300 words a day

Jesus invited the disciples and a nearby crowd to follow him. It feels obvious, since they were somewhere north of the Sea of Galilee. The disciples wouldn’t have been there unless Jesus had gone up there and they followed him. But Mark is at the midpoint of the gospel he’s writing, and the story is […]

Picking on Peter is a common pastime for preachers and teachers in church. Peter is seen as impetuous, explosive. He says what he thinks, but he doesn’t think much. And then he ends up in charge. Sometimes, perhaps, people talk about him to excuse our own impetuosity as leaders. “I know I’m headstrong, but look […]

God. I think that we’re wrong about you, most of us, most of the time. We talk as if you are judging us with plague and pestilence.We talk as if the most important thing to you is gathering in buildings.We talk as if you are most in love with – or least angry at – […]

In between the man who couldn’t hear and the man who couldn’t see, Jesus taught for three days and then fed 4000 people. In between, a group of Pharisees came asking for proof that God was authorizing all this. Jesus refused. In between, Jesus warned his followers to not become like the Pharisees and Herod, […]

The other day, one of my grad students reported on a retreat he had taken. Away from interruptions and schedules, he read through the Gospel of Mark. He suggested that we miss the big picture when we are reading a few words, a few sentences at a time. That’s the risk of writing 300 words […]