Meeting God in Mark: Reflections for the Season of Lent

I'm trying to read devotionally through Mark this Lent, and had hoped that this would be formatted in a pretty one-stop-shopping format from Ash Wednesday to Easter with Scripture, Devotional, Prayer, Questions for reflection on a daily or weekly schedule. Instead there's a separate commentary/summary, followed by some questions, followed by a reading plan (NRSV or NIV or whatever English translation you prefer sold separately). So the content is all here, but not quite in the format I was expecting.And if the fact that I'm writing this a good two weeks away from Easter is any indication for you, this was simultaneously so succinct and so interesting to read that I finished it early.

I find this book enormously helpful. It shows that Mark’s gospel offers an invitation to share in the relationship that Jesus had with his disciples, a relationship that can forever transform our view of the world and our roles in the world. We’ve tended to read the gospel as a story attempting to convey analytical truths about Jesus, but Williams argues persuasively that it’s intended to give us a sense of what it would have been like to walk the dusty roads of Palestine with this elusive figure, to sense the deep love that Jesus had for God’s people, and to accept his invitation to do likewise.Williams suggests that Mark is not a text to be read as a source of facts about Jesus’ ministry or doctrines to memorize. He sees Mark as more like the score of a symphony to be performed again and again, each time deepening our sense of the power of faith and trust in God’s presence. We will get it wrong at first, just as the disciples did; but as we come back to the text, weaving our own experience into the story, we will begin to recognize God at work in our own lives, and sense the magnificent power of Jesus’ vision of what the world can be, just as most disciples eventually did.

We have been using this book for a Lenten small group study at our church and it's been a wonderful conversation starter. Williams is an accessible, systematic theologian, brilliant writer and has a pastor's heart. The discussion questions in the back encourage both scriptural and personal reflection and the reading plan breaks the gospel into easy sections so the whole book can be read during the season of Lent. Church folks should be forewarned that Williams' writing is more complex than some Christian writers and so some lay people may find it challenging.

This simple, accessible little book is not an exhaustive commentary of the Gospel of Mark. Rather, it is a deeply insightful reflection that cuts to the heart of Mark's Gospel. Well-written and wise, I'd recommend Rowan Williams's little book to anyone interested in Jesus of Nazareth. Highly recommended.

Interesting perspective on the method behind the writing style of Mark. I enjoyed reading and using the questions to reflect on the passages.

This is another of Archbishop Rowan Williams' many insightful, instructive, and easy to read books. I learned a lot from carefully reading it during Lent.

Excellent book for Lent . I recommend it. It is written by the former Archbishop of Canterbury

Finding God in Mark is a Great ConversationRowan Williams is always profound and poetic but sometimes also dense. This book is clear and conversational and never out of reach. It would be a good Lenten study.

I read this with huge enjoyment - it's so clearly and well written, I found myself just wanting to keep reading until I got to the end. The book was for me full of AHA moments, either showing me a completely new dimension that I would never have seen, or showing me something that I simply hadn't noticed, but which now made complete sense. As well as this, he covers the historical and scholarly bits of the background that it is really useful to know, but not easy to find out as a complete non-specialist. A really good book - I'm so glad to have found it, and I fully intend to reread it. Soon.

There are so many expositions of the gospels that it is difficult to see how any more angles could be found - but Rowan Williams has managed to find fresh interpretations that leave the reader seeing the gospel with fresh eyes and wanting to turn again to it, to see what Williams has seen.Snippets of the gospel story are included in modern simplified language and there is also a Lenten reading guide that has broken the gospel down into daily readings - but sadly only one very short reflection per week.

Rowan Williams is such a gift to the church and to the faith community. A humble man but a genuine scholar who teases out scripture in such a way as to provide enlightenment at every step.

I've been a fan of Mark's Gospel for a long time and this is the book I wish I could have written. It is profound and insightful but demands no specialist theological knowledge. It cleaned off the stain of many years of familiarity and sent me back to the text with renewed enthusiasm.

An extraordinarily helpful biblical and devotional guide. People sometimes think Rowan is too 'heavy' but this is user-friendly. Some very profound insights well expressed. It'll help preaching this coming year (2015) when we focus on Mark's Gospel.