Sabbatical Travels I -- Overview

I've recently returned from a sabbatical leave that enabled me to travel to Greece and Turkey with my spouse, who is also my partner in co-ministry. For the parts of the trip in Turkey, we were joined by one of my brothers-in-law and his wife. We seemed to be compatible traveling companions and enjoyed each others company.

We also enjoyed particularly fine fall weather -- it rained only on the last day when it also turned noticeably cooler. Most evenings were fine enough to eat outdoors and there were plenty of opportunities for that. For the most part the logistics of travel worked smoothly, with only a few minor challenges when transfers were missed or reservations boggled. That meant we were able to focus attention on the experience of being in the places we visited rather than on the process of getting there.

We were in Athens (2 nights near the Acropolis), Crete (4 nights near Elounda), Istanbul (5 nights in an apartment overlooking the Bosporus), Cappadocia (3 nights in Göreme), Izmir (2 nights), and back to Istanbul (1/2 night before an early flight back home). We were on nine flights (Philadelphia to Athens, Athens to Heraklion, Heraklion to Athens to Istanbul, Istanbul to Kayseri, Ankora to Izmir, Izmir to Istanbul, Istanbul to Frankfurt to Philadelphia). The internal flights were on Olympic and Turkish Airlines, both of which still serve meals.

We had private transfers by taxi and minibus, rode on light rail systems, public highway buses, ferries, and in a small rental car. And we walked quite a bit (my favorite mode). On two days (in Cappodocia and Ephesos) we had licensed guides, and we were shown around some of Istanbul's mosques by the pre-teen son of a friend. Mostly we were on our own, and yes, we did many of the major tourist sites.

We were in Turkey during Ramadan, which seemed to make Istanbul even more intense. The religious celebration offered us the chance to witness Islamic spirituality in greater depth than we might have at another time of the year. 

We departed Turkey just as news of ill-considered US Congressional resolution to condemn as genocide the early 20th Century killing of Armenians by Turks reached Istanbul. The conflicts over whether Turkey would invade northern Iraq in the continuing skirmishes with Kurds were heating up. We, however, paid little attention to the news (I almost never watch television news and none of our group speaks or reads Turkish), so we didn't know much about those things while we were there. Our experience was one of being welcomed with warm hospitality throughout both Greece and Turkey, but particularly in Turkey. The only political statement we heard was from a taxi driver who spoke little English. He turned to us part way through the trip and asked, "American?" "Yes." "American people, very good. Bush very bad!" We found common ground.

The trip was very rich on many dimensions, and it will take a long time to make sense of it and place it in context with our daily life and work at home. It is hard to know where to begin and how to organize the reflections. They seem to be popping up in random and disconnected ways. I bought back over 1300 digital images -- perhaps a six-hour slide show.

I intend to post more reflections in coming weeks.

Syncretism Revisited

syncretize: tr. v. to reconcile and unite differing elements or beliefs, especially with partial success or a heterogeneous result.

This blog is about the synthesis of ideas and the search for truth and meaning in many sources, along with an attempt to unite and reconcile the differing elements. I hope for partial success and welcome results that contain paradoxes. Life is complex and mysterious. I am a generalist and have a divergent learning style. That means I like to start with a general idea and seek specific examples, often branching in unexpected ways to discover new connections. My faith is deeply grounded in liberal religion, which recognizes that revelation is an on-going process and is never sealed. Truth is an evolving phenomenon. The task of making meaning from our experiences of life is never complete.

I want to rescue syncretism from the bad rap it's been given. Today is Palm Sunday, the beginning of Holy Week, the last week of Lent. What better example of Christian syncretism than the celebration of the rites of spring — of fertility and resurrection — the rituals of Easter? Stories of the death and resurrection of a hero were common themes in mythology long before Jesus was crucified. The shared meal, breaking of bread and passing a common cup were signs of fellowship and community long before the Last Supper. Bunnies and eggs represented fertility along with the spring flowers in pagan celebrations of spring. Seems to me that every modern world religion has been based on something that came before — and often combined practices from several sources with partial success and heterogeneous results in order to repackage and 'market' a new world view within an existing cultural context. So rather than dis those who practice syncretism, I'm all for embracing and celebrating the syncretors — after all, we have met them, and they are us.

I want to be clear that what I post here represents my personal opinions, not necessarily those of the congregation I serve nor of Unitarian Universalism. And of course I've been deeply influenced by both in the course of my ministry.