Product Overview
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.
Reviews
"In Beloved Son, Blessed Community, John Christianson applies his formidable biblical insights to create a powerful guide for Lent. Jesus in Mark’s Gospel becomes far less a story from our past and more of a living teacher, drawing us closer to God, to each other, and to our truest and best selves.”—Magrey R. deVega, Senior Pastor, Hyde Park United Methodist Church, Tampa, Florida, and author of Songs for the Waiting: Devotions Inspired by the Hymns of Advent
“Walking with Mark over forty days is an ideal way to experience the most lively story of Jesus’s life. While Mark has the reader rushing on, this study draws the reader into informed prayer and reflection that can make the Scripture meaningful for individuals and their communities.”—Elizabeth Rae Coody, Associate Professor of Religious Studies, Morningside University, Sioux City, Iowa
“Wearing his pastor and scholar hats, Christianson provides an insightful and thoughtful guide through Mark's Gospel. Read along with him and encounter gospel life marked by belonging and being beloved.”—Warren Carter, Meinders Professor of New Testament, Phillips Theological Seminary, Tulsa, Oklahoma
“Christianson brings us on an insightful journey through the Gospel of Mark, exploring the human experiences of Jesus, his followers, and people whose lives were transformed, healed, and made whole. Christianson raises our awareness of the loving presence of God in our lives and calls us to a deeper commitment to the principles of Christian discipleship.”—Zhenya Gurina-Rodríguez, Director of Doctor of Ministry Program and Assistant Professor of New Testament and Ministry, Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary