30,000 youth and the Cross of Christ

It's a lot of work to get them there.  It looks like a lot of fun to be had.  But it is also intended to be a four day intereaction with the Good News of Jesus as told to us in the Gospel of Mark.  And all Mark wants to talk about is the Cross.

From the very beginning, Mark drives us forward to the cross.  Conspiracy against Jesus begins as early as the 3rd chapter.  By chapter 6, John the Baptist is beheaded, giving us a fairly accurate foreshadowing of the end of Jesus' life.  Mark is on the road, pressing us ever forward in the story towards the Calvery conclusion.  In 16 short chapters, Mark brings us from beginning to resurrection.

The disciples in the gospel of Mark are clueless.  My favorite description of them comes from Dr. Richard Carlson who calls them the duh-ciples.  But who could have understood the radical nature of this Kingdom of God - a kingdom which is built not on power but on love and forgiveness?  Who could imagine that sacrifice was the entry and that all would be invited?  Who could have imagined that Jesus would raise from the dead?

This was the foundation of our time together in Detroit.  Speakers shared their stories and we were reminded of all the places where the kingdom of God is not evident and work needs to be done:  food insecurity, homelessness, poverty, gender identity, the Middle East, violence in our cities.   We had 100 + opportunities to talk and try and learn and tell about Jesus in our lives.  We stepedp out into the community and gave up a little (a lot actually) sweat for the sake of those whom this world often forgets.

Pick up your Bible and read Mark from beginning to end.  Won't take you much more than 40 minutes.  Encounter the story in one sitting and feel the power of Jesus' radically different leadership one more time.  Discover stories you had forgotten and allow yourself to be transformed by this telling of the Good News.

This will frame our conversation about these 4 days in Detroit.  Together we can continue to listen to Jesus' call for justice and learn in a deeper way what the way of the cross means.  It was fun, but it was so much more.