Day 09 - Western Coast: Priene, Didyma, Miletus

We gazed down the mountain from the temple of Athena, nestled among the pines, across the wide valley painted green by olive trees, fig trees, and a hundred other agricultural products, many of which we have feasted upon during the last nine days. We marveled that this great green bread basket was, until 1500 years ago, a wide bay connected to the Aegean sea. It served as the highway between prosperous cities like Miletus, and Priene (where we now stood). As the Meandros river brought more and more silt, the bay filled, shrank, and ultimately disappeared. The once-great cities were cut off from the water -- the transportation network to which they owed their prosperity -- and they slowly, but surely, declined into ruin.

We reflected upon goodbyes today as we explored the lower Meandros valley. In Priene, we sat amid the ruins of 5th-century church building to hear reflections on the Apostle John.  He was an unlettered kid from a working class background who was called by Jesus, loved by Jesus, and sent to lead the Asian church which was the center of the whole movement.  As far as we know, he was the only Apostle to die of old age. Kent showed us the brilliance of John's writing. In his gospel he is able to present Jesus' seven claims about his identity in a rhetorical structure valued by Greek and Roman intellectuals, but also show seven miraculous signs performed by Jesus to hail the arrival of the New Creation that followers of the ancient Asian religions hungered for. Jesus -- through the writings of John --  reconciles the beliefs and satisfies the hunger of all people. He does this in ways that the pagan cults attempted, but could never achieve.

We made our way to the coast and bade farewell to John as we looked toward Patmos, just visible on the horizon as the waves gently lapped near our feet. We heeded the words of Revelation 2, seeking to remember "the love we had at first.". All of us have fallen a bit more in love with Jesus on this trip, through exploring his word in the places where people first read it. We want to keep our lamps burning brightly.

We enjoyed our last Turkish lunch, consisting of fresh grilled fish, zesty salad full of dill and lemon juice, and an assortment of savory sauces, served just a stone's throw from the ruined temple to Apollo at Didyma.  

Our final stop was at the great theater of Miletus, again overlooking the Meandros valley.  Kent taught from Acts 20, in which Paul bids a tearful farewell to the leaders of the Ephesian church. These were people with whom he had lived, worked, and faced down angry mobs. He was passing by on his way to Jerusalem and they traveled 30 miles just to be with him for a little while. Tears were shed. They would never meet again. He urged them to continue investing in one another, and to keep watch over themselves and the people under their care.  

As we looked out over the farm fields that were once the ocean on which Paul sailed away, we considered our own goodbyes. Our group has become like a family, and we have reached a new moment of transition.  No longer will we enjoy three meals a day together, or troop into a gas station together to find the restroom. No longer will we crowd close together in the scarce shade to escape the heat of the Turkish sun, nor will we jump into the Aegean together at the end of the day to find relief. This part of the adventure is over, but we remember that we are the Church, and Christ is our head. In Him we are, and will continue to be, bound together. We are united with each other, and with Paul, John, Philemon, Onesimus, and so many others in whose footsteps we have walked, through the Lordship of Christ. He is Lord of this world, not Caesar, Artemis, Zeus, or the ten thousand other idols that seek our attention every day.  

So now we board our planes, thankful for new friendships and old friendships deepened, appreciative of the beautiful country of Turkey, and ready to let our lanterns shine as we share what we have learned.

Thank you for following and praying with us on our journey. 

Tim