I think I solved my "Mark" dilemma. If you click that link, you will see a Facebook status update I wrote lamenting the problem. Which is, 11 Sundays to fit ten chapters into, oh and we have special Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday services in those 11 weeks too. Some suggestions were given and at least one person wanted to hear how I resolved to approach the dilemma, thus this post.
Backstory:
This year I wanted to preach through the gospel of Mark. For some reason I don't often look to Mark when I'm studying the gospels. So, to learn more I decided to preach through the book. I had preached from Mark 1 through Mark 6:44. Then as I sat down to sort out how to break down the rest of the book with the number of Sundays that I have remaining as pastor of Timbers Community Church (blogged about here), I realized that at the pace we were moving it wasn't going to come together the way I wanted.
So here's what I'm planning on doing with the rest of the sermon series. Date, Passage and then the subtitles that may (or not) be in your Bible.
- April 10 - Mark 7:1-23 Jesus teaches about Inner Purity
- April 17 - Palm Sunday service
- April 24 - Easter Sunday
- May 1 - Mark 8:11-21 Pharisees demand a miracle and the yeast of the Pharisees and Herod
- May 8 - (Mothers Day) Mark 8: 27-38 Peter's declaration about Jesus, Jesus predicts his death
- May 15 - Mark 9:2-13 Transfiguration
- May 22 - (Victoria Day weekend) - Mark 9:33-50 Greatest in the kingdom, using the name of Jesus
- May 29 - Mark 10:35-45 Serving Others
- June 5 - Mark 12:1-12 Parable of the Evil Farmers
- June 12 - Mark 13:1-37 Jesus foretells the future
- June 19 - (Fathers Day) Mark 14:12 ->> Last Supper and onwards
Some thoughts, I will draw from the Mark accounts for my portions of the Easter services, and while it will not be a part of the series, we will as a community look at the accounts, even if it is out of order a bit.
I have felt like some of the portions of Mark that I have outlined above are what 'we' need to look at. I dislike that we have to skip parts. I should have planned the front end of the series a little better.
I think there are some really excellent things we can learn from these scenes in the book of Mark and I look forward to working through them with our church.
