I am seeing the Gospel “according to Mark” as a First Century Spoken-Word Presentation which Peter gave across the Empire using John Mark as his (better quality Greek?) interpreter, then finally Mark became the one who wrote down the script for the Christians in Rome when Peter was imprisoned there.
Though I am an ammateur, I have found it to be profound. It has acted in my life as salt and light. It has become a life-changing, life-healing, unsettling, life-giving, story of God’s chosen Leader Of Humanity. Its protagonist stands above me as a god. I will gladly learn from him. And so I must learn through Mark (& the other late first Century/ early Second Century renditions of this same gospel by other people to other audiences helps a lot with this too).
I have a hunch that was ratified the other day by a mate at a BBQ, who told me what an amazing experience it was for him to hear a letter from Christ’s Apostle (think Ambassador) Paul simply said, from memory, to a group; instead of read and “taught on”.
I want to test out my hunch now… My hunch is that (in the tradition we have from Jesus himself, who told many many stories to highlight, elucidate, and clarify what the reign of God was really like), if the hundred or so stories put together by (Peter &) Mark were once again
presented orally
as a (or a series of) spoken-word presentation(s),
by a committed, sent, rag-tag group similar to Peter, that fisherman from Galilee, and his younger associate Mark (whom Peter came to see as family),
to a similar audience to Mark’s First Century Roman audience (powerful & pragmatic. Which in my view, is country Australian people)
then it might affect us all as it did when that first Century group of Jesus followers experimented with giving their lives to something (someone) worth living (& dying) for…
I have committed myself to doing this in the next 3-5 years (by 2030). I have made a significant start, translating Mark chapters 1-5 into English verse that could be sung, chanted, dramatized as a spoken-word “thing-o”. And, with Jordan the Magnificent, memorised chapter one (& since lost it again).
Now I am scared that the job is actually too big for me alone, but I’m willing to die trying it. I have a community around me who support me in many ways in following Jesus as the cornerstone to a new approach to life.
Along with God’s personal help, I am on the look-out for people who might team up with me (& whom I might team up with) in helpful ways, to contribute to this specific experiment. It may mean getting to know the text of this First Century, ancient Greek, occasional document: reading various English translations, learning to wrestle with the Greek text, trying to translate it, interpretting it to our setting, & presenting it in a spoken word format in this country.. etc…
Paul (de) Walker
0461258293
Orange NSW, Australia.
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