{"id":3854,"date":"2021-08-18T17:09:34","date_gmt":"2021-08-18T17:09:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/farefwd.com\/?p=3854"},"modified":"2021-08-18T17:09:54","modified_gmt":"2021-08-18T17:09:54","slug":"the-secret-gospel-of-mark","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/farefwd.com\/index.php\/2021\/08\/18\/the-secret-gospel-of-mark\/","title":{"rendered":"The Secret Gospel of Mark"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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The Evangelism of Rhyme<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Spencer Reece\u2019s memoir lays bare deeply personal details but doesn\u2019t stop there. Rather, he invites the reader to partake of the means of grace he has received.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Review by Whitney Rio-Ross
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The first page of Spencer Reece\u2019s memoir serves as a warning. Rather than beginning with an excerpt of poetry or religious prelude (as we might expect from a Christian poet like Reece), he introduces himself as a teenager masturbating to a Playgirl <\/em>magazine in a graveyard toolshed. It\u2019s a smart, even considerate move, saying, \u201cIf you\u2019re horrified by the second paragraph, perhaps this isn\u2019t for you.\u201d This opening scene isn\u2019t for shock value. Though the book isn\u2019t a play-by-play of Reece\u2019s sexual desires and acts, the topic is central, especially in the first half. Sexuality is integral to his story, his poetry, and his faith.<\/p>

Reece\u2019s frankness and detail on the matter is rather unique for a Christian writer of any sexual identity. Although sexuality is embodied, Christians still often address it in vague, disembodied terms. Any shame we feel about sexual preference or sex in general naturally seeks cloaked and clouded language. Reece dares to dive into the particulars of the shame he has felt throughout his life, which stems from several difficult topics\u2014sexuality, alcoholism, depression, rejection, poverty, a family with layered with dysfunctionality, and the usual doubts that come with a religious vocation. It\u2019s an effective method, allowing readers to learn about him while also examining themselves. \u201cWhy does this make me squirm?\u201d I asked myself at times. \u201cWhy would I never share this?\u201d<\/p>

Clearly, Reece hasn\u2019t had an easy life. Yet his memoir isn\u2019t self-pitying, as I had feared it might be. (I\u2019ve avoided many memoirs on that account.) The best memoirs\u2014those that can face personal joys and tragedies beyond the mirror\u2014are as much about other people as they are about the writer. Near the end of the book, Reece says, \u201cI see myself refracted through others. I can\u2019t paint the scene of life without others in the painting.\u201d Reece includes these others in two ways: First, he writes about many important people in his life and gives them as much vitality and depth as he gives himself; those closest to him are not merely characters in his <\/em>story but fully fledged human beings with lives that extend beyond their relationships with him.<\/p>

\u00a0Second, half of the book is about his favorite poets. Each of the seven sections relates to a particular poet, and he reads his experiences through their work and their own biographies. As many people do with albums, Reece associates seasons of his life with who he was reading at the time. This structure could make the narrative feel disjointed, but Reece makes it work, especially because he continues to reference earlier poets as he falls in love with new ones.<\/p>

Reece\u2019s memoir is ultimately a salvation narrative. He began as a suicidal alcoholic and transformed into a celebrated poet and influential priest. Likewise, his relationship with poetry gracefully developed over time. As a teen, he saw Plath\u2019s poetry as a brilliant reflection of his own soul. Then Elizabeth Bishop\u2019s lines kept him at least occasionally alert during his drunken college years. Herbert, he says, \u201copened doors that gave [him] reasons to live.\u201d James Merrill showed him qualities to aspire to both in and beyond his poems. They all kept him going, opening his mind and spirit to Christianity, though not all at once and with plenty of doubts and interruptions along the way. Yet bit by bit, the poems pried him free of his shame enough to welcome Christ\u2019s embrace. He knows this might sound strange: \u201cIt seems radical to say I was born again through poetry. But why not be radical?\u201d Some readers might find this language problematic. Is it idolatry? It could be; we can easily mistake a savior\u2019s means for the savior. But Reece avoids that trap: \u201cPoets got me to Christ,\u201d he explains. \u201cRhyme evangelized me.\u201d Poets and poetry were how God spoke to him; they were vessels of grace.<\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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As Christ and poets welcomed him, Reece welcomes us into his life, which includes the poetry and faith that has kept him going.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Reece doesn\u2019t provide much theology in the book, at least not outright. Where Lewis\u2019s Surprised by Joy <\/em>avoids many autobiographical details of a tell-all memoir, The Secret Gospel of Mark <\/em>lacks a robust theological account of Reece\u2019s conversion and his Christian beliefs. That is probably in the book\u2019s best interest; Reece admits that he is most inarticulate when he tries to explain to others why he became a priest. He flounders for words during these opportunities to evangelize and finds himself full of so many questions that he doubts his calling.<\/p>

Though he doesn\u2019t provide a sermon about how poetry saved him, the ministry Reece describes shows the effects. We often imagine the means to an end as temporary. If an end is merely a completion, then the means may as well fall away because we have no use for them anymore. But this isn\u2019t how salvation works; Reece understands that we are not simply being saved from <\/em>something but into <\/em>something else. All the poems that led Reece to the altar were not rungs on a ladder that he never intends to descend; they remain gifts infused with grace, meant to be cherished. While Reece has practiced typical clerical duties, his most successful ministries have involved poetry. Teaching poetry writing in Madrid and arranging a poetry reading series with his church allowed him to live Christianity through God\u2019s means for his own salvation. Moreover, those ministries allowed him to share that grace.<\/p>

Near the end of The Secret Gospel of Mark<\/em>, Reece reflects, \u201clike religion, poetry had to soar beyond the personal.\u201d This memoir is intensely personal. From the first page, he lays himself bare, sexual fantasies and family fallouts exposed for the world\u2019s judgment. And yet it does move beyond the purely personal; his vivid frankness unlocks universal themes by meeting us in a moment. I can\u2019t imagine a reader not resonating with at least one part of Reece\u2019s sprawling narrative, whether it be his inherited alcoholism or poetic endeavors or his decade working in retail. My heart leapt when I read that he pored over Hopkins during his dark hours in divinity school, just as I would do years later. What a strange fellowship I felt in those pages, knowing we recited the same words in the same buildings during our distinct sorrows.<\/p>

As Christ and poets welcomed him, Reece welcomes us into his life, which includes the poetry and faith that has kept him going. In the end, The Secret Gospel of Mark<\/em> is an act of generosity. Reece shares himself and the words that saved him, hoping they might grace our souls as they did his. He asks that God continue to work mysteriously through stanzas and the tale of an unlikely priest. As he describes a strange friend in his poem \u201cThe Road to Emmaus,\u201d<\/p>

What else can I say?<\/p>

I needed a liberator<\/p>

and liberators come in unexpected guises.<\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Whitney Rio-Ross<\/strong> holds a Master\u2019s in Religion and Literature from Yale Divinity School. Her writing has appeared in <\/em>Sojourners,\u00a0<\/em>Reflections,\u00a0<\/em>America Magazine,\u00a0<\/em>LETTERS Journal,\u00a0<\/em>The Cresset, <\/em>St. Katherine Review, <\/em>The Other Journal,\u00a0and elsewhere. She is the author\u00a0of the poetry chapbook <\/em>Birthmarks and lives in Nashville, Tennessee, with her husband.<\/em><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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The Secret Gospel of Mark: A Poet’s Memoir <\/strong>was published on March 16, 2021 by Seven Stories Press. You can purchase a copy on their website here<\/a>. <\/em><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Spencer Reece\u2019s memoir lays bare deeply personal details but doesn\u2019t stop there. Rather, he invites the reader to partake of the means of grace he has received. 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