Mission Picture Gallery: Read Mark Learn !

"The International Year of Reading" and its successor "Read On" was marked in Market Gate by a public reading of the whole of Mark’s gospel with a range of community figures taking part and sponsored by Warrington Town Centre Clergy. The Mission minister acted as town crier for the occasion. Jesus of Nazareth never wrote a book. William Caxton and the printing press still lay many centuries in the future. What books (scrolls) there were belonged to the privileged few, or were to be found in communal places - public libraries, religious communities, official archives etc. They were treasured possessions, all having to be hand-written - line by laborious line, word by weary word. Like anything else of significance, people learned about the words and deeds of the founder of Christianity by listening much more than by reading. At the end of a day's work they would sit around as the light faded and exchange stories of memorable events which had had such a radical effect on the lives of those who had been personally involved. But as the first generation of eyewitnesses of the life of Jesus began to die off, and especially as a rising tide of persecution and martyrdom threatened to engulf his followers, the pressure mounted to write the stories down so that future generations also could have the opportunity to learn about this most remarkable person and make their own response to him. The Gospel (“Good News") according to Mark, which we are reading in Market Gate today, was probably the earliest attempt to provide an orderly written account of who Jesus was and what he did. Based, according to an early tradition, on the reminiscences of Simon Peter (one of the inner circle of Jesus' followers) it was written in Greek, the trade language of the day - although Jesus and companions would have spoken the local language, Aramaic. So from the earliest days translation was needed to make the stories accessible to a wider audience. Translations of these writings into English have been attempted since the Middle Ages and continue unabated in our own day. Something of the richness and variety of these English versions will be reflected in the different styles. Participants in ‘Read Mark Learn!’… The Mayor of Warrington (Cllr Sheila Woodyatt); Joe Booth (Teacher); Millicent Clucas (Retired Teacher); Fr Christopher Cunningham (Roman Catholic Dean of Warrington); Harry Cunningham JP (Orford Pensioner and Freeman); Richard Dawson (Staff member, Warrington Youth for Christ); Sr Bernadette Deegan (Warrington; Chaplain, Mission in the Economy); Rev Bill Eugster (Free Church Reference Group); Rev Mike Finlay (Rector of Warrington); Tony Fitzgerald (Town Centre Manager); Cllr John Gartside (Leader of the Council); Lorra Howarth (Housewife); Lord Hoyle of Warrington; Helen Jones MP; Nancy Jones (Retired Appliance Officer, Warrrngton Hospital); Ruth Kingsnorth (6th Former); Paul Langford (Chair of Warrrngton Borough Council's “Read On” Committee); Rev Ruth Lichtenberger (Non-Stipendiary Minister, Holy Trinity C of E); Dr Paddy O'Brien (Retired GP); Bishop Jim Roxburgh (Anglican Assistant Bishop of Liverpool); Malcolm Roxburgh (Director of Education and Lifelong Learning); Alan Smith (Moderator, Warrrngton; Churches' Consultative Forum); Helen Southworth MP; Bishop Ian Stuart (Anglican Assistant Bishop of Liverpool); Hilary Thompson (TEAR Craft Traidcraft Rep); Mike Wilbourn (Retired Local Government Officer); Plus teams of readers from St.Rocco's Hospice and Holy Trinity Church.