Day 02 - Sardis, Colossae

Day two brought us to Sardis, once the glittering capital of ancient Lydia. We heard of an ancient story of a raid in the night undoing a once great city. Then we saw the largest synagogue in the ancient world beautiful and opulent but with some features that were more pagan than Jewish. We asked questions of compromise and how to be in the world not of it. Nearby we saw a magnificent gymnasium, where young men were trained in body, mind, and civic identity. Just steps away was the synagogue—one of the largest ever found—and yet also a reminder of how closely faith and culture could blur. Did the community remain faithful? Or had it fallen asleep, lulled by privilege and acceptance?

Nearby, we discussed the cult of Cybele, the mother goddess whose rituals involved frenzy, self-harm, and ecstatic devotion. It was a visceral image of what happens when people seek life outside of the life-giver. In contrast, the early Christians in Sardis were called not to escape the city, but to wake up within it, to live alert, distinct, and truly alive. We sang in the Byzantine church building that was immediately next to where Cybele was worshiped.

From there, we traveled to Honaz, where we enjoyed a peaceful lunch near a waterfall—a needed pause of beauty and laughter. Honaz has its own local legend of John the apostle and Michael the archangel healing through cold waters from the mountain. 

Our final stop was Colossae, where the city lies unexcavated but not forgotten. We gathered together and read Paul’s letter to the Colossians, standing in the very region that received it for the first time.

“Set your minds on things above… For you have died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:2–3).

If Sardis warned us not to fall asleep in comfort, Colossae called us to anchor our identity in Christ, not in empire, not in reputation, not even in survival.