Recovering in Kos

The three week cross cultural program ended yesterday. Janet and I said goodbye to the Eastern Mennonite University students in the Athens airport who we had met three weeks earlier. What a long time 3 weeks is when each day is packed with challenges and rewards!

Beginning in the Aeropogus in Athens where Paul preached his famous sermon about the unknown god, (Acts 17) we explored the ancient sites of the Aegean filled with the ruins of once gleaming temples, busting agoras, and noisy theaters in well-known places such as Corinth, Ephesus, and lesser known ones like Miletus, Priene, and Didyma. The students explored the islands of Samos and Kos on smoky, noisy scooters, and the serene island of Patmos on foot. We enjoyed the cuisine of Greece and Turkey, the conversations and endless cups of tea with descendants of pagans, Crusaders, and invaders, and were fascinated by the visible, public faith of the Greek Orthodox Christians in Greece, and Muslims in Turkey.

We traveled together over 500 miles by ferry. For 11 nights Janet and I hosted two students at a time overnight on SailingActs. All of the students made at least one voyage, ranging from 20 to 50 miles, under sail. No one got seasick. Everyone participated in handling the boat, and at the end of the day helped bring the sailboat into harbor like seasoned sailors.

We learned the culture of the polytheistic Sea People, and the amazing connection that the Apostle Paul, a man of the Land, a monotheist, made relating the gospel to the sophisticated, industrious and creative peoples living in the powerful and glorious Roman Empire 2,000 years ago. We discovered new ways how Western culture has been, and continues to be, shaped by the confluence of those two, powerful streams of Land and Sea, of Jew and Greek, during the first century.

Only one student lost his wallet to a pickpocket riding the metro following a soccer celebration at the Olympic football stadium.

Only one student was taken off a large ferry in the middle of the night in a wheelchair because the ferries do not have doctors on board and the captain did not want to take any risks with his passengers. “I’ll take responsibility,” I pleaded to the assistant captain as they began to transfer the student into the ambulance waiting in the darkness on the wharf. “I’m an adult, I’ll take responsibility,” the student added getting out of the wheelchair. And so it was that the group remained together.

Only one scooter suffered a minor scrape with a car on the island of Kos.

But those are minor risks we all take when we travel. In the end, the risks are worth it all. We said goodbye to the students, grateful for the opportunity to learn more about the Greeks, the Jews, and the world today by being with 12 great students for 3 weeks in the Mediterranean. I had gained more from this teaching interlude from the voyage toward Rome, I realized leaving the airport, than I had given.

Dorothy, Janet’s sister who will be sailing with us again for about 10 days, arrived in Athens the day the students left. We caught the ferry that evening to return to Kos where we had left SailingActs 4 days earlier. In the wee hours of the morning, with a light rain falling, we walked to where SailingActs was moored, climbed down under the dripping sunshade, and crawled in our familiar bunks. How nice to be home.

Within a day or two, when we and SailingActs are ready, we will resume the voyage following Paul’s journey from Caesarea to Rome, toward Crete, Malta and Italy. I hope the rest of the journey goes as slowly as the past 3 weeks.

See photos from May 31