Day 02 - Attalia, Aspendos, Perga

What an awesome 2nd day! We had our second morning in Attalia and we started the day by visiting some aqueducts. Jared reminded us that everything around us is trying to communicate a message to us. A sweet note that he shared was that Rome’s ingenuity unwittingly paved the way for the gospel to be spread more effectively. We also got to learn more about the Shema and why it is so important.

After that we moved on from Attalia to the theater in Aspendos. This place is not mentioned in scripture but was a very important piece of Roman culture. Entertainment and specifically theatre were the lifeblood of ancient cities. It was definitely a highlight of the day for a few of our theatre majors! Jared taught us more about the pillars of ancient culture and how our hearts can be easily tuned to culture when we look to it for escape, propaganda, or even worship. It was really cool to be at one of the most intact ancient theaters and to really begin to understand the influence it had.

Finally, we made our way to the ancient city of Perga. We literally walked through the Roman gate into the city. We saw a stadium and talked about the influence of sport. We also spent some time exploring and old bathhouse or gymnasium as it would have been called. Then we walked down the main road of the city, which was very long, and hiked up to a lookout over the whole city. It was incredible to see how vast it was and was another sweet moment were we got to really sit in the text we were reading. We finished up by talking about Paul’s companions on his missionary journeys. We began to connect their influence on Paul and how they lead with a lot of faithfulness. The most impactful thing for this lesson was: How would the church be different if we realized one another’s gifts and celebrated them rather than try to compete?