A Lenten invitation to discover purpose and love through the Gospel of Mark

The Gospel of Mark begins not with a birth story but with a different sort of beginning: God’s voice from heaven calling Jesus “my Beloved Son.” Empowered by this divine affirmation, Jesus embarks on a mission to bring everyone into a community of loving neighbors, starting with his closest friends and followers and continuing through time and space to include each of us.

This Lenten journey through the Gospel of Mark invites us to careful Bible study and personal reflection. As we encounter Jesus’s life and consider its meaning, we find ways to help our problems of loneliness, social isolation, and lack of purpose. When we learn that we are loved, we can in turn build beloved lives, relationships, and community.

This Lenten devotional and study can be used in many ways:

• Individuals seeking daily devotional time will discover forty short chapters that not only offer the opportunity to read the Gospel of Mark from beginning to end but also nurture their faith journey through a daily prayer and reflection prompt.
• Groups and congregations putting together a Lenten study program will find weekly questions that help to guide conversation.
• Preachers will find inspiring sermon illustrations and commentary throughout the reflections, empowering them to preach to their community with a sense of hope.

Mark’s story about Jesus is good news for us. In it we see how it’s possible to be hopeful and confident when we hear God’s word of love, find our path and purpose, create and build community, and experience new life and resurrection.