Mark's Gospel

2024: the year of Mark's Gospel

During 2024 the lectionary encourages us to navigate the Gospel of Mark. The standard lectionary also picks up other passages of Scripture and can move around the Gospel.

As Alcester Minster we will instead be picking up the Gospel of Mark and aiming to read it over the course of the year, in the most part in order. At special festival times we will depart from the narrative and pick up the appropriate passages in Mark that will help us navigate a particular season.

In addition, the weekly devotional reading will go back over the Sunday reading in sections to enable us to dwell in the book a little longer.

There will be a number of special Mark based events across the year to help us engage with this Gospel in new ways including a presentation by Matt Britton in Lent where he will perform the whole Gospel for us.

Mark is a fast paced, action-packed Gospel which moves the narrative along quite quickly, and it’s the shortest of the four Gospels. It is most probably the earliest written Gospel. The Gospel writer is understood to have heard firsthand from Peter about Jesus which gives personal

insights into this account of Jesus’ life. You will often find him using words like immediately, to hurry us from one amazing story to the next. Because of this we don’t get all the stories and details that the other Gospels might include, like an account of Jesus’ birth. Mark wants to concentrate on what he feels is the most important message, that of Jesus himself. You will see that even when Jesus doesn’t appear to be the subject he is still the centre of attention.

There are two key questions we can ask ourselves each time we read Mark.

1. What does this passage tell us about Jesus?

2. How does this show us how to be a disciple?

Look out for the bookmark to support the daily readings. I hope you will join me in reading Mark, and together we will be encouraged by this Gospel.

Rev Katie Cross