Advent Reflections: Mark's Version of God’s Dream for the World

As we enter the seasons of Advent and Christmas, we are invited into a time of anticipation, wonder, and preparation. Advent is a season of readiness, where we prepare our hearts to receive Jesus anew, but it is also an invitation to open ourselves to God’s Dream for the world—a vision of love, justice, and healing that transforms lives. Mark’s Gospel, with its urgency and focus, gives us a powerful story of God’s Dream unfolding through Jesus’s life and ministry. We meet a Saviour who not only fulfills ancient hopes but calls us to participate in a vision that changes everything.

Over the coming weeks, we will journey through the Gospel of Mark with daily reflections, beginning with Jesus’s baptism and moving through the teachings, miracles, and encounters that bring God’s Dream to life. Each passage invites us to pause, reflect, and respond to this unfolding vision. To guide our reflections, we’ll use the three questions that have become a hallmark of my approach to Scripture:

1. What is attractive about God's Dream?

In each story, there are moments of hope, compassion, and transformation that show us glimpses of God’s Dream. The words and actions of Jesus reveal a life dedicated to the poor, the lost, and the broken, embodying a love that heals and restores. This question helps us identify what draws us into the passage, inviting us to see how God’s vision can take root in our own lives.

2. What is challenging about God's Dream?

God’s Dream is often challenging because it calls us beyond our comfort zones and asks us to reimagine our lives and relationships. Jesus’s teachings challenge assumptions about power, wealth, and forgiveness, often confronting us with difficult truths. By exploring what is uncomfortable or unsettling, we recognize how God’s Dream stretches us, calling us to deeper honesty and transformation.

3. What is transformative about God's Dream?

At its core, the Gospel of Mark is a story of transformation—of lives changed, identities reshaped, and new beginnings forged. This question invites us to consider how God’s Dream, as revealed through Jesus, might change our hearts, minds, and actions. We reflect on what it would mean to live with this vision as our guiding purpose, actively participating in God’s Dream for a more just and compassionate world.

These three questions are not only a framework for our reflections but a mirror of the responses we see throughout Mark’s Gospel. Those who encountered Jesus reacted with attraction, resistance, or a reorientation of life itself. Just as they were invited into God’s Dream for a new way of living, we are invited to engage deeply with this story, letting it resonate within us and draw us closer to God.

As we journey through Advent and into Christmas, may this practice of reflection help us open our lives to God’s Dream, welcoming Jesus not only into our hearts but into a world waiting for love, peace, and justice to be made real.