The Revised Common Lectionary: Year B begins on Advent I, November 30th, 2014. For those denominations that follow the Common Lectionary that Sunday will be the church’s New Year’s Day. Year B will include a good portion of Mark’s gospel (slightly less than half) and Bishop Melissa Skelton wanted to offer diocesan clergy the opportunity of an “exploration” session in order to help them develop their sermon content for the coming year.
The half-day study got underway with coffee at 9am, Thursday, November 18th at St. Catherine’s, Capilano in North Vancouver’s Edgemont neighbourhood. The three prinicpals leading the session were: the Reverend Dr. Angus Stuart, rector of St. Francis-in-the-Wood, Caulfeild, Dr. Steve Black, adjunct professor at VST and the Right Reverend Jim Cruickshank, retired Bishop of the former Diocese of Cariboo, former Dean of Christ Church Cathedral and former Chancellor of VST.
Dr. Angus Stuart regularly performs the NRSV text of Mark’s gospel from memory in a presentation titled “Testament of a Naked Man.” His role in the exploration session was to recite selected passages from Mark and also take an active role in the analysis and facilitated discussions. Dr. Black was the principal facilitator as he led the analysis of each section following Dr. Stuarts’s recitation of the selected text. Bishop Cruickshank began the morning with a brief overview of Mark’s gospel (his favourite) that set the tone for the morning.
There were 35-40 diocesan clergy gathered (deacons and priests) at St. Catherine’s and they listened carefully and participated in the discussion of Mark 4: 1-24; 1 1-40; 5:21-6:34; 6:53-7:8; 7:14-15, 21-37; 8:27 – 9:9; 9:30-49; 10:2-31; 14:1-16:8.
In his opening remarks Bishop Jim Cruickshank imparted a great deal of wisdom about these texts in a very brief presentation. He said that Mark begins in a very different way. Mark presents his history as if the reader has no knowledge of Christ’s death and resurrection “as it hasn’t happened yet.” The characters of Mark’s gospel fall mostly into three categories referred to by the bishop as: good guys, bad guys and supplicants. In Mark, the disciples are the “bad guys” and the supplicants (the religious people of the day) are the “good guys”. This is certainly different from Matthew’s gospel where it is the other way around. Regarding the interpretation concerning the disciples in Mark’s gospel Bishop Jim summarized saying “the preacher’s task is to somehow explain that group of people who just don’t get it.”
In his opening remarks, Dr Steve Black agreed with Bishop Jim about the category of characters but he also said that there are two other important characters, the narrator and the reader. Much information is offered by the narrator in the opening chapters, “Christ is not mentioned until Chapter 8. Mark’s gospel does not begin with the birth, there is no Christmas narrative, no virgin birth. Jesus becomes “Christ” at baptism.
The Gospel of Mark is a pivotal and important component of our faith and the time spent by clergy 9am – 1pm on November 18th will be of great benefit over the coming 12 months.
There is an opportunity to experience the Reverend Dr. Angus Stuart’s contemporary dramatization “Testament of a Naked Man”, Wednesday, November 26th, 7pm at St. Clement’s, Lynn Valley. This will be a profound introduction for all who attend to enter into the contemplative time of expectation which is Advent.
Images: Top and homepage, Bishop Jim Cruickshank on the right listens to Dr. Stuart reciting Mark 4 1-24. Middle right, Bishop Jim’s opening remarks. Lower left, Dr Steve Black analyzing the text prior to opening the floor for discussion. Bottom, clergy of the diocese take notes during the examination and exploration of the text. Below, the Reverend Dr. Angus Stuart.