December 2, 2006

Merhaba! ("Hello" in Turkish)

Blessings to you all from Izmir (ancient Smyrna - Rev. 2), Turkey, the land of the Early Church! Kathee and I are having a truly wonderful time on this amazing tour where we are retracing the movements of the Apostles in the Book of Acts and the spread of the Gospel through the early church. We began our tour in Athens, touring Mars Hill where Paul preached to the Epicurians and the marketplace where he preached and reasoned among the many idolatrous alters. There is far too much to tell of those first two days for this log, except that they were both enlightening and relaxing. More to come on this later...

Turkey is a different story altogether. This sub-continent of Asia Minor is larger than Texas and ninety-nine percent Muslim - but don't believe what you have been hearing on the news about this amazing place. The people here are warm and very friendly, they love to laugh, and Jesus loves them. So far we have visited Ephesus, Colosse, Laodicea, Hieropolis, Philadelphia, and Sardis. Traveling from place to place is not at all like our past visits to Israel, where the sites are only a few minutes apart. Here we have to travel one to three hours to reach these massive Biblical locations. In fact, "massive" is an understatement. Laodicea, for instance, was excvated just a couple of years ago, and we are among the first to visit it in its present condition. When Jesus rebuked the church there for depending on its own supply and wealth, He knew who He was talking to. I have never seen such a place: a vast, uninhabited ruin nearly three-quarterrs of a mile across, with two huge theaters (very unusual), and white marble embellishments that reflect mind-bending opulance. Laodicea was a huge Palm Springs-like spa, with hot water (considered theraputic) piped in from Laodicea, and icy cold brought in from the direction of Colosse (considered refreshing). Jesus, in His Revelation 3 letter to the church there told them He would rather them be hot (theraputic) or cold (resfreshing), but they were luke-warm (concidered unhealthy), and thuse He would vomit them out of His mouth. I wonder how theraputic we are to each other and to all those around us, or to the same people, how refreshing we are to them.

A notable surprise to me was something which was so obvious I never noticed it at all: until Paul traveled to Macedonia (the Gospel's first venture into Europe), virtually all the preaching of the Gospel and the expansion of the church took place in Turkey! And even after Paul's trip to Europe, the church continued to expand hugely right here in Asia Minor. Turkey is indeed the cradle of Christianity!

Tomorrow we are off to Thyityra and Pergamum. Remember us in your prayers. I can't wait to tell you all what we have seen and learned.

Blessings!

Pastor Jay and Kathee