows me to access the show.

St. Michael and the creepy things which haunt our sleep

September 30, 2024 Mark Brians

I remember as a child having a season in which I was terribly afraid of nighttime. And I wasn’t young child, I was a nine or eleven year old —old enough to read and have my own bedroom. The strange thing is that these fears were not the result of being exposed to terrifying images: I was not allowed to watch horror films, most tv shows that aired at night, play Dungeons and Dragons, or even read things like Harry Potter. I was, in some sense, sheltered, like a little hobbit child of the North Farthing (arguably the safest part of the Shire). Where then did these phantoms, terrors, nightmares, and hauntings come from if not from the subconscious recollection of images to which I had been introduced?

The answer is terrifyingly simple...

Some changes in the Sunday liturgy

September 23, 2024 Mark Brians

This Sunday, the Feast of Michaelmas, we will begin a few changes in our Sunday liturgy. And, additionally, we will have a few more musical changes in the months ahead. In what follows I want to give a brief forecast of those changes (with dates) as well as offer some explanation behind them —some answer to “why are we doing this?” As always what is posted here is in no way offered instead of conversation, but rather as a starting point for further questions and conversations. Please feel free to come to any of us on the lead team or pastoral team as questions arise.

It was a hobbit hole and that means comfort

September 16, 2024 Mark Brians

J.R.R Tolkien begins the Hobbit by telling us that Bilbo was a hobbit who lived in a hole in the ground, though not a muddy or dirty hole but a very homely and welcoming one for “It was a hobbit hole and that means comfort.” I’ve spent the weekend in airports across the country, in the ICU, in a beach condo in Destin Florida, and will return home shortly to Honolulu. That is to say, I’ve seen a lot of things that fly under the banner of “comfort” all while praying the daily office and reading The Lord of the Rings (which I read every four years during he election cycle). All of this has given rise to a question in me, “What is comfort?”

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