Mark 1:5 (NRSV)
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Verse 5And 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.
Devotion
The opening of Mark's Gospel reminds us of the decentering of God's good news. We find ourselves not in the hustle and bustle of Jerusalem but outside of her city walls, in the margins, on the sidelines. The good news of God brings hope to those who find themselves in the peripheries of our world, but it also belongs there. As "a call from the ways untrod," God's good news of grace announces God's presence on the fringe, God's love that goes beyond the boundaries of where we thought God was supposed to be, and God's promise that there is no place on earth God will not go or be for us.
Prayer
God of love, in this Advent time, we anticipate your presence anew. Help us to look for your presence in those places of our lives where we least expect your love and grace. Amen.