[by Charlie]
It’s 10:30pm on Wednesday, and we just returned from two days of visiting some of the sites of ancient Turkey where the church was present. We spent time on Tuesday in Laodicea and Colossae, as well as a trek up through the travertines of Pumulake for a refreshing dip in some of the most amazing pools of water you’ll ever see. At the top was the ancient city of Hieropolis as well. Today (Wednesday) was spent visiting Ephesus, where we spent a good three hours walking the streets of that amazingly preserved ancient city, followed by an 8-hour drive home.
At Laodicea, we gathered in the shade of one of their stone walls and read the opening chapter of Revelation and the letter to the church in Laodicea. In that letter the church is criticized for being neither cold nor hot, but lukewarm, and for that, God would spit them out of his mouth. The “lukewarm” reference would have resonated with the Laodiceans because their city water was that way – neither cold nor hot. One commentary reference puts it this way:
"Their one weakness was the water supply. Water had to be piped in to Laodicea. Cold water could come from the abundant supply at Colossae, but by the time it traveled the ten or so miles from the cold springs, it was lukewarm. About six miles away in Hierapolis were hot springs, but that water, too, was lukewarm when it reached Laodicea. Whether they piped in the cold or the hot water, it arrived at Laodicea lukewarm."
In addition, we saw the ruins of their main bath site, and the sign explained that the bath was composed of three pools – one that was hot, the middle one that was lukewarm, and the final one that was cold. One can only hope that upon receiving the letter, the Laodiceans chose to become hot once again.
At Colossae, there is nothing but a small hill, flat on the top, and now used to raise wheat. We hiked the short trail to the top and stood in a circle in the center of the hill and each read a favorite passage from the book of Colossians and then joined hands and prayed. Because of the steep and narrow path, Bobby was not able to make the hike and join us at the top of the hill. In case you’re wondering, the following passages were read (not in this order):
1:15-20 Charlie
2:1-5 Mike
2:6-10 Katie
3:1-11 David
3:12-17 Suzy
4:2-6 Jehanne
At Ephesus, we stayed in the most delightful little Pension (small hotel), and at breakfast this morning, we passed a Bible around and each read a paragraph from the account in Acts when Paul went to Ephesus, and the riot that ensued when the silversmiths realized that the preaching of the apostles was having a negative effect on their silver trade, since that depended on the people’s worship of the fertility God, Artemis. That was a good start for our trip into Ephesus, and since we started at the bottom, one of the first things we saw was the Great Theater where the riot ended up. It was a reflective moment indeed to sit up high in the theater and imagine Paul and the apostles down below.
Well, as I am writing this, my head is falling over, so I will sign off for sleep. Tomorrow is our parenting class, so I’m looking forward to just how it will go. However it goes, I am hoping for a meaningful time for all parents.
Charlie
I forgot to put my scandisk card in my camera prior to our departure (left it in my computer), so I don't have any pictures to post from the past two days. You will just have to use your imagination!
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