R U Preparing For Holy Week?

Good Friday is only three weeks from tomorrow -whoa! Maybe you’ve been part of the “Read-The-Bible-In-A-Year” program and are already reading Scripture in preparation for holy week. Or maybe you’ve been using other devotional materials. Let me suggest one other way of preparing, suggested by Chris Brauns on his site (click here) – read the gospel of Mark as many times as possible between now and Easter.

Mark is the shortest, and most direct, of the four gospels – it’s not hard to read it thru in one sitting. But you don’t have to read it quickly. Just taking the next threes week to read it thru repeatedly would not only help burn it in your brain – you may also begin to see things you hadn’t seen before. Let me also suggest that, if you do this, you may want to use more than one translation. At St. Paul’s we use the ESV in worship – an interesting contrast would be to read Mark in the ESV, then in Peterson’s “The Message“.

The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.  As it is written in Isaiah the prophet,
“Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way,  the voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,’ ”  Mark 1:1-3 (ESV)