Day 05 - West Central Turkey: Aphrodisias, Philadelphia

Hey guys!! It’s Regan, and I’m super excited to update y’all on our fifth day in Turkey!

This morning started by traveling to Aphrodisias, an ancient Roman city known for its worship of Aphrodite. We started off seeing the stadium, which is one of the most well preserved in the area. Jacqueline taught us about the 6th aspect of the Roman world, sport. We learned how the Romans used sport to show their power, instill fear, and send the general message of “don’t mess with Rome.” Sports were also a huge source of pride for Rome, and we talked about how similar this is to the culture we live in today. This stadium is the imagery Paul had in mind when he used running metaphors in many of his letters. We learned about what it means to not run the race of life in vain, and how the race we run reflects who we are running for — Christ or the world?

We then walked to the temple of Aphrodite. Aphrodite was the goddess of love and sexuality, and was believed to have control over those aspects of human life. Here, we learned about the 7th aspect of the Roman world, sex. Jared taught us how our culture’s view of sexuality is almost exactly the same as the Romans — that it is everywhere and acceptable in most contexts. We talked about 1 Thessalonians 4:1-12, and how the key to not living in lustful passions is knowing God more. We then walked to an agora, or marketplace, in the city. Jared taught about the myth of Narcissus, who fell in love with his own reflection. We learned about how we still live in a self-obsessed culture, and Jared challenged us to think about how we handle our reflection constantly being available to us in our pockets.

The last site we visited at Aphrodisias was a Sebasteion. This structure had hundreds of reliefs depicting different images that, when alone, weren’t that impressive. But, when looked at all together, told one incredible story and message. We learned about how this is an image of community and how when the Church comes together, we create something amazing. These reliefs were also telling a story that Rome wanted its citizens to believe. It had a message. Jared challenged us to think about the message that we are portraying, and the Lord has designed us to show others how to live.

Our last stop of the day was a hill overlooking vineyards. Tyler taught on the letter to the church in Philadelphia here. We learned that despite the pressures from Rome to conform and persecution from Jews in the area, the small, seemingly weak (by the world’s standards), Philadelphian church stood firm, was faithful to Christ, and was an open door for the Gospel to go throughout the region of Phrygia. For this they received only encouragement and exhortation from Jesus. We can learn a lot from the Philadelphian church about clinging to Christ despite the world’s pressures, despite the water that we’re swimming against.

Super grateful to be able to share what we’ve been learning, and how the Lord is continuing to shape our hearts during this trip! Please keep praying for safety as we travel and softened hearts to hear what the Lord has for us in Turkey!