MARCH 28^th – SOUP and STUDY

Gospel of Mark Performance

6 to 8 pm.

Performed by Rev. Bert Marshall

For more info, please visit www.gospelofmarkalive.com

Please join us for this unique performance that critics

are raving about.

The Unknown Origins of Mark’s Gospel...

No one knows how it began or ended. No one knows how it was transmitted from place to place. No one knows if it was created as a written narrative or as oral proclamation. No one knows why it was created, or where or precisely when or to whom it was addressed – and its creator remains utterly unknown to us, even in the unlikely event that his name was Mark. Most scholars believe that this gospel was the earliest of the New Testament gospels to appear..

Spoken From Memory, A Unique Experience...

We know the Gospel of Mark as a written narrative. It was not passed down to us through oral tradition. In order to learn to speak it from memory, I had to memorize it from a written text. In classical oral tradition, the storytellers are illiterate and they learn the stories – many of them extremely long – by listening to other storytellers. The stories are never repeated verbatim, but are always tuned to the moment, to that day’s particular performance. Identical repeat performances are unheard of; so are fixed written texts. For the great bards of oral cultures, writing kills the word. The word lives only in the space between the storyteller’s performance and the audience’s hearing. It exists only there.

Reviews and Press

CrossCurrents Magazine
The Gospel of Mark Performance by Ann Turner

"Perhaps if you have been born in a town called “Weeping Water,” it fits you for a life of proclaiming the Gospel. Or—perhaps a long stint as a professional rock musician (Bert’s band opened for “The Who”) gives you a taste for the power and profundity of words. Or, it could be that the many miles spent on the open roads as a truck driver gave Bert Marshall the time to frame his beliefs in words so that others can take them into their hearts"

Inkberry
The Gospel of Mark Performance, by Richard Spalding
Protestant Chaplain at Williams College, Williamstown, MA

“The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ…” It was as though those few words grabbed the affable Bert Marshall by the lapel of his tunic and pulled him into the gravitational sphere of a narrative that is both deeply familiar and utterly strange, even shocking. For the next two hours the unfolding story seemed to be a presence of its own in the darkened Great Room of Goodrich Hall at Williams - with Marshall not so much telling it as circumnavigating it, transfixed in its mystery, and with the audience held too in the field of attraction..."

What Others are Saying

"I expected it to be good, but I didn't expect to be blown away like that!"
-Rev. Scott Gunn, Rhode Island

"Awesome! You were wonderful. You blew the doors off the place!"
-Rev. John Hudson, Pilgrim UCC, Sherborn, MA

"Truly, this performance/retelling is so deeply powerful that I will never, ever forget it. My knees still tremble when I think of it. And the drum--my God!"
-Ann Warren Turner

"Dear Bert, Thank you so very much for your wonderful presentation of the Gospel of Mark last Friday evening in Worcester, MA. It was simply a superb evening: a good size audience, a terrific setting, and your moving rendition of Mark's Gospel. What a way to spend an evening! I am so grateful for your presentation of Mark. You really entered into the story and thus brought us into the story as well. Most of the people present, including the young people, of whom there were a goodly number, never 'heard the story' that way before. It leaves a powerful impression. You certainly had a receptive audience!"
- Donald A. Wells, Executive Director, Massachusetts Bible Society, Boston, MA.

"Rev. Bert Marshall's presentation of Mark's gospel was much more than performance. He was the story-teller, made tangible before us, living and breathing. It was the very opposite of "me" centered performance. He subjugated his ego and allowed himself to become, as St. Francis wrote in his Peace Prayer, an instrument. And we were all deeply touched. As the narration proceeded it felt like the energy in the room moved in circular fashion, gaining strength like a quiet hurricane, pulling us into its center. His music powerfully undergirded the text. I don't recall ever experiencing anything quite like this. I will not soon forget it."
- Jim Ballard, Ashfield, MA

"I am still struck by hearing and seeing the Gospel of Mark Alive in Keene before Thanksgiving. You did more than bring the Good News to life, you reached across the centuries and showed us the timelessness of the message, and how vibrant it still is today especially for a modern world. You freed Mark from being words on a flat page book. Thank you!"
- Ingrid Baily, Southern ME