My cup overflows...

Wednesdays at Geneva are usually distinguished by Chapel. Wednesdays in Rome are distinguished by Excursions. Chapel is a great time to bring the entire campus together and draw everyone's focus on the "God who made you, who knows you, and who loves you." It's great to hear outside speakers come in and bring memorable messages that spark conversation throughout campus, and it's one of the few times that the entire student body and faculty are together under one roof. I know that I can honestly say that I will miss Chapel when I'm in the real world. Yes, in case it's never occurred to, college isn't quite the real world, but that may be for another day, another post. Anyway, for the past 3 years, Wednesdays involved Chapel for me, so I knew there was Chapel today. Today was probably a pretty sweet Chapel too because I think the main architect for PNC Park was speaking. That's awesome - a Christian as a leading architect in the world.

With that being said, I am okay that my Wednesdays look a little bit different here in Rome. We went to the Church of St. Clemente. The stories surrounding many of these saints are pretty extravagant and they either show the immaculate hand of God or wicked creativity of the Catholics. Google the story of St. Clemente if you want to know what I mean. Regardless, this was a special church as it had essentially 3 levels, and two of the levels were underground. I never quite thought about the fact that modern Rome is built on top of much the ruins of Ancient Rome. The church itself was not very large in size, but the ornate detail in the mosaics and relief sculptures were beautiful. 

Christ at the Tree of Life

Many of the frescoes about St. Clemente and his life events were underground, and Dr. Doyle was an amazing tour guide at explaining the narratives and backgrounds to each. The lowest level oddly contains a pagan temple that had some sort of worship to Mithras, a pagan god who brought the world into being by the blood that spewed out after he had slain a bull. Around the corner from the temple were some apartment-style rooms that were built in 1st century AD, which is the same time that Jesus was alive. As I was running my hands along the bricks and carvings of something this old, I realized how much labor and precision went into building this place, and for it to still be here is incredible. I was in rooms that were built in Biblical times -mind blowing.

After the we left the church, we had free time to wander, so some of us walked up and down streets on a whim and stumbled across a monastery that a great overlook of the the area around the Colosseum. We were feeling hungry and found some pizza near the convent. It was probably the best pizza I've had since I was here, so that place is bookmarked for later. 

We celebrated Kevin's birthday today at our community dinner and sang and had some cupcakes for him, which was great. Most of us were pretty spent from the day of walking, so we had a leisurely night around the convent and neighborhood. 

I have been staying up later just to read and write, so maybe that will prepare me to stay up for the SuperBowl on Sunday. I'm pretty sure we have a bar that will stay open for us to watch it...

I forgot to mention that worship through song during Chapel at Geneva is through Psalms. They get a lot of complaints for that, but the Psalms are truly beautiful. Since it is still Wednesday for you guys, it is fitting to tie this post up with a well known Psalm that rung my heart like a bell today. At the end of the community dinner, Lee Anne read Psalm 23 and while listening to the passage and imagining each visual I got chills, so I'm going to post the whole glorious passage: 

Psalm 23

A psalm of David.

¹ The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
²     He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
³     he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
    for his name’s sake.
⁴ Even though I walk
    through the darkest valley,^[a]
I will fear no evil,
    for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
    they comfort me.

⁵ You prepare a table before me
    in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
    my cup overflows.
⁶ Surely your goodness and love will follow me
    all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord
    forever.