This is the day the Lord has made

 On September 15, 2024, the sixteenth Sunday after Trinity, we welcomed Maria Cecilia Ortega as a communicant member. Four of her children and three grandchildren were baptized at our mission, and five children received their first communion.

Her verse of affirmation of faith was Psalm 118:24: “This is the day that the Lord has made; we will be glad and rejoice in it.” With this verse we celebrated only that Sunday, but the entire period of grace and salvation extending to the last day of the world (Isaiah 49:8; 2 Corinthians 6:2; Revelation 19:7). In ancient Israel, Psalm 118 was sung by the faithful as they entered the Temple in procession in Jerusalem on the first day of the Jewish liturgical year. The psalm also was sung by the Jews around the Passover table and was most likely the final hymn sung by Jesus and his disciples as they celebrated their last Passover (Matthew 26:30). The multitude acclaimed Jesus as the Messiah with the words of Psalm 118:25-26 as he entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. We sing this every Sunday as the second part of the Sanctus: “Hosanna, hosanna, hosanna in the highest. Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna, hosanna, hosanna in the highest.”

School supplies from LeadaChild

On the same Sunday, we delivered backpacks with school supplies to the children of the mission, thanks to the donations of LeadaChild, a missionary society that has supported our mission since 2006. The people of LeadaChild provide funds for scholarships, school registration, and supplies for children so they can attend Lutheran schools and educational enrichment programs. They also provide professional develop
ment for leaders and teachers, with an emphasis on effective ways to share the Gospel and teach biblical truths to children. Our young women showed the fruits of the crocheting that accompanied their Bible study during the vacation.

Messengers of God

Every Friday I participate in a reading of the Greek text of the New Testament with the Rev. Dr. Roberto Bustamante and seminarians at Concordia El Reformador Seminary in the Dominican Republic. For September 27, the Friday before we celebrated the feast of St. Michael and All Angels on Sunday, September 29, the selection of Galatians 1:6-9 was most appropriate, especially verse 8. “But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than that we have preached to you, let him be accursed.”

The word “angel” (ἄγγελος) is the Greek word for “messenger”. It is used not only in the Greek New Testament, but also in the Septuagint, the ancient Greek translation of the Old Testament, for the word מֲלְאָךְ (malak), which means the same. In some passages of the Old Testament, “the Angel of the Lord” is clearly God Himself (Genesis 16:7; Exodus 3:2; Numbers 22:23; 1 Kings 19:7). The divine Angel of the Lord appears in the New Testament as the Word made flesh, Jesus Christ (John 1:14; Hebrews 1:1-2).

At times the word “angel is applied to human messengers of God. In the Old Testament, prophets and priests of the Temple are called angels (Isaiah 42:19; 44:26; Malachi 2:7). In the opening chapters of the Revelation of St. John, the bishops of the seven churches in Asia Minor are called angels (“To the angel of the church of Ephesus write…” Revelation 2:1). That is why St. Paul tells the Galatians that any “angel” or messenger that preaches a gospel different than the one revealed to the prophets and apostles must be ἀνάθεμα (anathema), a word which may be translated “accursed”, but also “excomunicated”. The church must repudiate human teachers of false doctrine so that they might repent before God’s judgment falls on them.

Of course, the majority of references to angels in the Bible describe spiritual beings who are neither human nor divine. In Revelation 22:8-9, the Apostle John prostrates himself to worship one of these angels, but the angel replies, “See that you do not do that. For I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren the prophets, and of those who keep the words of this book. Worship God.”

Those who are with us

 

He said, “Do not be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” 2 Kings 6:16

That’s a key verse from the Old Testament lesson for the Day of St. Michael’s and All Angels (September 29 on the historic church calendar, but we will observe it Sunday, October 3). The entire lesson (2 Kings 6:8-17), the Syrian army surrounds the city of Dothan with the intention of capturing Elisha the prophet. Elisha’s servant is terrified until the Lord opens his eyes to the even greater army of angels protecting them.

We as missionaries at times feel that we are surrounded by forces beyond our control and that could completely overwhelm us. And that is an accurate evaluation of the situation. But God sends His holy angels to protect us (as Psalm 91, properly understood, assures us). And the casting of Satan and his rebellious angels out of heaven (referenced in Luke 10:17-20 and Revelation 12:7-12) assure us that we share is Christ’s victory over Satan now and forever. Because the entire life of Jesus, from His birth to His death on the cross, was a victory over Satan, the 70 disciples find that they are able to cast out devils in His name.

“And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death” (Revelation 12:10-11).

Although Michael and the heavenly host of angels played their part in Satan’s defeat, the victory belongs to Christ and through Him, to the church triumphant. We remember that, even in the midst of the persecution of which the rest of Revelation 12 warns.

Everlasting God, You have ordained and constituted the service of angels and men in a wonderful order. Mercifully grant that, as Your holy angels always serve and worship You in heaven, so by Your appointment they may also help and defend us here on earth; through Your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

Ninth shipment of medicines

On September 19, 2021, Epiphany Lutheran Mission distributed the ninth shipment of medicines from the Venezuela Relief Project begun by Global Lutheran Outreach and the Confessional Lutheran Church of Chile. The Venezuela Relief Project began in 2017. Two people on our list died, but we distributed the medicines requested for them to three other persons. One particularly grateful recipient is Luz Marina Medina, a 45-year-old widow who lives with her elderly father. She has suffered from epilepsy since childhood and, due to the scarcity of medication, was experiencing more and more frequent seizures. However, now she has the medication that she needs.

As is our custom, the bulk of the medicines were distributed after the Sunday service, along with our homegrown fruits and vegetable. Thanks to abundant rain this years, we have bumper crops of avocados, passion fruit, tomatoes, cassava, bananas and plantains, papaya and eggplant. We also have a bountiful harvest of berries from our coffee tree. Coffee is a social necessity, here, if not a biological necessity, and it keeps getting more and more expensive.

Reopening the preschool

We began the new school year on Tuesday, September 28, by meeting with families who have enrolled their children in our preschool. After an opening devotion and distribution of medications sent to us by the Lutheran Women's Missionary League of Canada by way of the Dominican Republic (the LWML Canada sent the funds and the medications were purchased in the Dominican Republic under the supervision of Rebecca Pollex Krey, wife of the Rev. Theodore Krey, regional director for Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod World Missions in Latin America and the Caribbean).

The meeting was conducted according to strict biosecurity measures required by the Ministry of Education. Everyone wore masks and maintained a distance of at least six feet. Classes begin October 11, with two shifts of children per day, no more than five in each shift. Some of the parents were concerned about small children being required to wear facemasks, but a representative of Ministry of Education emphasized that this is the rule for now.

More generally, some parents question the Venezuelan government’s decision to require the vaccination of all children between the ages of three and 17. The argument is that as long as Covid-19 vaccinations are not ruled to be completely safe for children the government should prioritize making further strides in immunizing the at-risk population and personnel in the health care and education sectors.

Venezuela received 693,600 vaccines against COVID-19, September 7, as part of the first shipment made to the country by the World Health Organization’s COVAX Mechanism, of the total of 12,068,000 vaccine doses acquired. This first delivery of doses consists of vaccines against COVID-19 produced by the laboratory Sinovac Biotech and included in the emergency use list of the World Health Organization (WHO).

The Sinovac vaccine, known as CoronaVac, was the one that I received on September 13. The two-dose vaccine is recommended for individuals aged 18 years and above. It has an efficacy rate of 50.4% for preventing symptomatic infection, according to data from a Brazilian trial, and an effectiveness of 67%, according to a real-world study in Chile. Some people we know experienced adverse reactions to CoronaVac, similar to those reported elsewhere, but I have had no problems.

Luz Maria earlier received the Sputnik V vaccine. On September 27, Venezuela’s Minister of Health, affirmed that “more than 8.8 million first doses” had been given, while 5.25 million received the second Sputnik V dose. Luz Maria and I are both waiting for second doses.

Let us remember that Psalm 91 not only promises that “He shall give his angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways”, but also under His protection we need not fear “the pestilence that stalks in darkness, nor the destruction that wastes at noonday”, nor any physical or spiritual danger, for whether we live or die, He will show us His salvation. Amen.