After a six-week break, we start up at the jail this Wednesday with a nine-week series on Mark 1. The theme is “The Good News” from the first verse, which is really a title: The Beginning of the Good News of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

I’ve gone back and forth about whether to use “gospel,” “good news,” or “story” to translate tou euaggeliou. Another translation issue is regarding christou. Sometimes I opt for the literal meaning, “anointed one” and sometimes “Messiah” from the Hebrew rendering.

Then there’s the question of whether or not to include “Son of God” as part of the title. Contemporary biblical scholarship argues persuasively that it is not original to Mark, but was added by scribes at a relatively early stage of textual development.

This time I decided to follow the NRSV on each of these translation decisions for the written story map. But when I tell it, one or the other may prevail. In any case, the “About the Story” page will include brief discussion of these translation issues.

However the title gets translated, the first story is about John the Baptizer. Our talking pieces will be a shell, symbolic of baptism, and a key chain of a sandal that my daughter brought back as a souvenir from her visit to Assisi, Italy this summer.