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.