Back to Basics
Dear Friends,
Lent begins next Wednesday, Ash Wednesday. We will offer two services on Ash Wednesday. The in-person service will be held outdoors at 12 noon, weather permitting. We will be in Margaret's Garden, which is in the back of the school offices. If you need clarification about that, feel free to send us an email! Our online service will be at 7 pm and you can follow the link here. The password is 12345. If you need help downloading Zoom, please let us know that as well!
During the season, you will receive a daily email from St. Peter's. Those emails will form the basis of our Lenten discipline as a congregation. The emails will include a text from the Gospel According to St. Mark, coupled with a question for individual and group reflection, along with a collect to pray.
The questions and collects have been compiled and written by our new seminarian, Ian Williams; parishioners Mark Colbert, Beth Janney, and Kim Kilgore; our youth minister, Kelsey Aebi; and your clergy, Deacon John Rouser and me. Thank you to the team who helped bring this together!
We are calling this project "Back to Basics" and we are doing so for a few reasons. First, because Mark is typically considered the earliest gospel written. He leaves out some of the elaboration and theological reflection that come in the later gospels. That means his gospel can sometimes feel a little raw and unrefined. But it also gives us insight into the urgency with which the early followers of Jesus heard the story of his life, death, and resurrection.
This is also "Back to Basics" because the practice of scripture reading in community is a foundational practice of the Christian life. Plunging into a book of the Bible for a season is a wonderful way to reawaken your own sense of the the presence of Christ in your life.
Each week in Lent, we will offer four opportunities to join in reflection about these readings, via Zoom. These will be brief, 30-minute sessions where you can talk about the questions the Bible is bringing up to you, hear from other parishioners who are reading the same texts, and pray for one another. They will be held on Thursdays and Sundays. The Thursday sessions will be at at 11:00 am and 7:00 pm from Thursday, February 25, through Thursday, March 25. The Sunday sessions will be at 3:30 and 4:00 pm from Sunday, February 21, through Palm Sunday, March 28. The 3:30 pm Sunday session will be especially geared toward families with young children, though all are welcome at any of the sessions.
So, besides the notion that Mark was the earliest gospel written, what do you need to know to read it? Not much! You probably have most of what you need—a desire to know and follow Jesus more closely is the main thing. But here are a few other things that might be helpful:
Mark is missing some of the stories you know and love—for instance, there is no Christmas story in Mark. For Mark, the ministry and especially the crucifixion take center stage.
Many scholars think that writers of Matthew and Luke used Mark's Gospel when they composed their own. Most also believe that Mark was written for a gentile audience and, if this is true, that Mark himself was possibly a gentile. This is interesting because so many of the earliest followers of Jesus were Jewish.
Mark is very concerned with the deeds of power done by Jesus—healings, exorcisms, and other such miracles—but there is an irony in that because the greatest deed of power is the crucifixion. Jesus shows forth God's might most fully by offering himself up. This theme can be seen in subtle ways throughout the gospel.
Mark frequently mentions what is called the "Messianic secret," where Jesus tells his disciples to keep the truth of his identity quiet. There are a number of theories about why Jesus does this, but not one that is dominant for most scholars—it's a bit of a mystery.
We read primarily from Mark during Lectionary Year B, which is this year. So, if these stories feel familiar it's because we've been hearing them on Sunday!
Finally, you'll notice the header of the daily emails includes a painting of a lion. Each of the Gospels has traditionally been identified with one of the "four living creatures" found in Revelation who cry out day and night about God's holiness (a lion, an ox, an eagle, and a man). Mark's symbol is the lion.
It is my hope that reading the Gospel of Mark together this Lent will ground and unite our Lenten practice, along with whatever other fasts or practices in which you engage. If I can be of help as we begin this journey or anywhere along the way, please be in touch!
God bless,
Fr. Quinn+