It was startling for me to learn that the theme scripture for “Rise Up Together!”, the ELCA Youth Gathering, was the Gospel of Mark. The whole Gospel! Certainly the Gathering did not cover all, or even a large portion of the verses in Mark, but what a bold statement. This year our theme text was: Mark.
How brilliant. Here are a few of my own brainstorms about how this was a “good move” for the planners and organizers. By the way, all participants were challenged to read the entire Gospel in preparation for the Gathering.
- It leads us beyond a specific teaching of Christ (although of course that’s good), and back to a relationship. If the whole of Mark is our text, then we are really opening ourselves up to experience the radical love of Christ as Mark tells the tale. We are being invited into the expansive story of Jesus who appears among us. Participants in the Gathering are invited back to the relationship, what I call the First Love.
- We are invited on a journey. I would like to quote the Christian artist Billy Sprague here and say “Welcome to the sacred journey, that every mother’s child must make… Grace exploding in the heart like constellations in the dark, it guides you home… never doubt the truth of what you do not understand.” Journeys involve moving in body, mind and spirit. We are meant to be on the move, and when we are called to that together, walking the streets of downtown Detroit, it’s a sacred journey filled with moments of the blessed presence of the Spirit. Our journey led us into the lives of Detroit residents, hoping to simply work shoulder to shoulder and be part of the healing of a city, then back to our own homes, where the journey continues.
- One signature of Mark’s Gospel is the word “suddenly” or “immediately.” As Mark gives us his account, he portrays a Jesus who does very little incrementally. Sudden bursts of healing power, sudden shifts from one place to the next, immediate appearances of people are peppered throughout the whole Gospel. Immediately Jesus is thrown into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan. The first disciples immediately drop their stuff and follow him. The pharisees immediately start to hatch a plan to trap him. Immediately a hemorrhaging woman stops bleeding when she touches the hem of his robe. It’s pretty exciting if you were to just read the Gospel looking for “suddenly,” or “immediately.” In Detroit there were plenty of heart-warming surprises, whether it was happening on stage or in simple interactions.
- Mark’s Jesus comes to grab hold of the world and pull it away from the powerful grasp of the enemies of the ways of God. It’s remarkable to notice who the opposition really is in Mark. In many cases, it’s actually the religious leadership that doesn’t have much of a stomach for the sudden, radical release of people from their struggles.
The first verse of the Gospel isn’t really a grammatically complete sentence. “The beginning of the good news…” The whole Gospel is the beginning of the Gospel of Jesus. The Gospel continues in those who call themselves followers of Christ. We’re part of the ongoing telling of the good news of Jesus. In Detroit, the good news was handed over to our youth, and the world will be blessed by their witness.
