service

Just this week I've started teaching the Book of Ruth again, this time to women at my church (over the summer I hosted friends in my home). I could study and teach this book every semester...not only is it a fantastic short story, but the characters are timeless. Good literature is most often remembered--at least in my opinion--because of the characters. Whether lovable or dispicable, they stick in our minds long after we put the book down. Ruth is no different.

Do you ever feel helpless when considering the extreme poverty present in our global community?  Do the eyes of hungry children from devastated regions haunt you as you tuck your healthy little ones into bed?  This past week I was challenged to think more deeply about the extreme poverty experienced by children and families in many distressed parts of the world.

Here we are at the end of our series in the gospel of Mark! I know its been a long run and I hope you've been able to trace the themes in the gospel along with me over the various posts. Today, let's pull together what we've learned from our work.

We're back with our series on Mark's gospel and today we'll look at elements in the story that highlight the motif of servanthood. (For a review, go here for part one which talked about the historical background of Mark's story and here for part two where we highlighted the motif of authority found in the Gospel.)