NOTES: 1] MK begins with JB revealing whom Jesus really is, & then spends most of the rest of his Gospel keeping it secret to the inner circle! 2] 'Christ' is not a name, but a title = 'Anointed One'. 3] JB's baptism is for 'repentance (change of heart) & forgiveness of sins'. Except in one of the disputed endings to MK (16:16, not in most Bibles) where it's connected with being 'saved' we aren't told what Jesus-baptism is for.

WARMING UP: Do we have some established routine as to how our day begins?

TREASURES OLD & NEW: Identify God at work in anything this week?

ENTERING INTO THE STORY:
1           Do we have as clear an idea as to where the Gospel begins for us, as MK has in setting down where it begins for him? In our case, did / does it begin with a passage of scripture, some discovery we made, something that happened to us, something someone said or did....? Can we identify just one beginning for us, or were there more than one?

2-3       Do we have enough grasp of the stories in the Hebrew Bible to really appreciate how much they were 'launching pads' for Jesus to build on, develop, etc? Has the Hebrew Bible lesson in the Liturgy become just some kind of preliminary to the Gospel without shedding much light on it? Although we don't have to become Hebrews before we can become Christians, might we have moved too far away from our Hebrew 'faith roots'? If so, what do we need to do about that to restore that vivid connection Jesus saw & understood? Or, doesn't it matter?
           Are we hard at work preparing the way of the Lord? What does that really mean today - seeing the Lord has already come in the physical sense, & doesn't seem to be in any hurry to come in the apocalyptic sense? Do we need to be living 'straightened out' lives, before we can 'prepare the way of the Lord'? How can we recognise Jesus present among us & in us, & not just someone we're hoping will come back one day, & help others discover that, too?

4-6      Given Jesus' seeming lack of emphasis on what he sees baptism to be, & a seeming confusion about what baptism is in today's church, if we were not already baptized, would it seem urgent to us to be baptised now at our stage of life?

7-8      Does the fact that JB points not to himself but to Jesus, & Jesus points beyond himself to the Father make us at all suspicious of so-called 'prophets' who point to & talk up themselves? Is pointing beyond oneself a more convincing sign of integrity, authenticity, humility, etc.? How can we give humility a more central place among Christian virtues in a society which takes humility for weakness in family, education, politics, sport, etc.? Is humility catching in our church, or lacking? What does it mean to us that we've been baptized with Holy Spirit as well as water? As humility is one of the 'gifts of the Spirit', is it reasonable to expect that when the Spirit indwells us, then we'll exhibit a Jesus-like humility?