Pastor Craig's ConSpiritu Blog

This last Sunday in worship, a small performance group presented the first half of “the Good News According to Mark.” Our text is taken straight from the Bible. Two narrators share the narration, one person plays Jesus and three persons take all the rest of the speaking roles, ranging from John the Baptist, to disciples to townspeople to Pharisees to Pilate and Herod. On Monday, I received an e-mail from a parishioner that said the following: I really enjoyed the presentation on Sunday morning and have two questions:    1.  Why didn't Jesus want the miracles told?    2.  Why did he tell the disciples to "shake the dust off your feet as a testament against them?" I decided to share my response with a wider audience, because the questions point to some of the deeper themes that Mark works with. So here is my response to that parishioner’s questions, and perhaps yours as well: You ask,  "Why didn't Jesus want the miracles told?" Scholars h...

For the next two Sundays, April 10 and 17, our worship services at Pocatello First United Methodist church will be devoted to a two-part performance of the Gospel According to Mark. When I was in seminary, one of my professors, Dr. Wayne Rood , had adapted the gospel of Mark into a scripted form for two narrators and about 5 or more actors. I performed the part of Jesus in that performance, which we took to a local church and performed during worship. It has been years since that performance, and I have always wanted to reprise that performance for a church that I serve. April 10 and 17 will be my opportunity to offer this experience to our church. Scholars are virtually unanimous in saying that in all probability the Gospel of Mark first circulated in oral form. L. Michael White, in an interview for a program on Frontline, “ From Jesus to Christ: Importance of the Oral Tradition, ” says this about the earliest oral forms of the Gospels: Story telling was at the center of the beginn...