Turkey, Day 07 - Restoring Shalom

Our trip has been building toward this day. We have discussed restoring eyes to see, restoring life, restoring identity, restoring security, restoring power, and restoring love. Now we bring it all together with the idea of restoring shalom.

We began our day with a stop in Priene. This site was a bit of a hike equal to about 30 flights of stairs! We sat in the ruins of a temple to Athena, in a Jewish synagogue, and in a bouleuterion (imagine a senate house or place for government). It was here in Priene we spoke of what the world has to offer in the form of peace. The world is offering up a lie that is using the same words we see in the gospel. They are making a copy that looks similar and still saying “this is the way to peace”. But while in Priene, we also sat in a small home that could have been a gathering place for early believers as well as sat in the ruins of an early church. We contemplated what the American church is generally known for and if and how we are being a light of Jesus to the world around us.

Something to know is that these Roman cities all had a thing known as the Prytaneion which was an eternal flame signifying life for the city. It was always burning. If this flame went out it meant there was no life in the city. We considered how Jesus says “I am the Light of the world” coming as the True eternal flame and has since put that same light in all of us. The early church of this time was not concerned with changing the world. They were a faithful presence! They were living out the idea in Jeremiah 29:4-7. Now there are millions of eternal flames burning around the world bringing the true message of peace.

From here we journeyed to Didyma which is not mentioned in the Bible but has significance to our lessons today. Here we sat overlooking a large (no joke, LARGE!) temple to Apollo who is the sun god and twin brother of Artemis, according to Greek mythology. This temple was built in 313 BC and measured 168’ wide by 358’ long. Inside this temple would have been the Oracle of Didyma where people would travel from everywhere to come and find out about their future. They would be ritually cleansed, offer a sacrifice (ex: bull, grain, bird), and then ask a question for the Oracle to answer. Why would they do this? They were searching for some sense of peace. They want to know peace for their future in some form. But when we contrast this with Jesus and his example in The Garden of Gethsemane, we see Him consider His future with the statement “if God wills.” We can agonize over our future or we can walk into our future as ambassadors of shalom, saying, “if the Lord wills.”

After exploring through the massive columns, we were back on the bus and en route to our final stop of the trip: Miletus. We journeyed into the theater of this city and sat for our final lesson. This place is where Paul ends his third missionary journey. If you read in Acts 20:15-38, you will see that Paul comes to Miletus to meet with the elders of the Ephesian church to, in simplest terms, say goodbye. We read his words to these elders and considered what he encouraged them with as he knew he would not see them again. In Acts 20:32, Paul says, “And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.”

Paul let go. He passed the torch on to others, entrusting them as the faithful ambassadors of shalom to Asia. And with all we learned this week, we too are being charged to do the same. We now must remember what our eyes have seen and what our ears have heard. We must be that city on a hill, that salt and light, faithfully running our race that He has set before us. Paul says it best in Acts 20:24, “But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.”

This week has been a POWERFUL journey, without a doubt. But Turkey is not what made it have power. It was not because we walked through this land. It was because we - walked - through - His - Word. His Word spoke life to us all. Turkey was the terrain through which we journeyed and we now know what water we are swimming in. We must remember all that has been revealed. Please pray that our eyes would remain open and as we return to the US, that God would open doors for the gospel to shine brightly through our lives. 

Praise moment! We are all rejoicing that our covid tests were all negative which means we can all fly home tomorrow! Pray for safe travels and thank you all again for joining us on this journey!