Last week, I had the joy of playing chaperone for my church’s confirmation class. We went to Pittsburgh, a bit of a hotbed for Presbyterians like us, and spent the day in the city. It was definitely what I would call a “Faith Field Trip.”
So, if you’re looking for an informative, fun, and spiritual day trip for you or for your church, check this out!
Stop One
It takes us about 2-2.5 hours to get to Pittsburgh. So, we can’t really start our days too early. We got into the city around 11am.
First stop was the Presbyterian Theological Seminary for the Kelso Museum of Near Eastern Archaeology. The museum holds a collection of artifacts that all come from the Israel/Jordan/West Bank Region and focus on eras from Biblical times.
The Kelso is a small museum, but definitely makes sure to share a lot! They focus not only on faith and Christianity, but also on decades of archaeological work. I’ll be honest, as someone who works in museums and a public historian, I can be very critical of other institutions. While I have critiques, I do think that the Kelso is doing good with what they’re working with.
There were exhibits on the evolution of ancient writings. Everyday items from 2000 BCE to 1000 CE tell the story of every day people of the era. Then there’s a beautiful photo and video collection from digs all the way back to the 1930s.
Our guide gave everyone a hands-on activity with some of their own collection. Everyone was encouraged to pick a piece of actual pottery and see if they could figure out what it was and what age it was from. This was a great interactive part of the tour to give everyone a chance to explore on their own.
The guide also let us have a bit of freedom. I’m a wanderer, so I have a tendency to wander in and out of tours as things catch my attention. (Yes, I know.) However, our guide encouraged this, letting us wander and look more deeply into the information being provided through the exhibit cards, since she couldn’t cover everything in a spoken tour.
One of the best parts of the tour we took was an activity focused on the ancient languages. The students in our confirmation class got to learn a bit about Hebrew and Ancient Greek, along with translating certain words in the written form into English and English characters. It was a great, hands-on activity.
Lunch
We stopped at Vento’s Pizza for lunch (yum!)
Stop Two
Our second stop of the day was at East Liberty Presbyterian Church, aka the Cathedral of Hope. The 5th church to stand on this site, the East Liberty Presbyterian Church is a beautiful example of Gothic Architecture. It’s also just a lot of fun to explore.
We took a guided tour and got to explore all throughout the church. That includes the smaller Chapel, through the large Gothic Sanctuary, and all the way up the bell tower (definitely a leg workout).
Foolishly, our guide gave us some freedom and I took advantage of the Sanctuary’s amazing acoustics. Like most large cathedrals, the hard surfaces are live and reflect sound really well. Needless to say, my dad (another chaperone) went to the back of the sanctuary and could still hear me singing without a mic.
We also got the chance to go downstairs and bowl in their duck bowing lane!
Stop Three
We headed to Station Square to head up the Monongahela Incline. Most of our kid had never gotten to go up an incline before, so it was a great experience for them. We stopped at the top and took in the view, pointing out a few things to the kids with us. It’s a great view to see the top of the city.
We grabbed dinner at Station Square (which was a little difficult considering that there was 14 of us), before heading back home.
Overall, it was a great day teaching the next generation and seeing a great group of students growing into adults. It was definitely a day of faith and fellowship.
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Interested in my other travel writings? Check them out here.