Revd Tim Scott, Associate Priest at St Mary’s and Area Dean, Waltham Forest, writes:
I was ridiculously excited on Sunday evening when I saw that a new commentary by Paula Gooder on the Gospel of Mark had just been published! Mark is my favourite gospel (closely followed by Luke), and Paula Gooder is an extraordinary biblical scholar as well as a brilliant lecturer and teacher.
If you get a chance, do search for her work, watch some of her videos, or try and track down one of her books. I knew that she was writing a new commentary and so I was waiting for it to come out, not least because next year a significant number of the set readings which we use in the Church of England are from Mark’s gospel.
What also struck me was the post that she put on Facebook: ‘I started writing this commentary knowing I loved Mark’s Gospel. By the time I finished writing it, I was blown away by Mark’s brilliance. He was a storytelling genius’. What really struck me in the post was the sense of ‘newness’ and ‘new discoveries’. I was reminded of words in the Book of Revelation 21:5 where God says: ‘See I am making all things new’.
The momentum of the scriptures is always forwards – to new discoveries, to the possibility of new things happening, to new depth of insight and to a new sense of freedom and liberation.
I then found myself asking where I see new, exciting and lifegiving things happening. What new things might God be doing? How might we give attention to these things?
Among stories of lament and grief, hope and courage, are there new stories being told?
How might we both hear and tell those new stories which may seem a distant whisper but are powerful signs of hope?
As I long to discover how Paula Gooder reflects on Mark as a storyteller, I am left with a whole range of questions and very few answers – except that I believe the call of God is always forward and towards new and exciting things. I pray that whatever our particular circumstances, we may get a glimpse of God’s new and life-giving way forward and that we may discover stories of encouragement, renewal and hope.
With my love and prayers,
Tim