Mark Knows It All

This is the season of Advent. It’s a peculiar time in the church calendar because although it marks the beginning of the church year, the lectionary readings assigned to Advent for the first two weeks focus on Christ’s second coming, and then morphs into anticipation of his birth. The Feast of Christ the King celebrating Christ as the all triumphant King of the universe, falls on the last Sunday of the liturgical year, right before Advent. The Advent readings almost act as an epilogue to the church year looking at the end times, and the origin of times. I am the Alpha and Omega… Included in the story mix of end times and Old Testament Messiah prophecies, we hear the story of John the Baptist, Matthew’s voice in the wilderness. This leads, in turn, to many ministries using this as a teachable moment, a time for new baptisms and baptism reaffirmation by those already baptized. This past Sunday, my church did just that. The baptismal font is set up right in front of the altar so all can w...