ISSUES OF FAITH: A gospel-ing we go!
Published 1:30 am Friday, April 24, 2026
Readings: The Lessons Appointed for Use on the Feast of Saint Mark, per the Revised Common Lectionary (April 25)
Almighty God, by the hand of Mark the evangelist you have given to your Church the Gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God: We thank you for this witness, and pray that we may be firmly grounded in its truth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
HERE WE GO for our current gallop through the lectionary, the readings appointed for Saturday, April 25, the Feast Day of St. Mark.
If Easter moves all over the place (and it does), then this is another kind of day, a fixed feast day. Last year, St. Mark’s Day was April 25; this year, St. Mark’s Day is April 25, next year the Feast of St. Mark is scheduled to occur on Apr … well, you get the idea.
By the way, I know some of you feel it’s odd I pay so much attention to what happens, when, to whom on the calendar, but, trust, when I’ve written about days like this, I get lots of positive comments from folks all over the community.
Also, it’s my column, and I find feast days utterly fascinating and probably have more of them memorized than any Christian who is not a Roman Catholic, so there!
The happiest day of my life was in early days of college when I found out I was born on St. Luke’s Day.
One of the couples I just love are ex-Roman Catholic, now Episcopalian.
I can usually outdo them on Bible Baffle (“Who said ‘I AM’ seven times in the Gospel of John?”) but they can outdo me on saints every time:
One of Them: “Who is St. Drogo?” (In the background, we hear something like the Jeopardy Theme.)
Me: “Who??”
The Other of Them in Triumph: “Oh, he’s the patron saint of unattractive people!”
Me to Self: “Are they trying to tell me something? Should I go look up St. Drogo? Is this some message from God? Should I get my hair cut?”
Self: “Could you please try for five minutes not to be an idiot? Meanwhile, go read The Lives of the Saints again, OK? Even better, go read the Imitation of Christ again and go and do good out there.”
Me to Self: “Fine. Be that way.”
And — I’m speaking to you readers of mine now — that’s why we have Feast Days in the Church.
They’re not just remembrances of the past, they’re guides to our present and our futures.
As the Collect for St. Mark’s Day reminds us, “we thank you for this witness, and pray that we may be firmly grounded in its truth.”
In this case, the Collect particularly means the Gospel as told to us by Mark.
We read the Gospel of Mark to find out how Mark pictured Christ (or Peter, if you want, since a lot of scholars think that Mark was a disciple of Peter.) And off we go, journeying with Mark through the Holy Land, basically a dramatic account of the Life of Christ — Mark is by far the shortest of the Gospels and begins at Christ’s baptism, not his birth like Matthew and Luke, or before the beginning of time, like John.
OK, think of it this way: picture a lamp, and at the center of that lamp, one light, just one. That light is Jesus, the Light of the World, and He’s at the center of all this: the center (for us Christians) of the Church, the center of what we do and how we do it and why we do it.
So we have two options for the Gospel on the Feast of St. Mark: its beginning and its end. The preacher for that day can choose to begin with the double story of Christ and His cousin, John the Baptizer.
John was there to serve as the herald of Christ:
John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.
Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. He proclaimed, “The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.
Or the preacher could choose the other option and preach on the end of Christ’s ministry on earth:
“So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. And they went out and proclaimed the good news everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by the signs that accompanied it.”
Admittedly, that is the end in several but not all of the manuscripts that survived, but it’s probably better than the oldest attributed ending of Mark: “Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid.”
Yeah, a bit of a let down, but that’s why we have several Gospels and the glory of all the saints. Besides, those women were fierce.
Remember that lantern? The Light of the World? Well, picture the lampshade for the lamp I mentioned above.
Four of the panes could be the four Gospels: Mark, Matthew, Luke and John. And each of the saints? Yet another window into the mystery and wonder that is God.
As we hit the other three feast days for the other Gospelers, I’ll write about those, too.
Meanwhile, my fellow Christians, celebrate with me Mark’s account, which is short and sweet, and which is a first account of the Life of Christ and His work on Earth.
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Issues of Faith is a rotating column by religious leaders on the North Olympic Peninsula. Previously a deacon in the Episcopal Diocese of Olympia, Dr. Keith Dorwick is a lay person continuing his walk with God who is a community member of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church (ELCA) in Port Angeles. He’s also the executive director of e-space (https://e-space.website), his next holy adventure.
