Words of Welcome

Mark 4:26-34 We just finished studying the Gospel of Mark in the Wednesday afternoon Bible Study. Our group discovered that Mark is full of surprises. His gospel proclaims the “good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God” ( Mk. 1:1 ), but for some reason Jesus tries to keep this news a secret.  Even though the disciples spend their days and nights with Jesus, only the demons seem to recognize him for who he is. When you read Mark, it’s difficult to set aside stories from Matthew, Luke, and John. We want to read into Mark’s story what we know from the other gospels, but if we do this, we won’t hear Mark’s version of the story. There is one word that stands out. That word is “immediately.” Mark’s story moves quickly. He rarely stops to let Jesus catch his breath. He starts with the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan at the hands of John the Baptizer. Mark doesn’t have an infancy narrative. His family appears only once and they come to take home, because they thought he had...

Matthew 6:7-13; Luke 13:18-21 We live in a modern democracy that enshrines the words:     We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. Didn’t the nation’s founders throw off a king in order to gain this independence?   And yet, week after week, we pray that God’s kingdom would be revealed and that God’s will would be done, both in heaven and on earth.  How do we reconcile our prayers with our politics?     I suppose we reconcile these two very different perspectives, by spiritualizing the kingdom of God.  We live in a democracy here on earth – where we get to run our own lives – and when we get to heaven, well, then God gets to be in charge!   ...