Unexpected Twists of Leading Mark Study

This fall (2014), I co-led a weekly inductive bible study on the gospel of Mark, colloquially known as Mark Study. My co-leader and I were excited about making a regular space where folks could encounter the Jesus of the Bible, the one who frequently confounds us unless we expend time and energy entering into the first-century world he lived in. We eagerly anticipated Jesus showing up in the lives of the Mark Studiers. We just didn't know who those Mark Studiers would be.

Fifteen weeks later, and my co-leader and I are marveling at how much God moved in unseen ways (that is, unseen by us until pretty recently).

1. We consistently had 6 students attending.

2. The study that I felt the most insecure about leading was one that folks mentioned the most in their conversations with us at the end of the semester.

3. We had two opportunities to look for Jesus in our present day social climate: one in Oakland, talking about police brutality and racial injustice, and the other in Berkeley, a prayer vigil organized after the non-indictment of Darren Wilson. After these events, my co-leader and I were unsure whether or not folks were able to make connections between Jesus in the gospel of Mark and Black Americans advocating for justice in their communities. But our last study of the semester tied in the way Jesus sends out his followers to see and be with communities previously unknown to us!

4. Students are excited to be part of Mark 2 (the second half of Mark) next semester; and they are excited to lead the study!

5. Students have individually thanked us for the space that we helped create each week because they have seen things they had never seen before in Jesus and in the Word.

It maybe oughtn't be much of a surprise to me that God shows up when people seek him--and yet, I am so much like the disciples, who say, "Jesus, don't you care --- ?!" and get afraid whenever he does anything. So that's the last twist: how Jesus has stretched my belief/faith by putting me in the position of leading others when I'm barely a step ahead!