Hunting Ridge Presbyterian Church

We begin a journey through the gospel of Mark, following the ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ in the first-ever edition of a “gospel” (a new genre of literature intended to describe the life events/actions/words of Jesus through his death and resurrection).  Our goal will be to hear what Mark (a name given by the early church, not a self-identification by the writer) has to say to us here in Baltimore in 2016.

Mark names his belief that Jesus is the Christ (the long awaited Messiah) AND the Son of God right at the get go.  Right away we know who he is talking about, even though many characters (including the 12 disciples, his closest companions) are pretty clueless as to who this itinerant preacher-healer really is.

I encourage you to read this gospel along with us.  Each Sunday we will focus on a piece of the narrative, leading all the way up to the death and resurrection of Jesus the Christ, the Son of God.  We will learn that the first half of the gospel (chapters 1-8) concerns Jesus’ ministry among the people and the entire last half (chapters 9-16) follows the movement toward Jerusalem and death (both geographically and spiritually).

Next up:  Mark 4–  “The Farmers’ Almanac”.

It was December 1914. Europe was in turmoil—men from warring nations left empty chairs at Christmas dinner tables.  Germany and Britain had become definite enemies.  Peace, the “well being” kind of shalom, was definitely absent on the front lines, absent from the villages, absent from the seats of power….

That Christmas, a group of women in Britain wrote an open letter to the women of Germany, women of “the enemy nation” who shared the same pain of losing husbands and sons and fathers to war.  Continue reading “A Christmas Message” →