On Your Mark...

In this upcoming season of Epiphany and Lent, we will be reading great swaths of text from the Gospel of Mark. Why? Mark is written to be read aloud as a whole--perhaps even from chapter 1 all the way through 16 in one hearing (we won’t be doing that!). It is a Gospel for a traveling witness, one who may not have much time to convey the account of the Light of the World. Mark’s favorite word is ‘immediately’: it is as though there is a sense of breathlessness as we watch and hear Jesus reveal (epiphany) himself to the world, the flesh and the devil. We, as hearers, rush with him into his confrontation with religion, government, the economy, the social order, with the ugly powers of evil that seek to destroy God’s creation and people. And to catch the urgency and to understand the confrontation going on, listening to large swaths of text is an effective strategy. Thus, the readings for the upcoming Sundays will be entirely from Mark, punctuated by some music. We’ll finish the book of Mark during Holy Week and the Day of Resurrection.

It would be good for you to bring your Bible on Sundays!

Jan. 8, 2012  (The Lord’s Baptism) 1:1-15 & 1:16-45

Jan. 15 (Epiphany 2) 2:1-14 & 2:15-3:6

Jan. 22 (Epiphany 3) 3:7-35 & 4:1-20

Jan. 29 (Epiphany 4) 4:21-41 & 5:1-20

Feb. 5 (Epiphany 5) 5:21-43 & 6:1-29

Feb. 12 (Epiphany 6) 6:30-56 & 7:1-23

Feb. 19 (Last Epiphany) 7:24-37 & 8:1-21

Feb. 26 (Lent 1) 8:22-9:1 & 9:2-29

Mar. 4 (Lent 2) 9:30-50 & 10:1-31

Mar. 11 (Lent 3) 10:32-45 & 10:46-11:19

Mar. 18 (Lent 4) 11:20-12:12 & 12:13-40

Mar. 25 (Lent 5) 12:41-13:37 & !4:1-9