Words of Welcome

  Psalm 23; Mark 6:30-34, 53-56 Mark 6 is a busy chapter that begins with Jesus’ rather disastrous return home to Nazareth. When he began to teach in the synagogue, he quickly discovered that you can’t go home again. That experience leads to his decision to send his twelve closest disciples out on a mission trip. That leads us to the story of John the Baptist’s execution by Herod after Herod’s rather infamous dinner party. It’s after John’s execution and the return of Jesus’ disciples from their mission trip that we pick up the story in this morning’s Gospel reading.  When Jesus’ disciples, whom Mark calls apostles, return from their mission, they tell Jesus all about what they had done. Although Mark doesn’t go into details here, if you read between the lines you can tell they’re excited about all the powerful things that happened along the way. It’s also clear that they are exhausted from this effort. So, Jesus invited them to join him on a retreat to a deserted place so they co