The legs of the old church pews weren’t sturdy enough for the congregation to use anymore, but the curved shape of the seats looked solid and good.

“The wood had this protective symbolism about it,” Paul Brennan said. “Like a refuge. Like a safe haven.”

When Christ Church Uniting on Kailua Road removed about 20 old pews to make room for replacements, Brennan, a retired pastor, had his eye on the discarded wood.

“I didn’t want to be the first one in line to claim the old pews,” he said. Brennan waited until community members came and took what they wanted, then he took the two that were left over after all the others were claimed. He found another one discarded by a dumpster.

“I saw the wood as having the opportunity to be reused and turned into art pieces, as a sort of canvas, if you will,” he said.

Brennan had been around woodworking all his life. As a kid growing up in Ohio, he picked up a hammer at a young age and learned to straighten nails for his grandfather, who had been part of an Amish community and was a skilled woodworker. “My grandfather built his house by hand using converted timber from old chicken coops,” Brennan said.

Brennan came to appreciate the strength and usefulness of a good piece of wood. He looked at the old pews and started thinking about what they had been used for: sacred furniture where people could rest and be supported and receive inspiration and hope. He starting thinking about how the wood could be reused in a meaningful way.

He got the old pews in February. Just a few weeks later, the church stopped in-person gatherings because of COVID-19 social distancing orders, leaving the new pews sitting idle.

Brennan looked at the old wood and realized what was needed.

He wrote down a list of Biblical passages that he knew from memory, most of them from Psalms, all of which talked about God’s presence in difficult times:

“The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.”

“God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in times of trouble.”

“Be still and know that I am God.”

He cut apart the 5-foot-long planks, sanded them down and started to carve into the wood, putting words of comfort deep into the grain, saying prayers as he worked. He prayed for people he knows, people who are sick. He prayed for people in his community and around the world.

“These days, I often find my mind is dwelling in a prayerful mode for the people who are suffering,” he said.

Today, nobody will be sitting on the new pews at Christ Church Uniting. The church is empty and Easter Sunday service is being live-streamed. Still, Brennan brought flower arrangements to decorate the empty church, like he always does, and he will continue the prayers that he put into the old wood that was resurrected, in a way, as a symbol of hope.