Hello, my friends!
This week is invitation to join some fun! This past week our Noonday Prayer conversation was about imagination. As we shared our reflections on the appointed scripture (Mark 15:1-11), we began to discuss how imagining the various perspectives of each character – Jesus, Pilate, Barabbas, the chief priests, elders, scribes, the council, and the crowd – helps us dive into scripture from a place of holy curiosity.
The fun thing about the Gospel of Mark is that originally it was shared from memory by a storyteller! This Gospel was meant to be an experience, to be heard all at once in a lively and meaningful performance. The narrator of the Gospel becoming a live person who provides personality and depth to each character. Even after the Gospel of Mark was written down, probably to serve as a kind of script, I imagine each storyteller brining their own particular dynamic flair to the story.
And we have the literal biblical text, there is so much more for us to explore and experience when we become part of the story itself. Although the daily office lectionary will soon have us in Matthew for Noonday Prayer, we still have plenty of Mark to experience on Sundays as we continue to make our way through the Season after Pentecost (or as some say, Ordinary Time).
Using an exercise from the book Mark as Story, I invite you to reflect on at least one character from our upcoming Gospel text Mark 7:24-37 and to imagine the story through their experience. The authors of Mark as Story offer these instructions and reflection questions: Chose a character and change the pronouns to the first-person. Tell or read the episode as if it were you.
- What did you learn about this character?
- Did you identify with their perspective?
- What group does this character represent, and how might that affect their point of view?
- How did their perspective change your experience of the story?
I cannot wait to hear how imaginative you are with scripture and how this way of engaging the text helps you go deeper into the story.
Be well,
Deacon Megan