Lenten Devotional Introduction

Beginning February 6, Ash Wednesday, you are invited to begin a Lenten discipline using a daily devotional posting from the devotional booklet "What Shall We Call Him?". The devotions are based on the gospel of Mark and are organized around the various names of Jesus in the book. Opportunities for reflectionare are included in each posting. If you wish to engage in a dialogue you may add your comments.

Below is the introduction to the work.

Introduction

Mark’s gospel probably was the earliest of the written stories of the life of Jesus. We tend to think of life stories as biographies detailing the significant features of a person’s life; we expect them to be completely factual in character and to be about “famous” people of our time. Most of the time we eschew biographies that are obviously designed to champion the particular person or his cause. We want impartial reporting. Mark’s gospel is none of these. Jesus while known when the story was written was not famous. Mark clearly states his purpose in the opening lines—this is the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. And like any good storyteller who wishes to influence his audience, factualness takes a back seat to truth. Mark wishes us to meet the Jesus known in the first century CE and known in the twenty-first century CE. This Lenten study invites you to that experience.
As you read Mark’s gospel (and you are encouraged to do that during this season) you may find that Jesus is called by many different names and titles. Each seems to give us a different picture of who he is and was. Each is open to expanding our experience of him. Each can awaken in us visions of who and how he is a part of the world in which we live. The first five weeks of Lent in this devotional are devoted to thinking and meeting Jesus as he is named in Mark. Thoughts on the name begin the week and the idea grows as we imagine, ponder, and relate to Jesus so called. Scripture, mediations, pictures, questions and prayer guide and challenge. Holy Week looks daily at the different names by which Jesus is known as he walks from the triumphal entry to cross and grave.
Purposeful study, reflection, and prayer are important disciplines for Christians walking through the forty days of Lent. As we come to know Jesus more fully, more personally, more communally, we prepare to rejoice anew with the good news of Easter morn, the good news Mark invites us to know, the good news of Jesus Christ Son of God. These meditations are to help you on this walk.
May God bless your journey.