Italy/Greece, Days 8 to 10 – A Reflection

Day 8 – On May 18th, we left Crete and sailed for Santorini – home of the blue-domed churches. Blue-domed are Greek Orthodox and all other colors are Catholic. There are 600 churches on Santorini Island – most are “Private” churches.

Day 9- After visiting Santorini, we sailed for Athens overnight. When we got to Athens, we disembarked after our 3-day cruise. We then hopped on a bus and crossed the famous Corinthian Canal to get to Corinth. Located in the Peloponnese of Greece, this was the once glorious city near the Isthmus where Paul met Aquila and Priscilla and spent a year and a half preaching the Word of God.

We then traveled 30 miles to the site of Mycenae, the legendary city rival of Troy, and described by Homer as “Mycenae rich in Gold.” This city dates back to the late Bronze Age and is famous for the “beehive” Tomb of Agamemnon (Treasury of Atreus) and the gold masks. We then travelled back to Athens for dinner and overnight.

Say 10 – We left Greece and flew to Rome, which is where we would spend our last four days of our trip.

A few reflections as we leave Greece for Rome.

Our Leaders and Guides

Our leaders on this trip are amazing – Kathy has a gift for organizing, Father Tom with his thoughtful Bible Study, and Steve – just being an excellent leader and speaker all around.

Our tour guides, made our adventure in Greece even more special. Sandra called us her “Babies”. She was very knowledgeable and funny – a natural entertainer and storyteller. Yani – bless his heart. He cared so much for our well-being that you did not want to disappoint him. And so filled with the spirit.

The Three Pillars

A trait of the Episcopal Church that I find appealing is its approach to Christian formation. It contains the three pillars – Scripture, Tradition, and Reason. And this trip confirmed why I gravitate to this approach – especially the last pillar – Reason.

Like others on this trip, I was on a pilgrimage to walk the footsteps of the Apostle Paul. I never dreamed that I would one day do Bible Study in places like Athens, Ephesus, Patmos, and Corinth. And I must say that Greece did not disappoint.

Scripture

As we stood or sat among the ruins in ancient cities mentioned in the New Testament, I began to understand scripture in a different way. It became visceral for me. In other words, “it came to life!”

And it became even more obvious to me that where Paul was and to whom he was writing his letters to really matters. I will say it again. IT REALLY MATTERS. Joe Amara in his book “God of Gods” states “that too much error and self-imposed doctrine has polluted the integrity of the scriptures because of a lack of context…. We must have a strong understanding of the ‘why’ and the ‘who’ when it comes to biblical understanding, interpretation and application.” So, context and reason is everything. And this trip has given me some understanding as to why I love the Episcopal approach to understanding and approaching one’s faith. And like Jesus and like Paul, the Episcopal tradition has a rich tradition of inclusion, like Jesus, and like Paul.

Reason

And this was really brought home to me in Corinth. I am not going to do a deep theological dive here. But as we sat and stood between the main drinking fountain and the Temple of Apollo in Corinth, we read several passages. And as we discussed the “who” and “why” of these passages, their meaning became much clearer because of the context, even to the point that I came away from interpreting 1 Corinthians 11:1-16 in a way that is very different than how most people, including me, usually interpret that passage. Again, understanding the cultural norms of a particular city at the time is critical to understanding Paul’s intent. And it was not to subjugate women, but to include particular women who were being marginalized and excluded at the time.

One of Paul’s central messages during his entire ministry was one of “inclusion”. That IS A CONSTANT throughout his writings. And so this new interpretation, given Paul’s consistent theme, and given the specific “who” he was writing to and the specific “why” for this particular passage makes this different interpretation entirely “reasonable.” In other words, it stands up to “reason.” What a wonderful epiphany!

And so, as I continue to “follow the footsteps of Paul”, I am becoming a big Paul admirer. He did not hate women. He may have actually been the opposite. Remember that Paul’s first convert to Christianity in Greece was a woman, and a wealthy one at that. Her name was Lydia.

A God Moment

I now have to stop and tell you about a “God Moment.” During our first lunch on the cruise – I think we were heading to Patmos – an older black woman asked to sit down next to us. We welcomed her. We found out that she was a Canadian and had immigrated from Jamaica. And her name was Maria.

She was also what I call a “Cruiser.” Based on our discussion, I estimate that she has been on at least 10-15 cruises. And we learned that she was a devout Christian taking a similar pilgrimage to us. And she talked about a book that was written by her pastor that she had read before the trip – “God of Gods”. Her pastor is Joe Amara, who is also Canadian, but has immigrated – from Portugal.

As we left each other’s company, she handed her copy of the book to Elizabeth. Elizabeth has finished it and I am now reading it. I LOVE this book. And that is how we acquired the book that I am now quoting!

And so that gift will always be treasured by us. And as much as I would like to keep it, we intend to give it to another couple traveling on this trip.

Heart and Head

As so, I think that Joe Amara would say that leaders within the Universal Church somehow, through error or self-imposed doctrine, may have misinterpreted scripture because of a lack of context.

And as one of our wise leaders on the trip said, be careful what you read and how you interpret what you read. And there you have it – approach your faith with some amount of reason. God gave us a heart AND a brain. We should use both.