Reading scripture on Holy Ground...

Even though I am on leave it was hard to keep hidden that while not traveling through Turkey I was serving as a pastor of a local church. It took a couple of days and as a result, the others on the trip saw me first as a person and then as a pastor on renewal leave. When it came time to visit the seven cities that were mentioned in God’s Revelation to John, I offered to read from the Bible I had brought (the one that I carried while doing CPE at the UNC Hospital in Chapel Hill, North Carolina) the verses that applied to each area. I wasn’t sure how folks would feel but they were more than willing. Each time that we arrived in a location, we’d get as close as we could to what would have been the church area and then I read the words that God gave to John to share with thses seven cities in Turkey. It was interesting to hear the words and to recognize that people would have been hearing similar words almost two thousand years ago. However, the most powerful reading for me came when we were in Ephesus. This is the one city that has been aggressively excavated and still there is a great deal to be done. As I read from Acts 19 beginning with verse 21 we were standing outside of the theater where the people of the town gathered in great anger because Paul was telling them that the idols that they made were no good. Demetrius the silversmith had riled other smiths with the concern that they and other businesses would soon suffer financial loss if the people of Ephesus followed Paul’s words. The crowd was reminded that Artemis was their god and this hug theater soon broke out into chants of “Great is Artemis…”. As I stood outside the theater reading the words, people were passing us (it’s estimated that between 2,000 – 7,000 people visit this site every day, especially when the cruises bring their folks!) as they moved in and out of the theater entrance. I could imagine this theater with 25,000 seats filled (about 1/10th of the population at that time) and people shouting and shouting and Paul wanting to go in but being told to stay out. The scriptures then talk of how Paul was taken to the general assembly. Because of the wisdom of our guide, we had started at the top of the hill and one of our first places had been the assembly. As I stood there reading, I remembered the long hill we had walked down, the very street that Paul had walked up to be heard and challenged. I remembered looking down from the seating area where up to 1700 people could have sat though there were around 450-500 legislators at the time, and thinking of Paul risking his life, his all to tell these folks who were strong supporters of Artemis that his God was real, that his God did not need idols, that his God would always be there for them whether or not they were able to make an offering, and how God offered eternal life through Jesus Christ. I could feel the presence of the moment; I could see the anger of the crowd, the business of the day, and the strength and commitment of Paul. It was in that reading of the many we have done that the scriptures came alive in a different way for me.