Heading to Roma

Today is our last day in Turkey. We left Izmir this morning and drove to Sardis. As we drove to Sardis, we got in groups on the bus to discuss Acts 14:8-28. In this section Barnabas and Paul are mistaken for Zeus and Hermes. We read and discussed this passage keeping the historical context that we have been learning about in mind. What struck me in this passage was just how deeply the idea of the gods were in this time, to the point that Barnabas and Paul would have been called gods. It was also amazing to see that they turned down this status for the truth of the one true God. Also we see that Paul is willing to be persecuted for his beliefs, stoned even, but he still willing returns to the city to continue to spread his message. His faith in the midst of persecution is amazing, and it is also amazing that people still turned to Christ knowing that the reality of this persecution. As we see in chapter 16 Timothy was from Lystra, this same town where Paul was stoned.

Sardis is one of the seven churches mentioned in the beginning of the book of Revelation. The church here is criticized as being dead despite its reputation for being alive. Sardis was a wealthy city on the edge of a trade route. The wealth of the city could be seen in the buildings. At the center of the city were the ruins of the ancient gymnasium; it was larger than a football field. The back wall of the gymnasium was fully restored. The columns and the designs were absolutely stunning. The inscriptions below the capitals of the columns were of praise of the emperor. The words that were used to describe the emperor were also words that we use to describe Christ, all powerful and divine for example. We went into the ancient synagogue that shared a wall with the gymnasium. It was a beautiful building covered in mosaics, indicating that there must have been a substantial Jewish community here that could keep up such a building.
A few hundred yards from these buildings we found the temple to Artemis. The temple was huge! Large than a football field with columns so large that you would need more than four people to wrap their arms all the way around it. On the side of the temple was a small Christian chapel that could maybe hold 100 people. The chapel was built in the fourth century, after earthquakes had partially destroyed the temple and as Christianity grew in the area. It was such a neat contrast to stand in this small chapel and look out through the windows and see the ruins of the massive temple go on across the site and to see the gigantic columns above you. Even though the temple was much more impressive than the chapel, today most of us would dismiss the beliefs held by those who used the temple as myth, and Christianity still is strong.
We are flying back to Greece today. From Izmir to Istanbul and then back to Athens, where we will stay for the next few days before traveling to Rome.

Where Satan had his throne

            Today we went to go see where Satan has his throne. We left Izmir early in the morning and headed to Pergamum. The ancient city of Pergamum was located on top of hill that over looked a great valley. From this valley, one could see the temple of Pergamum from many miles away. On the top of the hill was the Trajan Temple, dedicated to the Emperor. Here at Pergamum, the ruins were so were so well crafted, it was stunning. The stones used to build this temple and a few of the other building in the city were taken from the Mamorus Sea, near Istanbul, over two hundred kilometers away! This is an unbelievable feat! The stones used for the Acropolis in Athens were taken from a quarry sixteen kilometers away, which was an amazing accomplishment, the dedication of the people of Pergamum to the gods is really evident. Slightly down the hill was the temple of Zeus. The ruins are no longer on site, but in a museum in Berlin, but the remains of the foundation is still on site. This temple would have been massive, with an unbelievably large alter dedicated to Zeus in it. This temple and alter could have been seen throughout the valley. All the people living and traveling through the area would have seen it and known about it. In the second chapter of the book of Revelations, there is a letter to the church of Pergamum. In 2:13, Pergamum is said to be the city where Satan lives and has his throne. The temple and alter to Zeus is where Satan lives and his throne respectively. It was large symbol to the all who passed by the prominence of the pagan gods, and the separation from the true God that the people of Pergamum had. It was and interesting experience to walk around the ruins of these temples with the words of Revelation on my mind.

            We went down the mountain to the ancient Asclepion, the ancient center of medicine for the city and one of the first “hospitals” in the loose sense of the word. As we entered the grounds, we passed an inscription that said “Death is not allowed here.” A good saying for a place of healing, but really a bad saying because it meant that they turned away those that they did not believe they could save. It was interesting how much belief in the gods and mythological stories influence this early practice of medicine. It was very interesting to find out that some of the earliest forms of psychological treatment were performed here. It was interesting to learn that those preforming the healing thought that comedy shows, listening to music, and the sound of running water could all help in the heling process. This caused them to build a theater and have streams flowing through the complex. It was a very interesting site, especially sense I have thought about going into the medical field myself.

            We returned to Izmir and found out that we had a surprise of a free afternoon. As a group we walked through the Grand Bazaar. I was overwhelmed by the amount of people and junk that was being sold.  It seemed that every other store was selling the same thing. One store would be selling jewelry, probably knockoffs and low quality, the next would be selling a random collection of knock off clothes, then there would be another jewelry store. I was so surprised by the sheer volume of stuff and people in the tight streets. My favorite sign of the Bazaar was “Genuine Fake Watches.” We continued to explore the city, and got ice cream and walked down ot the sea. The coast line was absolutely beautiful. There was a nice little park along the breakwater. It was beautiful. It was nice just to be able to sit down, eat ice cream, and relax in the sun by the sea. It was exactly what we all needed after five long weeks of constant travel, learning and new experiences.

            We left from Izmir, the ancient town of Smyrna, and headed to Ephesus, early this morning. Ephesus was a beautiful site, it seemed that as we kept walking, the ruins kept coming and got more and more beautiful. As we entered the city, we discussed the historical significance of the city. Ephesus was a large and important city in Anatolia and in the Roman Empire; Ephesus was the New York City of Anatolia. Ephesus was a free city in the Roman Empire; it was ruled by a city council that reported to Rome, not by Rome itself. Here in Ephesus, the cult of Artemis was very popular; the temple to Artimus that was here was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Needless to say throughout the ruins of the city, pagan images and institutions were everywhere.

As we entered the site we sat under the shade of a tree and started our discussion with Dr. Cohick on the book of Ephesians. Paul carries wright in this letter because he is a self-identified prisoner of Christ. Throughout this letter Paul talks about the mystery of the Gospel; the mystery that through the Gospel, Gentiles and Jews are brought together as one body. There is unity among the people through the Gospel in the Church. Again, this idea of unity of peoples and the unity of the Church is present. Paul states that this unity was Jesus’ purpose. Jesus’, “purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of two, thus making peace” (Ephesians 2:15). Unity of humanity, in Christ, was his purpose, and through this unity we can find peace. Looking at the historical context, and even today, it is important to recognize that this is s a new humanity, the Gentiles are not becoming Jews and the Jews are not becoming Gentiles. The imagery that Paul uses of a the body of Christ, the Church, the believers, as a mighty temple to the Lord at the end of chapter 2 (verses 20-22) would have definitely rocked the ancient Ephesians world. The Temple to Atremis that was here was massive, drawing people from all over the known world, it was a site of pride, power and status to the people living here, and to have the body of Christ be a temple to the one true God would have been a mind-blowing concept.

We walked the streets of the ancient city, admiring the ruins of statues, theaters, homes and many public buildings.  The wealth and prestige of this city was so evident by its beauty. We went into the Terraced Houses, a section of the city where the a group of houses were built on top of one another. These houses were stunning, Every wall would have been covered with marble or a beautiful mosaic or fresco. They are in the process of reconstructing these houses, but the sections that are reconstructed are absolutely mazing.

Near these houses, was the library of Ephesus, by far my favorite part of the site.  The library has an extremely tall front wall, that was ornately carved and had beautiful mosaic patterns. The detail and beauty was beyond compare, so amazing.

            We went off the main tourist path to the church of Mary the Mother of God. This was the location of the third ecumenical council that took place in the fourth century. Dr. Kalantzis discussed the historical context of this meeting and the debates between Syril and Nestorious on the nature of Christ. Nestorious, in the end, was found to be heretical, for his inability to see Christ as fully human and fully God, he could not see Christ being born in a manger. Nestorious was looking at the nature of Christ rationally, he was trying to logically define who God was. But the attempt to define God, is really no different than trying to control God. Syril on the other hand was looking at the mystery of God.

            We heading up a nearby hill to the Church of the Virgin Mary. This site is remember to be the house of the Virgin Mary, after she moved to Ephesus with St. John after the resurrection.  It was very peaceful up here. There weren’t a lot of tourists, there were plenty of plants, there was a view of the sea in the distance and the church was a small simple room with just an altar. We sat out in front of the church and finished our discussion on Ephesians. We mainly discussed the different ways of interpreting the 5:21-6:9, the instructions for Christian households. In this discussion we mainly looked at the historical context. These relationships, husband-wife, child-parent, slave-master, would have been the common familial relations that Paul’s whole audience would have been familiar with. One thing that I found very interesting, in verse 25, the verb, in the Greek, telling husbands to “love” their wives is a command, while in verse 22 the verb telling wives to “summit” to their husbands was the imperative. To Paul’s audience the command for husbands to love their wives would have been the most shocking part of this passage. Our discussion on this topic didn’t go into as much detail as I would have liked. I am looking forward to being able to talk to Dr. Cohick more about this topic and her understanding of this passage and similar passages. It seems as though she has a lot to say on the subject and has very strong views, that are similar to mine, that are theologically backed up. It will be very interesting and helpful t hear here talk more about this subject.

            We then when to St. John’s Basilica near the city of Ephesus. It was one of the largest and most extravagant churches of its time. Walking around the ruins, you could still get a sense of the greatness this church had. The ruins of the baptistery were still well preserved. Dr. Kalantzis told us about the different practices concerning baptism and how it changed throughout the centuries.

            We returned to Izmir for the night, and I am turning in early because my neck is still bothering me after yesterday’s travel.

An Unexpected Day

            Today was unexpected. But I’ll get to that later. We started out our day with a quick lecture on Orthodoxy and finalizing our questions for our meeting with the Patriarch. I was wearing one of my bowties for the occasions and I was getting some compliment on my style. We left our hotel and went to the Cora Church. As you walked into the church the first thing you saw was a mosaic of Christ with the inscription something along the lines of asf asfa .  On the reverse wall was an icon representing the incarnation of Christ with the inscription containing the uncontainable. The church was small but absolutely beautiful! Every wall was covered with mosaics, icons, or frescos. In the first room there were icons form the life of Jesus, his birth, miracles, death and resurrection. The second room was mainly filled with icons of the Virgin Mary’s life, obtained from a few apocryphal sources. In the last room there was a beautiful fresco illustrating Jesus’ conquering of death, in which he was pulling Adam and Eve out of Hell, Hells gates were broken and the devil was bound up, as Jesus Stood in victory. It was a beautiful image of the power of the resurrection. We had some time to reflect and pray here which was good. Christ’s victory over death is something that we shouldn’t forget and we should think about and praise more often!

            We headed across town to the Church of the Patriarch. We walked into the complex of the Patriarch, and stepped into the small, beautiful and unbelievably ornate church. The images, gold, and interact details were absolutely stunning! After we had looked around the church for a few minutes, we were hit with our first piece of unexpected news. The Patriarch could not meet with us, he was in Athens on an unpublicized journey. We were to be meeting with the Patriarch’s English secretary instead. This was an ironic surprise and really unfortunate. We had all been excited and preparing for this meeting; we had learned about Orthodoxy and had prepared for a discussion with its head. The Secretary we spoke with was himself ordained in the Orthodox church, and happened to be from Chicago before coming to work for the Patriarch seven years ago. Our discussion was helpful and honest, but it wasn’t what we were expecting.  Most of our questions were tailored to His Holiness himself not his secretary.
            We went to the airport to fly to Izmir, in southern Turkey. We would be in Izmir for the next couple days traveling to Biblical cities such as Ephesus and Pergamum.  The flight was supposed to be a short one, maybe an hour long. As we took off a storm was starting to roll in, and there was some slight turbulence, making the take-off uncomfortable. As we reached cruising altitude and the stewardesses started bring out the drinks, everything went really bad. The turbulence had been going on the whole flight, but at this moment the plane dipped and we went into a moment of free fall. Everyone screamed. Almost instantly, the plane regained itself, and then almost instantly, it fell again. More screams. The plane regained a normal flight pattern. Everyone was looking around, talking nervously, or as in the case of one of the stewardess, still screaming and holding on to a seat for dear life.  In these few moments, it really didn’t look good, people were scared, things had moved all about the plane and there was still really bad turbulence. I first thought of God, then I thought of my loved ones, it was terrifying and yet strangely peaceful (this probably isn’t the best word, but I don’t know how to describe it) at the same time. The rest of the flight was very rocky, and the landing was rough, it felt as though we just dropped down.  The whole experience was not good for my neck. The constant and violent jostling really did a number on it; it hasn’t hurt this bad in a while. Beside the pain the flight messed with my head. After an injection in my neck a few months ago I started experiencing some vertigo-like symptoms. They had just started to go away by the time I was leaving for this program, but this movement of my neck brought the symptoms back with vengeance.  All in all, it was not what I wanted from the flight. I’m not excited to take the same flight back with the same airline. The day was definitely not what I expected when I woke up, and not in a good way.

           

Turkey Day

            We headed to the airport early in the morning to fly out to Istanbul, Turkey. As we were boarding the plane, Dr. Kalantzis played the song, “Istanbul was Constantinople,” which was interesting have stuck in my head as we fly into the city, especially when both of these names can be politically charged in certain circles. We landed safely in Istanbul around noon. As we drove out the airport with our new guide, Ilke, my first sight of the city had a minaret in the foreground. This is fitting because even though the state of Turkey is constitutionally secular, the country is 99 percent Muslim, with less than 4,000 Orthodox Christians.  It is hard to believe that the leader of the world’s 300,000 Orthodox Christians live in a country that has a Christian population less than double that of Wheaton’s student body. It will be very interesting to hear from the Patriarch tomorrow.

As we were driving through the city to get to our restaurant, it was just overwhelmed by the Muslim presence in the city, it seemed as though every time I looked out the window, I could see a mosque. It was a very different feel from what I have seen the past couple weeks and especially what I am used to in the US. As I looked out into the streets, I saw very few women, almost none. Most of the women I saw were either with men or were foreigners. Within Ilke’s first three minutes of talking to us, she warned us, especially the girls, of the “machoness” of the men here in Turkey. It was strange to hear this soon quickly from the person whose job it is to welcome and promote her country. It was a little jarring and odd at first, and I needed a few hours to get used to it.

After lunch we headed to the ancient hippodrome, where chariot races would have been held. The site is now paved, but still has some of the statues, columns, and obelisk that were there hundreds of years ago. Today along the hippodrome are the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia. We first went into the Blue Mosque, which is still an active mosque. It was the first time I had ever been inside a mosque. It was very beautiful. But as I was walking around, I wouldn’t really want this to happen in a church that I was worshiping in. It was hot, smelly and full of tourists taking pictures, and not being very respectful.

Only a few hundred yards from the Blue Mosque was the Hagia Sophia, once one of the greatest churches in Christendom, converted to a mosque with the invasion of the Turks, now under the modern Turkish government, it is a museum. When Constantinople fell, the Muslims did not destroy Hagia Sophia, but they painted over the icons, mosaics, and frescos, In a way this preserved some of these images. In the restoration of the building, a few of these images were uncovered. As I entered the building the first thing I noticed was the large slab of marble that was used in the entry way was worn down about five inches in the middle because of foot traffic throughout the years! It is a truly amazing thing to see, a noticeable dip in the solid marble from the feet of pilgrims. It was with this mindset that I entered the church, I didn’t want this to be just another old building, I wanted my heart and mind to be in the right state.

The building is partially under construction, but the first thing that grabs your attention are the giant green and gold circles midway up the building. Each of these circles have the name of a holy person of Islam written in beautiful Arabic. The two prominent ones that are at the front of the church that you notice first are the names of Allah and Mohamed.  But, as you look up in the dome above these name, you the icon of Christ. I thought that it was a really powerful image, Christ is still above all things, no matter the circumstance, no matter the country. We went through the church, learning about its history, and seeing some of the beautiful Christian images that still existed. We then had some free time to reflect and pray as we walked around the church. As I prayed and walked around the idea of God being above all things and all circumstances, His sovereignty, really sunk in. Some of the lines form In Christ Alone went through my head, “No power of hell, no scheme of man, can ever pluck me from His hand,” as I walked around. Throughout all time God reigns supreme, above any human action or power of hell. This was a much needed reminder on my first day here in Turkey, when the presence of a different religion and a different and at times uncomfortable culture was prevalent.

Later in the evening, we got together as a group and had a chance to debrief and prepare for the days to come. We were able to talk about our first impressions of Turkey and our thoughts about all that we’ve seen in the last few weeks. We got together and prepared questions for our meeting with the Patriarch. We ended our time together with a time of prayer for Turkey, it’s people, and the church in it.

A Day of Thought and Preparation

We left our little sea side town early in the morning and headed to Mycenae. At this site the remains of an ancient fortress stood on a hill overlooking the whole valley. The stones of these walls were massive, some weighing up to 200 tons. These walls were built in the 15th century BC! The engineering power that this shows is truly amazing, in ancient times people believed that the walls of the city were built by Cyclopes.  The view from the top of this fortress was stunning. The city was known for its wealth and power. Fifteen kilograms of gold were found in one of the mass, beehive graves just outside the city walls. This city is believed to be the mother city of the colonies of the "sea people" in Biblical Palestine, the Phoenicians and Philistines. This city also had colony in Troy. The Trojan War, that we are all familiar with from the Iliad, resulted from Mycenae trying to keep its control on its colony. It was very interesting to see the power, wealth and history of this ancient city.

As we drove back to Athens, we had time to discuss some of what we have been learning the past few weeks; we discussed what we learned in the Biblical text and why it mattered that we had gone to these sites. It was good to be able to have this time to really sit and think and process what we had seen in the past couple days, and really in the past few weeks. Looking at Paul’s letters, he was writing to a specific people, in a specific time, dealing with specific problems, problems of their culture. These letters still hold truth to us today, but it is important to understand the historical context of the letters in order to get a more full understanding. Being in these Greek cities helped me see how the struggles of the early church were real and how they could apply to me. We also talked about our discussions of the Eastern Orthodox Church and why that was important to do. The unity of the church has been a reoccurring theme, that I have seen appear in various places over the past few weeks. The unity of the church is very important, and how do we as Christians actively work towards that as a goal. It has been very useful to study the Orthodox tradition, so that we can begin to understand and even appreciate our differences. Through this understanding, maybe we can see that it is Christ that unifies us not our traditions.

When we got back to Athens, we had a few lectures by Drs. Cohick and Kalantzis. First, Dr. Cohick discussed the book of Revelations. We focused on this book today because we will be visiting the churches mentioned in the beginning of the book this upcoming week as we travel around Turkey. It was a very interesting lecture, explaining the apocalyptic genre that the book is written in and the different ways of interpreting the book. It was very useful to go through the different theological ways of understanding this book. We talked about how the book of Revelation shows the Glory and Power of God. It also gives hope; hope due to the perfect judgment of God, we can place our hope in his sovereignty. Dr. Cohick then lectured on Hermeneutics, the study of the activity of interpretation. This idea, along with exegesis, is very important with what we have been doing the past few weeks; trying to understand the historical context and see how the Bible still applies to us today. We discussed Speech-Act Theory, Relevance Theory and Redemptive Movement Hermeneutics, and in all of these schools of thought, we looked at the importance of the words and the importance of how we the reader interprets the words. There is somewhat of an ambiguity when reading the text of the Bible. This is not a bad thing, it allows the text ot be fluid, to grow, to not be static; it allows the Biblical text ot be just as relevant to me as it was to those reading it two thousand years ago. This however means that how we read and interpret the text is very important. We have to be aware of the weight and importance the words of the Bible have; we need to be aware of the author’s purpose; but our own reading and understanding is also important. It is however important to remember that our interpretation is not the center aspect. The Biblical text is dynamic and pushes us to grow by the power of the Holy Spirit, but it requires humility on our part.

In preparation for our excursion to Turkey tomorrow and our meeting the Patriarch of Constantinople in two days, Dr. Kalantzis, lecture to us about Orthodoxy in general, Orthodoxy in Turkey, and the Patriarchy. It was a good discussion that fostered questions that we can ask the Patriarch when we meet with him.

 

Visiting Corinth

We left Athens for Korinthos the city of the Corinthians.  Again the beauty of what was left of the city and of the mountains around the city gave way to an incredible site. One thing that shocked me was the size of the city; only five percent of the city has been excavated, and it was still huge. As we wandered around the site we saw building that would have been essential in the daily lives of the Corinthians, such as the temple of Apollo, the butcher, and many other public buildings. We saw the Bema, the building from which Paul would have preached his message. We discussed the history of the city, giving context to the people who would have lived here, their beliefs, practices and the lifestyles they would have led. Along with this context we were able to discuss the ruins of the building still on the site to get a better sense of the lifestyle these first century Corinthians would have led. Here again we could see public displays of wealth and opulence in some of the monuments, that we saw in Delphi yesterday.  This display of wealth would have been a way of showing honor, it was a way of publically praising yourself. We were asked to consider how an early Christian, especially one of some status, would deal with this system, especially when such acts often included pagan rituals. As we were thinking about how the early Christians would have responded to the pagan culture around them both here in Korinthos and the rest of the nation, we sat under the shade of a big tree in the forum, and Dr. Cohick lectured to us about both 1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians. It is interesting to me that we can often relate more to the letters of Paul to Christians struggling with the paganism infused in their culture, than the accounts in the Old Testament.

In our discussion on Paul’s letters to the Corinthians, we discussed the purpose of the letters, the context in which they were written, and the themes that Paul addresses. It is important to remember that these are letters written to a specific people, the context matters in how we read it. Paul talks a lot about the unity of the church to the people here at Corinth. This issue has seemed to come up over and over again the past few weeks, and it is so crazy that it has been an issue since the very beginning of the church. Once again it was very powerful to read these letters in the place where they were written to. Being able to understand the historical context of the letter helps me understand the meaning more, and then how I can apply it to my life.

We hiked up to the Acropocorinth, a large fortress on top of the mountain just above the city of Korinthos. From the top, I could see for miles! The sea on one side, and more mountains and fields of olive trees and grape vines on the other. It was a beautiful place. It was a lot of fun to hike around on top of this mountain among the ruins.

            We headed to the small seaside town of Navplion which is also nestled in the hills, the original capital of the modern state of Greece. Today, Navplion is a small but growing town, that is quite picturesque. Right on the water, the town is filled with tiny shops, restaurants and public squares. Across the water, one can see the mountains of the mainland and islands. We had some time to walk around the town, eat at an authentic Greek restaurant, and see the sunset over the water. It was a very relaxing way to end the day.

Consulting the Oricale

We left Athens early in the morning and headed to Delphi. Delphi was the ancient city where the oracle to the gods lived.  It was believed that the god Apollo lived here in Delphi. People from throughout the ancient world come to Delphi to consult the oracle, to see what the gods wanted them to do. The people of this time were very self-motivated; the main objective of this consultation was personal gain. People would see how they could use this information to gain the most out of business transactions or wars, or at the very least, make their enemies lose more.  This is such an opposite world view to the Christian view where loving and caring for you neighbor is put above your own selfish interests. Delphi was situated in a beautiful mountain range, and the city is built into the side of one of the peaks with a view of the canyon bellow. The city is all in ruins today but the wealth and opulence the city must have had is evident. There are ruins of statues, temples, banks and other buildings from many different cities, groups nad individuals. Giving a statue or having a building here at Delphi was a sign of one’s power and prestige, and their rightness with the gods. Again we see such a striking contrast between this pagan culture and Christianity. In this society, wealth and status were to be praised and showed off. This is again so different to the Christian world view that humility is something to strive for, where showing of and displaying the power one has in the world is not looked upon favorably. All this being said, the ruins were beautiful. At the highest point of the city, there was a sports arena. We hiked up there and from here the view was astounding. The surrounding mountains were amazing and the filled with beautiful pine trees and other plants. I had some time to sit up here in the woods overlooking the ruins and the surrounding landscape and think. People had come to the oracle at Delphi for eight hundred years; people from across the nation had come here for answers and motivation; sacrifices and offerings were made in order for personal gain. Delphi was an important city to the ancient Greeks and their gods. It was amazing to sit there and think about the power and wealth this city must have had and to see the remnants of the city strewn across the ground. The power the city had faded away and the gods that “lived” there faded into myth and the one true God still lives and reigns! This is truly awesome! God reigns!

When we came back to Kifisia we all gathered together for worship. It is really a great when we can gather together to praise God. It is a nice reminder that even though we are on an academic program, traveling the world, making friends, God comes first. It really special to come together with the students and professors that I have got to know so well over the past four weeks, and worship together. Every time we gather together in this setting we sing the Doxology, and every time it moves me; it is truly beautiful. It has been great knowing that our focus and priority of this program is learning more and growing closer to God. Every morning before we head out for the day, we pray together as a group. This set the mood for the rest of the day and gets my mind focused rightly.  It has been such a blessing to be a part of this program, and have the chance to grow in my faith and in the community God has put me in.

The rest of the night was filled with games, conversations with people on the program and friends and family back home, and of course more World Cup soccer. It was a good ending to the day.

 

The City of the Athenians

Today was our day to explore Athens. The Greek name for Athens is more accurately translated into the city of the Athenians. This in a way at the stage for the mindset of the three people living here. The city was truly one that belonged to the people and there was a prominence of worship to the gods, especially Athena. We left early in the morning to try and bet the crowds. Our first stop of the morning was the Acropolis. As we talked about the site at the foot of the hill, I noticed how strikingly similar the Acropolis to the temple mount in Jerusalem. We talked about the historical context and culture of the ancient Greeks that would have been using the temples on the Acropolis. On top of the Acropolis there are a multiple temples to the gods, including the Parthenon. The architecture of these temples were stunning; they are truly works of art. We learned about the process the ancient Greeks would have had to go through to build all these buildings and it showed their dedication and engineering powers. The Parthenon was built in 9 years in ancient times, and the restoration of it in modern times has lasted for decades.

We went down to Mars Hill at the foot of the Acropolis and read the account in acts of Paul preaching to the people of Athens. Again it was powerful to read this account in the place where it took place. To look up at the Acropolis from Mars Hill, you are almost overwhelmed by the wealth, opulence and the perceived power of Athens and the Greek gods. For Paul to be preaching about Jesus would have been going against every aspect of the culture. The power and truth of the gospel is so evident here when you read that some Athenians, who could see all the wealth and power the gods had in their society, have all this up for the one true God. This account in Acts 17 shows us that Paul tailors the presentation of his message to his audience. To the Athenians, a people who believed in the importance of thought and worship of the gods, Paul gives an intellectual presentation of the gospel that deals with the worship of God and how God interacts with people.

We then went down to the ancient agora, where ruins still stood and there is a museum there as well. The agora would have been a place to congregate on ancient times, to conduct business and meet. The great philosophers such as Aristotle, Socrates and Plato would have come here to have their dialogs and discussions. It amazing to walk around in a place with so much history both to our religion and to our culture and easy of thought. We had some free time to explore downtown Athens. It was nice to be able to explore the city and to get off the tourist path. I just walked around for a few hours, taking in the sights and sounds of the city. On our way back home, we stopped at the stadium of the first Olympic Games! I got to run the track and get up on the award podium, it was super cool, I was pretty pumped up the whole time I was there.

We came back home, the Athenian suburb Kifisia, had dinner and then had more free time. I decided to go out in the suburb we were staying in and have a look around. I ended up finding a gelato, coffee shop that was showing the Greece game in the World Cup. It was fun to be in the country of the team playing, especially a country that cares about soccer. Unfortunately, Greece got slaughtered, but the crowds weren’t too upset. I made my way back as the game ended in order to make it back for the Greek dance lessons we were going to have. One of the members of the church was a dance instructor and he and his wife taught us four traditional Greek dances. We learned war dances, wedding dances, and dances for all occasions. It was a blast, everyone was really into it, including the professors. I was pretty good at it, if I say so myself, I really got a hang of the snapping accompanied by hip movements. It was a really fun time!

From Monks to Spartans

We went up into the mountains of Meteora, outside of the town of Kalambaka. The mountains looked unreal, almost as if they were painted in the sky. It almost looked as though pillars of rock were shooting up into the air. The whole valley that the mountains are in used to underwater until an earthquake shifted the ground just enough to drain the lake and expose these beautiful mountains. Starting a few centuries after Christ, the monastic movement came up into the mountains to be removed from society. Today there are still six working monasteries perched on the top of these cliffs and as we drove up through the mountains, we could see the remains of others and the caves in which some monks would live. We went to on the oldest and largest monasteries, the Holy Monastery of the Great Metero, which commemorated the transfiguration of Christ. I can even imagine how dedicated the original monks must have been to build in such a remote location. After I walked up the stairs carved into the cliff, and entered the monastery, I was stuck by how calm and beautiful it was inside. We first entered the narthex, which had all of its walls covered with icons of martyrs. This was to show that the Christian life is not an easy life and it is not without its consequences. To follow Christ one must be willing to give up certain privileges and aspects of society, as in the case with the martyrs, it may even require your life. It would have been quite a powerful message to the ancient monks as they entered the chapel, after distancing themselves so far from society. It still is a powerful message; as Christians we need to understand that we can't live as society does, we have to give certain things up. With these thoughts in mind, we entered the sanctuary. The walls were again filled with icons, but this time of Bible scenes and of Jesus. I was really glad that I have had a lot explanation about icons and there significance in the Eastern Church, so that I could really appreciate this church for what it was. I think a few weeks ago I would have been a little put off by being in this church, but now I could see the beauty and tradition in it. As we walked around the monastery, enjoying the views and gardens, we stumbled upon an art gallery of religious art and paintings of important Greek wars, military personnel, and politicians. Dr. Kalantzis was explaining to us that the separation between church and state which we think is so fundamental in the United States, is not the case in Greece. In fact, I the church and the state is very connected.

As we drove out of the mountains, we stopped and climbed out onto a rock were we could see five of the six monasteries all perched on the their separate rock pillars.

On our drive back to Athens we stopped at Thermopylae, the locations of the battle between the Persian army and Leonidas and his 300 Spartans. It was cool to be there and all the guys, jacked up on testosterone, ran around reenacting the scenes from 300.

We came back to Athens and had a relaxing night watching the world cup and then My Big Fat Greek Wedding. It was really funny to watch this movie in Greece and watch the reactions of the Greeks in the room, especially Dr. Kalantzis.

Factory Worker

Last night we were all pretty exhausted, even the professors. So we were all relieved when we heard that we would not be leaving until the late morning. I had stayed up talking with a few people, sitting outside on the beautiful Greek night. I was luckily able to turn in relatively early and sleep in. I really needed this, the travel and the full days were starting to take their toll. It was nice to have a leisurely breakfast and then read on the beach.
We left the resort and headed for the ancient city of Dion, a holy site for the ancient Greeks. Dion was a city at the base of Mount Olympus, the home of the gods. The city had been destroyed by earthquakes and flooding in the 5th century, and the ruins are still swamping when it's not summer time. We walked around the ancient city, which is an archeological park, and saw the remnants of Greek and Roman culture. We passed many temples of the gods, public baths and the public forum. Most likely, Paul would have sailed from Dion to Athens on his missionary journey. The park also had a museum of all the artifacts that were found throughout the city. There were so many beautiful statues, carvings and vases. It was amazing to see such artistic masterpiece that have lasted thousands of years! We left the northern territory of Greece, Macedonia and headed for central Greece.

After driving for a couple hours through the Greek country side, we stopped at an icon factory.  It was strange, in my mind when I heard that we were going to an icon factory, I pictured a stone building, seclude resembling church or monastery. However we pulled up to a strip of industrial type shops, and the factory was on the second floor in the middle of the building. We walked into the first room, and every wall was covered with icons. During this program we have had readings, lectures, and discussions on Orthodoxy and specifically icons. An icon is not drawn or painted, it is written; the icon is the writing of theology. The icons we see today are the same images that have been used for centuries; the icon writer does not have the freedom to add their own creativity because every aspect of the icon tells part of the theology. That was something that really stood out to me, every aspect of the icon is telling part of the theology and is drawing the viewer to God. It is actually a very beautiful way to see theology drawn on a canvass. It is cool to think back to a time when most people were illiterate, and one could look at an icon and be able to see the theology they believed. I definitely have gained more respect for icons over the past few weeks. I’m still not on board with the level of veneration that there is for the saints, but I have come to really appreciate icons and what they represent, what they can do and what they have done for the church, and the beauty they have. While looking through the factory, I was really struck by an icon of Jesus. On either side of Jesus it said “all powerful” in Greek and in his halo it said “I AM.” One of his hands was giving a blessing, two fingers touching, signifying the two natures of Christ, and the other three outstretched, signifying the trinity. In his other hand was an open Bible, with the words “come to me, all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest,” (Matthew 11:25) written in Greek.  I loved the juxtaposition of the Bible verse and the words above Jesus. One hand it is saying that Jesus is all powerful in the universe, He has the ultimate power, but on the other hand he cares for the weak and the lowly.  I have always loved this verse and to see it in this context, with its connection to God’s ultimate power was really special.

We got to look around the workshop and see the wood carvings and designs strewn around the desks. In one of the rooms a priest was writing an icon depicting Jesus and Mary. It was amazing to see his talent as he was painting their faces. We were able to ask him questions about icons, the process of writing them, and his thoughts on icons. It was a very informative experience.

We got to the small town of Kalambaka which is at the foot of the Meteora monasteries.  We were able to walk around the town, and enjoy what a small town in Greece was like. We were able to walk explore the city and the local deserts.

In the evening Drs. Kalantzis and Cohick lectured on monasticism and Mary respectively. Dr. K gave us a history of the monastic movement through the church and an idea of what it means to be monk. This was helpful especially as we plan to go to a monastery tomorrow.  One thing that I found very interesting was the different reasons for celibacy in the Western and Eastern traditions. In the East it was a means of controlling the passions that separate us from God. However, in the West, celibacy was followed in order to give up the family one would have had in order to be closer to God. It was a very interesting lecture that helped me understand this way of life. In Dr. Cohick’s lecture, she addressed Mary, and how we should think of her, because as Evangelicals we are often cautious in our approach to Mary. By looking at the Biblical text, we can see Mary described as prophet, mother, and disciple.  It was very helpful to have this discussion after seeing many icons of Mary just a few hours earlier.

Going Down To the River To Pray

      We left Kavala early this morning and headed to Philippi. Paul wrote his letter to the Philippians to the Christians living here. We first went to a river outside of the ruins of the ancient city, which is remembered to be, and probably is, the site of Lydia's conversion and baptism, Acts 16. At the river there is an orthodox church of St. Lydia. There is a focus of baptism in this church. Under the dome, in the center of the church is a large baptismal fount and on the dome are beautiful mosaics of Biblical baptisms and the baptism of Saints.

We went down to the river, and listened to Dr. Cohick lecture on Philippians as the water rushed by. Again it was so awesome to read Paul's letter in the city it was intended for! We read though the book and again discussed the historical context and some different theological takes on certain passages. One thing that really struck me was in our discussion of chapter two. In verses 7 and 8 Jesus', "being made in human likeness" I'd linked with His obedience to the Father, and His, "obedience to death." This obedience to the Father is essential to our humanness, and in verse 12, Paul commemorates the Philippians' obedience, and later, in verse 14, reminds them to do so without grumbling. This is a good reminder, that we should obey God without arguing about it. However, this is not done on our own strength but by the power of God in us. We also talked about Paul's emphasis on unity in this book. In chapter 2:1-5, Paul describes how we should live in unity with fellow Christians. This does not mean that we have to all think the same but that we bring our differences together to be unified in Christ. After we finished our lecture, I had some time to sit by the river and think and pray. I reflected on God's continuing faithfulness and love, even in hard times; I could see God could see the love and grace that God has shown and put in my life these past few months even though I was going through some hard times.

We went to the ruins of the city of Philippi, and where able to walk around the forum. On the eastern edge of the city saw the first church in Europe, and it was awesome to see the changes in architecture and size as the church grew and developed it's liturgy over time.

We then drove to the ruins of Amphipolis, were we saw the ruins of five different churches. There were five churches because they were all, in a sense, of different denominations. This again brought up what seems to be a reoccurring theme, that the unity of the church. The presence of the five churches here is evidence, as well as the history of the church, that this "division" in the church is not a product of the Reformation and not solely a Protestant phenomenon. This division may not as severe as we think. As I saw in the Holy Sepulcher, what can first seem like disunity and division, can actually be seen as something beautiful and a great sign of unity if you look at the situation with Christ in the center. We have to learn to recognize that, as Christians, we are all rooted in Christ. We have to look for the unity instead of looking for the differences. As Protestants we are often too eager to accept that we are divided, that our division is an accepted fact about Christianity. However, our unity in the body of Christ so strongly unites us, that the differences we do have are not so important.

We stopped at Vergina, a site of ancient Macedonian tombs. The museum there was really well done, the excavated tombs were cover in a building with the artifacts found there displayed around. The tomb of Philip the second, father of Alexander the great, was there. The artifacts were so extravagant, everything was covered in gold.

            We spent the night at a resort right at the foot of Mt. Olympus and right on the water in a town called Leptokarya. It was so beautiful! We were able to swim in the sea for a little while after we had finished dinner. In the later evening, we had worship on the beach. We sang a few songs as one of the girls played the violin. It was so beautiful to sing and praise God as the waves crashed softly in the background. One of the songs we sang was “All Who Are Thirsty,” and the line, “let the pain and the sorrow be washed away in the waves of his mercy,” really stuck out to me as the waves were crashing. This reminded me of what I’ve been thinking about a lot recently, learning to let God’s love overflow in my life and know that his plan is what is best. God’s love can wash over and cleans us of all our pain, troubles and worries. I really needed to be reminded of this once again.

To Macedonia

            We had an early start to the morning, leaving the compound before seven in order to get the airport. After only spending a few days in Athens, we are already off on a four day excursion to northern Greece. We flew out of Athens and landed in Thessaloniki in the early morning. This is the city of the Thessalonians, whom Paul wrote two of his letters to.  We entered this crowed city of 2.5 million people still early in the morning. As we went through the streets of the city, it was so interesting and bizarre to see ancient ruins, churches and buildings dispersed throughout the modern buildings, streets, technology and people.  All the modern buildings in the city had been built after WWII, when the city had taken a heavy toll. We first went to the ruins of the Roman forum, we sat in the amphitheater, and Dr. Cohick lectured to use on 1 and 2 Thessalonians. While we were here, we read through both letters, discussed the historical background, and went through the theology of the books. It was a really helpful experience to go through these texts in some detail and it was awesome to be in the spot these letters were written for. As we were reading through 1 Thessalonians, I was really struck by a note I made in my Bible in chapter  5. I had made the note after one of my readings from “My Upmost For His Highest.” The note was in response to verse 17, “pray continually,” 1 Thessalonians 5:17. God always answers prayer, and He answers it perfectly. This is often hard for us to see because God will answer the prayer in His own time, not our own. God will answer our prayer with His infinite wisdom, which may not make sense to us at the time.

We went to St Demetrius church, which was in the heart of Thessaloniki. It is the oldest church in the city. The church was a beautiful Greek orthodox church, and that still resembles the original church. The inside of the church had icons on most of the walls and was ornately decorated. While we walked through Dr. Kalantzis explained to us some of the meaning of the architecture and design of the church and he also explained the significance of some of the icons. It was a really great experience to learn about the Eastern Church hands on.
We made a quick stop for gyros before going to a Macedonian history museum in Thessaloniki. The museum was filled with ancient Greek and Roman sculptures and jewelry. It was really incredible!

We left Thessaloniki and drove to Kavala, a nice seaside town. Our hotel was right across the street from the water, and after dinner we got to explore the city. A small group of us went out to see what we could find, heading towards the remnants of an old fort on top of the hill by the water. Along the way we passed the church that remembers Paul's arrival to Europe from Asia and the spreading of the gospel to this new continent. A mosaic represented the story of this travel that is in Acts 16. We got up to the top of the hill near the fort, climbed down the cliffs to the sea, and explored for a while. We hung out there at the water as the sun set and then slowly wandered back to our hotel through the long way back through the city.

Lecture Day

Dr. Kalantzis lectured in the morning on Nestorianism. When we try to define who God is, we always end up in heresy. By definition, to define something is to shape and control something, and so by trying to define God we are trying to control God. At this point, God is not God, but an idol. This is a bottom up definition of God. We can only describe who God is through His revelations of himself, top down.

     Dr. Cohick lectured on Acts, which was fitting, as we are preparing to follow Paul's journey. We discussed whether Paul was called or if he was converted as well as the historical context of various stories in acts.

We were lucky to be able to Skype interview Dr. Kassis, a Lebanese Christian, living in Lebanon, and talk to him about Christianity in the Middle East. It was very informative and helpful to talk get the perspective of a native of the area on such an important issue. He said that there needs to be pressure from the church and the United States on the Israel Palestine issue. He also said that he feels as though he needs to stay in Lebanon, he still has a mission to do.
Later in the evening, we were able to walk to the downtown area of the suburb of Athens we are staying in and look around. Because we with Dr. Kalantzis, we obviously got coffee and dessert. It was nice to explore a bit with a local. It was nice to walk around the suburb that we are staying in and see part of daily Greek life.

Our First Day in Greece

            We flew into Athens late last night and arrived at a protestant youth campus, affiliated with Dr. Kalantzis’ church, where we’ll be staying while were in Athens. This will be our “home base” for the next few weeks; we’ll do some short two or three day excursions around Greece, but come back here to Athens. It will be like JUC was while we were in Israel. It was a relaxing start to our time in Greece.  We were able to sleep in, have a leisurely breakfast and then walk around the neighborhood. We then went to Dr. Kalantzis’ church, an evangelical Greek church where he grew up and where his family still goes. Dr. K actually gave the sermon today. It was a great experience. They would sign a few songs in Greek, then our group would sing a few songs in English. The songs that were sung in Greek were well known so as the congregation was singing in Greek, our group of forty Americans sang in English. It was a beautiful thing. To hear the two languages mixing together in praise to God was amazing. This was especially moving since today was Pentecost. To know that we could worship God in our own languages, while together, helped to show the depth, diversity and yet unity of the body of Christ.

            After a traditional Greek lunch and the Greek version of a siesta, we headed south through Athens, along the coast until we reached the southernmost tip of the mainland, Sounion. It was an amazing drive, the coast was stunning and the water was so blue. There were countless people windsurfing and sunbathing. When we reached Sounion the beaches were pretty secluded, so we had most of the beach to ourselves. We spent the rest of the afternoon here at the beach; the water was so clear and peaceful. We all were able to just relax and have fun together in the water, I even got to bring out my GoPro. We then got dinner at a restaurant right next to the harbor, again we had delicious traditional Greek food.  On the cliff above the beach where we had been all day, stood the ruins of the Temple of Poseidon, overlooking the sea. Most of the columns and part of the roof was still standing. The temple was on the cliff of the southernmost part of land, with the sea and the islands on the horizon. The sun was setting over the mountains surrounding the Sounion Gulf as we got there. It was a was a beautiful sight, the water setting over the ocean, the boats rocking with the waves, the sun sinking behind the mountains and water, and the warm reds illuminating the columns of the temple. It was a fantastic sight to end our first day in Greece.

Our Last Day in Israel

“The Bible doesn’t come alive to you, you come alive to the Bible.”

            We said goodbye to the four students leaving us this evening, who are not staying for the second half of the trip, and are departing with us before we leave for Greece tomorrow. Tonight we had the last group meeting of all of us here in Jerusalem. It was bittersweet. One the one hand, it was sad to say goodbye to those leaving us and to Jerusalem, but on the other hand, it is exiting to move on to a new country and new adventures. It was good to gather together one last time and worship together. Dr. Kalantzis told us this above quote as we started gathering, a student had told him this the last time he led this program. It really struck me; I came into this program really willing and open to what God had to day to me. As I have lived and learned here for the past few weeks, I have seen myself go and my attitude change. But it is important to remember that this did not come as a result of the Bible becoming any more real to me, the Bible was always real. It was me, my attitude and way of thinking that needed to change not the Bible.  The connections that I have made are a result of me coming alive to Bible and what it is saying. The Bible is not coming alive to me, it has always been alive.

            Today we went to the two sites that remember the crucifixion and resurrection, the Church of the Holy Sepulcher and The Garden Tomb. Our first stop was The Garden Tomb. This site has a relatively recent history of being remembered as the location of the crucifixion and resurrection, dating to the late 1800’s.  Whereas the Holy Sepulcher dates its history back to the 3^rd century. The Garden Tomb was thought to be the place because of the proximity of ancient tombs to remains of a garden to a hill that looked like a skull. The site also had early Byzantine churches near the tomb, indicating that it was a holy site. The site is also located just outside the gate of the Old City, near the where ancient Jewish and Roman executions would have taken place. One thing that our guide stressed was that the important thing was not whether or not this was indeed the physical site of the crucifixion and resurrection, the important thing was that these events happened and that the tomb was empty. Regardless of the accuracy of this location, it was still a great feeling to come to a place in order to reflect on the amazingness of God and what He was done for us, while being in a place filled with people from all over the world doing the same thing. The most important thing was indeed to walk into the tomb, see that it was empty, and visible know that Jesus had conquered death through the resurrection.

            Later we were able to tour around the Church of the Holy Sepulcher with a professor at the Hebrew University, It was really great experience to get an explanation of many of the different aspects and history of the church. The professor was a protestant, but her favorite church was the Holy Sepulcher. To her, this was not a disunity of the church here, but a unity. She explained to us that often we see little arguments that a result of people being together, and we expound on that, and point to that as disunity in the church. As she sees it, which I thought was a really good way to look at it, was the fact that these six churches come together in this one place that Christians come here from all over the world is a sign of the unity of the church. The Church of the Holy Sepulcher is the only church in the world where eastern and westerner churches come together to worship and haves services under the same roof. Often times signs of unity are not highlighted and the disunity is what shines through.

Following the Gosple

            Today we explored the area around the Sea of Galilee, and we followed the gospel narrative around the sea. We headed out early from our hostel on the north shore and headed to the east side of the lake. There we were able to get on a boat and head out to the middle of the lake. The wind had been howling all morning and blowing from the west. This meant that the sea was pretty choppy and rough. As we sailed out into the rough waters one of the guys in our group read Mark chapters 4 and 5 for us. It was really cool to read about how Jesus calmed the same sea I was on. It was an awesome connection to have. As we sailed around the sea, I could just see how awesome Jesus was, to calm a greater storm in a smaller boat that was taking on water. When we docked we were at Kursi, the site that is remembered to have the caves where the man possessed by the demon named Legion from Mark 5 would have lived. It was again such an experience to read this story and then look out and see the cliff the pigs would have jumped off of; another layer was added to the story. Today was so amazing because I got to see these sites where Jesus walked and performed miracles, and the stories in the gospel felt very real.

            We then headed back north to Capernum, Jesus’ adopted town. We wandered around this ancient trade and fishing center and we saw the remains of Peter’s house, which had been turned into a church at the very beginning of Christianity. Today there is a church above the site. I walked out and sat at the edge of the sea. Here I decided to continue reading Mark, and decided read from chapter four, where Jesus preached his first parable, the parable of the sower, to those on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. What really stood out to me was verse 19, “but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and desire for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce crop,” Mark 19-20. The past few months have been hard on me. I have seen the limitations of my body, through injury, and it’s been hard and frustrating trying to figure out my own limits and figuring out my situation in general. I also am very unsure of what I want to do in my future, and as old plans I had for myself start to fade away and graduation is coming nearer, I am very worried about what I should be doing. Through these hardships and doubts, it’s been hard to trust that God has a plan for me, and recently I have been wrestling what it means practically to put my hope in God. I have been scared of what it might mean to put my full trust in God. I had just been reflecting on all of this as I read this parable. The words of verse 19 just really stood out to me.  These worries that have been consuming my thoughts for the past few months, worries about my health and my future career, have been taking me away from the hope I have in God. This worry will lead to unfruitfulness, but putting my hope in God will cause a, “crop to be produced.” It is so awesome when scripture speaks to us in the moment.

            Next along our trip around the lake was the typical Galilean town of Chorazim. Here we talked mostly about the Jewish culture and customs. One interesting topic that we addressed, was marriage. Once married, the groom would take his bride to his father’s house, a compound really, the Bet Ab, where a room would have been prepared and built for them to start there life and family in. It is this image that Jesus uses as her to prepare a room in his father’s house, the Bet Ab, heaven, were, one it is ready, we will join him for eternity.

            Our last stop of the day before returning to Jerusalem, was along the cliffs of Arbel. It was a 2000 foot drop from the top of tis cliff to the sea below us. We got to hike down the side of the cliff and explore the caves in the cliff face. It was awesome to climb down having to use the staples and rope that were put in place. It was nice to get a chance to really explore the awesome landscape of the country. It was pretty gnarly!

Four Counrties, One Day, and High Tensions

            Today I saw four counties; Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria. However, we could only stay in the one we were already in, Israel. We started the day at Hazor, which is one of the largest sites that we went to, over 200 acres. As we drove from the Sea of Galiee up to Hazor, we had to cross the Jordan River a few times. One of these time brought us within a few hundred feet of the Israeli Jordanian border. Excavation is still in progress and it is expected that many important discoveries will be found in the next few years. While were here, we mapped out Joshua’s conquest of Hazor as described in Joshua and I was actually able to see the military strategy that he employed, because we had been to all the places that the text listed. I could see the thought process behind this event. It was pretty awesome to see how these few verses that I would have usually just skimmed over now had an extra layer of meaning. It has been awesome to have these extra little layers added to passages all over the Bible. I am very thankful for this knowledge I am gaining, it is allowing be to see things in the Bible that I would have just skipped over before.

            After Hazor we headed up to Dan, the northern most point of ancient Israel. We were able to walk around in a nature preserve here and it was so green and full of life. If you had dropped me here, I would have no idea of where in the world I was; I could have guessed anywhere, and I probably would not have guessed Israel. Dan has the largest springs in the entire Middle East, and it is here that the headwaters if the Jordan River can be found. From the remains of a Northern Kingdom temple, we could see the Israeli Lebanese border.  This border was distinct in the nearest town, where half of the town was in Israel, and the other half was in Lebanon, with just a line of trees down the middle of the town signifying the border.  We passed an excavation site where a few years ago JUC students were digging just as tank fire from Israeli and Lebanese forces started to fly overhead. It is so crazy to see be on a site that is still somewhat disputed and very recently was the site of armed conflict.

We then went to Caesarea Philippi the site of an ancient pagan temple and Roman era ruins. Here we were able to hike for a bit through the trees along the Jordan River until we reached a waterfall. Because today was Pentecost, we read the first two chapters of Acts, and compared how we would tell the gospel to how Peter did. It was interesting to see Peters focus on the Jesus’ fulfillment of scripture, and how most of us focused on our own salvation through Jesus. It was also interesting to see the emphasis of the Triune God in Peter’s explanation, and the lacking of the Holy Spirit in most of our explanations.

Our last stop was the top of a volcano in the Golan Heights. From here we could see the Syrian border, maybe a mile or two away. This is still disputed land and in between the countries, there is a town whose buildings are still there, but whose inhabitants were forced to leave. It is strange to be in a country whose neighbors do not want them there, whose neighbors have fought, very recently, against them, and whose neighbors do not recognize them as a country. These mixed feelings were escalated by the signs that were right off the side of the road for most of our drive, warning civilians about mine fields and tank paths.

Is God Here or There

What really stood out to me most about today, was something one of the girls, Sarah, said as our group was sitting around on the shore of the Sea of Galilee tonight debriefing about the program so far. It was one of the last comments of the night but it really hit me. She said something along the lines of, “I’m glad that God isn’t here anymore than he is a home. He isn’t present here more, we don’t need to come here in order to find Him. God is present everywhere.” I think that this was a good reminder that God is also back home, I can grow and learn about him just as much there as I can here. While I have learned a lot this trip, both in my faith and understanding of God, when I go home it the learning doesn’t have to end. I think that recently I have just been closed off to what God was doing in my life, and not wanting to see His presence. Coming to Israel, and being in the program I am in, I had a mindset to be very focused on what I was studying, how it applied to my life and understanding of the Bible, and I came here with a great desire to be open to what God was saying to me.  While it may have taken this program to really push to being more open to what God was saying, God was there with me back in Wheaton, back in Santa Barbara. This offhand comment at the end of our long debrief was such a good reminder of the constant presence of God and His constant love for us; He will not abandon us, he will love us to the ends of the earth.

            We started out the morning leaving our hostel in Nazareth, and heading to Sepphoris. Here we saw many ancient mosaics still intact. The most striking one however, was the one found in the ancient synagogue. This mosaic depicted scenes from the Pentateuch and symbols of the synagogue, but also the zodiac calendar. We discussed what it meant to be Jewish in this time, but more importantly, how does one deal with and reconcile their faith and the culture they are in.  Christianity is countercultural, both now and in antiquity. How can we love our enemies and care for the poor in a culture that is so materialistic and all about me. It was good to think about this issue here, as this example, albeit not one we want to emulate, of the combination of religion and culture sat in front of us. We saw another such mosaic at Bet Alpha, which we visited later in the afternoon. Here again there were images of the temple, Biblical stories, and a zodiac calendar.

            We then headed back to Nazareth and went to up one of the hills that overlooked the Jezreel Valley. We able to look out upon the fertile valley below us and see the rocky hills of Nazareth  It was easy to understand why Nathaniel would say, “Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” John 1:46. After we left this mountain top and went to Bet Shean. The prevalence of the Roman Empire in the area was so evident here.

            We drove north, further into Galilee, until we reached our hostel that was right on the north shore of the Sea of Galilee. We all immediately ran to the water and jumped in. The water was cool and refreshing after a long day in the sun. As we ventured out farther in to the water, and as our feet sunk into the mud on the bottom of the lake, one of the girls, not so sarcastically said, “I can see why Jesus walked on top of the water.” After this time we had to relax, we got together as a group and for the first time had the chance to debrief with one another. It was good to hear how everyone was doing and thoughts that we were wrestling with. I was good to get together and work through our thoughts and questions, that many of us had had, together.

Heading to Galilee

Today began our four day journey to the Galilee. We left JUC and Jerusalem early in the morning and headed out west. Our first stop of the day was at Caesarea. This city was built on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea by Herod the Great. He made this city a port even though there were no natural harbors. Herod built a breakwater and harbor at Caesarea, the ruins can still be seen today.  Over the years many empires had conquered the city and as we walked around, we could see the different structures from the different empires that controlled the city throughout the years.  The ocean was beautiful, with unbelievable clear, blue water. While we sat on the shore, we went read from the book of Acts because both Peter and Paul spent time at Caesarea.  Here at Caesarea is where Peter really realized that God’s mercy and love was for everyone. “So then, even to Gentiles God has granted repentance that leads to life,” Acts 11:18. The remains of Herod’s palace could be seen out on the remains of the break water, now in the sea. We were able to walk out there and see the ruins as the waves crashed around us. It was great to be back at the ocean, and to sit for a while, looking out towards the horizon, hearing the crash of the waves. It reminded me of home.

            Our next stop was Mount Carmel. It was great to be on top of Mount Carmel, I have heard the name many times throughout the Bible and it was great to be able to be here myself. From the top we had a great view of the whole Jezreel Valley. On the top of the mountain there was church that was dedicated to Elijah and his shaming of the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel. We sat on there on the top of the mountain, reading and discussing the story found in 1 Kings. It really brought the story to life to sit there on the same spot, and know that it was here thousands of years ago that the people exclaimed that, “The Lord, he is God! The Lord, he is God!” 1Kings 18:39. All these years later we are still proclaiming that our Lord is the true God, and there is a a sense of amazement, awe and wonder in that.

            From here we went to Megiddo. On this Tel, there was evidence of twenty five civilizations in the city’s history.  The city faced continual warfare, destruction, and rebuilding, which has led to a wide variety of ruins that can be seen today. This cycle of the city can be explained by the important location of the city along a trade route at the entrance of a crucial valley into the Jezreel Valley. Megiddo is also the site that many say is the site of Armageddon mentioned in the book of Revelations. It was interesting to think about this as we walked around seeing the many level of destruction.

            On the west side of the Jezreel Valley, we stopped at Jezreel. Here went again went through the Biblical narrative that occurred at Jezreel, the stories of Gibeon, Saul’s death, and Ahab. Again, as we read these stories, they became much more real, knowing that they happened in this location, at certain time. The words came off the page and I felt as though I could see the story around me.

            We pulled into the not so little town of Nazareth late tonight, where we will spend the night. In the morning we will get a chance to look around the city and then continue north into the Galilee.

Sunrise Over Jerusalem

4:20 AM, a time that I have become very familiar with over the past three years.  This time however, I was not about to head to the Fox River, but I was going ot walk to the top of the Mount of Olives. The streets of Jerusalem were unnaturally quite as the twenty of us who decided to wake up for the sunrise walked around the wall of the Old City from our college on Mount Zion, up to the top of the Mount of Olives on the east side of the city. We reached the top around 5:15, and the sun was supposed to rise at 5:30. We wandered around the streets for a while trying to find a good vantage point. After wandering around for a few minutes, I learned that most people wanted to get to the eastern side of the mountain to watch the sunrise out of the wilderness to the east. This is not what I had in mind, so my friend Gareth and I turn back and found our own vantage point that overlooked the city of Jerusalem. Since we were on the east side of the city the sun would be rising from behind us, behind the Mount of Olives and slowly illuminated the city. From our spot we had a perfect view of the Old City and the entire basin  that Jerusalem is in. I set up my GoPro to take a time-lapse of the sunrise (It will take some time to edit and I don’t have the software to do it now, but eventually, it will be up). As we sat there before the sun peaked over the mountain behind us, we looked over the sleeping city of Jerusalem, and saw clouds surround the city, over the mountains but not the city. It was a really powerful image, that just as Jerusalem was protected on all sides by the mountains, it was also being protected by the clouds; the image of God coming in the clouds, that we see so often in the Bible, came to mind. It was a beautiful reminder of how God protects and takes care of his people. As the sun continued to rise and light began to shine on the city, I read the Psalms of ascent, and was again struck by these images of protection. “I lift my eyes up to the mountains, where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth…indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep,” Psalm 121:1-2, 4. “Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion, which cannot be shaken but endures forever. As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds his people both now and forevermore,” Psalm 125:1-2. This images in the psalms and what I could see right in front of me where in such an amazing parallel. I could see how God has been with and is still with those who believe in Him, protecting them both physically with the mountains but also spiritually.  

            As you look out over the Old City from the Mount of Olives, the gold, and beauty of the Dome of the Rock, dominates the view. However, as the light covered more and more of the city, the first golden gleam that caught my eye were the small, golden crosses on the Church of the Holy Sepulcher and the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer. Both of these building are easy to find if you know where they are, although they are not prominent in the foreground. It wasn’t until after both crosses were illuminated, gleaming in the sun, that the Dome of the Rock got its first ray of light. I think that this was a good parallel to Christianity in society. While, it may not be the flashiest and most (visually) appealing, thing out there, at the end of the day (or in this case the beginning of the day) Christ comes first. It was great to have time to think, reflect, read the Bible, and look out over the city of Jerusalem.

            After the sun had covered the whole city, we headed down the mountain, quickly stopping in the garden of Gethsemane. It gave the city a whole new feel to walk around the streets without thousands of tourist, as we made our way back through the Old City, we went ot a relatively deserted Church of the Holy Sepulcher. I was able to go up to the empty tomb. It is so great to see the empty tomb and know that He is risen.  I headed into the New City for some coffee and ran into Drs. Cohick and Kalantzis doing the same thing. We were able to have a good discussion of different theologies over our coffee before we all went to the English service of the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer. It was good to be back at a Lutheran church; it was nice to have the familiarity of the liturgy and the hymns, even though I was far from home.

            In the evening, most of us went out to Saint Anne’s Church, on the Via Dolorosa, to see an Austrian choir perform. This was amazing. The acoustics of the building are incredible; there is a seven second echo. That coupled with a very good choir made for an amazing concert.  It was such a joy to listen to these amazing voices resound around the building as the pieces progressed from the Baroque to the Romantic period.

            After this long day, when we came back to JUC, I quickly packed for our excursion to the Galilee that we are leaving for early tomorrow and called it a day.

Shabbat

It is hard to believe that it was only two weeks ago that I was getting on a plane at O’Hare and heading here to Israel.  It has felt like I have been here for months! But it hasn’t felt too long, it has been the good amount of long, if that makes any since.  In the past two weeks, I have learned a lot, more than I expected to be honest.  I have learned so much about the geography and the historical and current significance of this land through our adventures with Dr. Wright; I have learned so much about the early church, theology and Christian life through my experience with Drs. Cohick and Kalantzis; I have learned so much about the people on this program with me as we have spent many sweaty, dusty, smelly hours with each other in the hot desert sun; I have learned so much about myself as I explored this country with an open mind and I have explored God’s word and been open to what He has to say to me. Already this program has been so influential to me and I am excited to see where the next four weeks takes me.

            This morning, we walked across the Hinnom Valley into the New City to go to Dr. Lenk’s synagogue.  The synagogue that she attends is Orthodox, so men and women were divided in the synagogue by a curtain, and all the men needed head coverings. We arrived to the service after the songs of praise and prayer were over. When we got there we had to split up because our group was large. I ended sitting up in the front row. I sat to a Jew, Jon Marc who was probably in his early thirties. He could tell that I was pretty lost since the service was all in Hebrew.  He spoke very good English and would talk to me throughout the service, explaining what was going on in the service and asking me about my stay in Jerusalem.  He said that this level of informality, talking during the service and people getting up and walking around the synagogue, was what surprised most of his Christians friends that he took to synagogue. During the service, there was a time when couples who got married this past week or will get married in the upcoming week get to ceremoniously read from the Torah. There was so much joy in this part of the service it was really wonderful to see; the couple danced around the Torah and read the selected passage.  It was a really great experience to be here for worship; I felt accepted and it was a very worthwhile experience.  Because I couldn’t understand the readings that were going on, I spent most of the service reading the prayer book that I had picked up that was in English. There were a wide variety of prayers ranging from the Psalms to prayers for the Israeli government and military, I even saw prayers for the American military. It was a very interesting contrast.

            In the afternoon Drs. Cohick and Kalantzis lectured to us on the Trinity and history of the gospels. It raised a lot of questions and definitely challenged me to think about the way I understand God and the Trinity. I need more time to process and understand what we talked about today before I can really formulate coherent ideas, but I have definitely had my curiosity peaked. I am excited to learn more.

Tonight we had a dessert at Dr. Wrights’s house. There was a ton of food, including a chocolate fondue.  We got to hang out together as a group, and just relax. We sat around the piano and sang songs and danced. We started with Journey and Billy Joel and moved into some Old Crow Medicine Show and into some Beyoncé. We ended on the Honey Rock song, which has always been one of my favorites. It is sung in a round and proclaims to glory of God. It always sends shivers down my spine and it is a really beautiful song. After this gather I went up to the roof and sat on the edge of roof and overlooked the New City, and sat ant thought. It was a good way to end and restful and fun day.