Reflections From Ephesus

During a recent trip to explore the possibility of work in Turkey, I was able to spend a day in Ephesus. It is a huge archaeological dig that has been in process for much of the last century. What has been uncovered and reassembled is breathtaking. This was my first time to visit any site that has a key role in the Bible. It was surreal thinking that the apostles Paul and John would have been seeing the same structures. It was awe inspiring to stand in the amphitheater where Paul addressed the Ephesians and to see the harbor where they had their tearful farewell. This was one of the great cities of Rome and one of the cities where the early church was founded. Yet as the water receded from the harbor and earthquakes hit, the city died and soon was forgotten. There now actually is a small town nearby. We met with a couple of believers who work there - they told us there are no fellowships of believers meeting in that town.

One can't help but consider the parallels especially as we experience the current upheavals in our own civilization. A great city and civilization that must have seen impregnable and never-ending is now just an interesting archaeological dig. And the city where the Apostles themselves lived and where one of the first churches in history was established no longer has a single church. Yet the indicators were already there even as John penned revelation - John, who tradition holds spent his last years in Ephesus. We visited the place he is purported to be buried. In the letters to the churches in Revelation, Ephesus is the church who Christ rebukes for having "forsaken their first love."


Standing in that place and reflecting on those words, I could not help but be reminded that no people has an entitlement to God's favor nor any civilization a promise of longevity. In fact, it is when we begin to rest on those assumptions that complacency creeps in and we risk losing our first love. I could not help but be saddened to think that this place, so rich in the history of God's revelation, now is practically without a witness. When I look at my own culture as we argue over nativity scenes, when I see charitable giving as the first thing to go when economic times are uncertain, and when I am often confronted with a myopic view of what it means to be church, I wonder what would the content of a Revelation-style letter to the churches in our nation and our time in history be? Like the Ephesians, we are called to repent when we have lost our first love. We are called to recommit ourselves to being carriers of His Word to a nation and world who need to hear it. Just some reflections caused by a recent experience in the light of our current times.