After the pandemic, the palms

Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Hallelujah!

On April 2, 2023, we marched through the streets of La Caramuca in our first Palm Sunday procession since April 14, 2019. A number of our sister congregations in the Lutheran Church of Venezuela did the same.

Although the Venezuelan government continues to urge citizens to take preventive measures, and some medical facilities and businesses still require masks for people to enter, most restrictions on personal mobility have been relaxed. As of April 30, the Venezuelan government reported 267 active cases of COVID-19 throughout the nation, with 17 hospitalized, nine in Comprehensive Diagnostic Centers, eight in private clinics, and 233 receiving supervised community care. With these figures, 1,140 days after the COVID-19 crisis was declared in Venezuela, confirmed cases total 552,627 with 546,504 recovered patients, which corresponds to a recovery rate of 99 percent, and 5,856 deaths.

“Hosanna! Blessed is the King of Israel, who comes in the name of the Lord!" (John 12:12-18) is the second part of the Sanctus in the liturgy we use today. Both the hosanna acclamation and the words, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord” come from Psalm 118:25-26. Psalm 118 is a processional psalm celebrating God's repeated deliverance of his people through the centuries. The faithful would enter through the gates of the Temple in Jerusalem with palms to receive the priestly blessing of verse 26. These words of the psalm also were understood in a messianic sense, like the Old Testament lesson for Palm Sunday, Zechariah 9:9-12.

Something of a Passion play

On Wednesday of Holy Week, members of Corpus Christi Lutheran Church, our neighboring congregation in Barinas, presented a dramatization by their youth of what they had learned about the institution of the Lord’s Supper. Our young people were invited to participate as well. The abbreviated Passion play included Jesus washing His disciples’ feet as recorded in John 13:1-17. Following that were the words of institution, recorded in Matthew 26:17-29; Mark 14:12-25; Luke 22:7-23; and 1 Corinthians 11:23-26, also were included. We are grateful to Pastor Raimundo Brito, and his wife and deaconess, Sandra, for arranging this event. Their daughter, Sara, brought Easter eggs.

I should explain that this was not the service of the Eucharist dressed up as a modern Jewish Passover seder. This is an important point for us, because surrounding our Lutheran mission are neo-pentecostal sects that teach true Christians should not celebrate Christmas or Easter according to “man-made traditions,” but should observe Old Testament festivals like Sukkot, the Feast of Booths. Some even say Christians should observe Hanukkah, which is not a holiday ordained in the Old Testament, but originated in the intertestamental period. Our role as Lutherans is not to collaborate in the confusion, but in the freedom of the gospel, we approach the Eucharist with all reverence and all clarity.

During the existence of the Tabernacle and later of the Temple in Jerusalem, the focus of the Passover festival was the sacrifice of the lamb, which not only recalled the deliverance from slavery in Egypt (Exodus 12:1-36; Exodus 13:1-16) but also pointed to the sacrifice of the Messiah (Isaiah 53). In our Lord's time, Passover was one of the three pilgrimages, the name given to the three festivals during which the Jewish people used to make a pilgrimage to the Temple in Jerusalem and offer offerings and sacrifices. The others were Shavuot, also called Pentecost, and Sukkot.

Each family large enough to fully consume a young lamb was to offer one for sacrifice in the Temple in Jerusalem on the evening of the 14th day of the month of Nisan, and eat it that night, which was Nisan 15. If the family was too small to finish eating the entire offering at one time, an offering was made for a group of families. There could be none of the meat left in the morning. The slaughter of the lamb took place in the atrium of the Temple of Jerusalem. The slaughter could be carried out by a layman, although the rituals related to blood and fat had to be carried out by a priest.

This all came to an end with the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple in 70 AD. Today, in the absence of the Temple, no sacrifices are offered or eaten at the seder. Rather, a set of Biblical and rabbinic passages dealing with the Passover sacrifice is recited after the evening prayer service on Nisan 14, and is celebrated with the zeroa, a symbolic food. placed on the seder plate (but not eaten), which is usually a roasted leg bone (or a chicken wing or neck).

The sacrament of the Lord’s Supper was instituted in the context of the Old Testament Passover but it is not the same. Christ, our Passover Lamb (1 Corinthians 5:6-8) has been slain, once and for all. We would not and could not offer another sacrifice. We now celebrate only the Lamb's own feast as instituted and ordained by Him. For us Lutherans, the Paschal Lamb is not a memory. He lives!

Resurrection and baptism

We celebrated Easter Sunday with the baptism of Pedro Jesús Gael Santana Marquina. Little Pedro happens to be Luz Maria’s 14th grandchild. He was baptized with a cast on one leg because of being born with a malformed foot. Thanks be to God, he received the necessary orthopedic operation and later the sacrament of baptism.

For the Gospel lesson, I read all of the last chapter of Mark’s Gospel, which is the succinct account of the empty tomb, the post-Resurrection appearances of Jesus, the Great Commission and the Ascension. Mark 16:16 is a key passage used in the Small Catechism and in our baptimal rite.

“What benefits does Baptism give? It works forgiveness of sins, rescues from death and the devil, and gives eternal salvation to all who believe this, as the words and promises of God declare. Which are these words and promises of God? Christ our Lord says in the last chapter of Mark: Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned” (Luther’s Small Catechism with Explanations, Concordia Publishing House, 2017).

Titus 3:5 was the special baptismal verse for Pedro Jesús. “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Spirit.” God uses baptism as a means to transmit and seal to the believer the inestimable benefits of salvation. The baptized is born anew to eternal life. As is implied in the dialogue between the Lord and Peter in John 13:6-10, but the renewing thus begun by the Holy Spirit continues throughout the life of the Christian until completion in our own resurrection.

For we have this promise in Romans 6:3-5, “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? We were buried therefore with Him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with Him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with Him in a resurrection like His.”

News from the chicken coop

Nothing gets you moving in the morning like the cry of prairie hawks circling above the chicken coop. We did some renovation this month to improve protection against predators and make more room for our growing flock. (By “we”, I mean Luz Maria’s grandsons, Eduar and Ignacio Garrido. Eduar turned 16 on April 26). We now have 8 hens, four of which are laying, four roosters (we need to get rid of three; males are expendable), and 35 young chickens. A dozen eggs costs about $3.21, while less than a penny per kilo of chicken feed keeps our hens laying four to six eggs per day.

A house of prayer for all the nations

José Miguel Albarran Pumar was baptized on on August 16, 2020, the 10th Sunday after Trinity. Since 2005, 23 people have been baptized at our mission. Of those baptized, 11 have received their first communion here.

The sermon text was Luke 19:41-48, which is St. Luke’s account of the cleaning of the Temple by Jesus. I noted that the Israelites in the Old Testament had a special place, a house for all the people to come together for worship, prayer and thanksgiving to the Lord. In the beginning that place was a tent, built in front of Mount Sinai under the direction of Moses. This tabernacle served the people on their pilgrimage in the desert. When the people of Israel entered the Promised Land, the tabernacle remained for many years in the city of Shiloh, then in Jerusalem. King Solomon replaced the tabernacle with the first temple of wood and stone a thousand years before Christ. At Epiphany Lutheran Mission, we worshipped first under a roofed patio, but now we have a beautiful chapel. Like the Temple of Jerusalem, this is a house of prayer for those of all nations who worship in Spirit and in truth. For us, the house of the Lord is wherever the Word is preached in its purity and the sacraments administered according to the Lord’s command. It is a special place because the Lord Himself has invited us to gather at an appointed place and time to receive His gifts (Hebrews 10:25). Our bodies also are temples of the Holy Spirit (1 Corintios 6:19). As our Lord cleared the moneylenders from the Temple, he cleanses our bodies and renews us in spirit through holy baptism. The church, both as the assembly of believers and place where believers assemble, belongs to Christ. He is the One who sustains it and has promised to keep it until His coming.

Distribution of food from LeadaChild

That same Sunday we distributed foodstuffs to 27 families, thanks to support from LeadaChild, a mission society based in Olathe, Kansas and dedicated to supporting Christian education around the world. We have received financial support from LeadaChild since 2006. In the past, we have distributed donations from LeadaChild as “scholarships” for students in our preschool and Luz Maria’s afterschool tutoring sessions. That is to say, as cash for the families to buy school supplies, clothing and food. This time around we purchased food

items in bulk, in order to get better value for our rapidly devaluing Venezuelan currency. Dividing the currency among the families would mean each household would get less than if we bought the food in one purchase. We were able to do this because of the automobile that we purchased with other donations this past year. Thanks to the car, we drove to the food distribution point and brought the food back to the mission.

On Saturday, August 8, we participated in a Zoom videoconference with Nury de Millian, LeadaChild director for Latin America. We listened to presentations on how to reopen Christian schools during the pandemic, testimony from a COVID-19 survivor, and advice from the Rev. Abdiel Orozco Aguirre, the pastor of Castillo Fuerte (Mighty Fortress) Lutheran Church in Guatemala City, Guatemala, and a immunohematologist.

LeadaChild was founded in 1968 as Children’s Christian Concern Society (CCCS) by Jim and Edie Jorns as agricultural missionaries to the Zacapa region of Guatemala. Their idea was to build a boarding house next to the new Lutheran school in Zacapa so that poor children would receive proper care while attending at the school. Jim and

Edie diligently gathered support from friends, family, and church members in their home state of Kansas. Throughout the years, CCCS grew to provide support to project sites in five world regions – Guatemala, Central America and Haiti, South America, West Africa, and Asia – and also supports an afterschool program in Bethlehem. The organization’s name was changed to LeadaChild in 2013.

I had heard of the Jorns’ mission work in the 1980s, when I was a member of St. John’s Lutheran Church, Topeka, Kansas, the congregation in which Edie was raised. Luz Maria and I were privileged to meet Jim and Edie in 2006. Last fall we met Dr. Philip J. Frusti, the current executive director of LeadaChild, in the Dominican Republic. Dr. Frusti, a Lutheran teacher and former school principal, graduated from Concordia University, Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Pray for recovery

 

We praise the Lord that Yepci Santana, Luz Maria’s daughter, is recovering from COVID-19 in Lima, Peru. Other members of Luz Maria’s family, with who we have not had face-to-face contact are recovering as well. Also in Peru, Kalen Yolanda Incata Fernández, wife of Martin Osmel Soliz Bernal, a pastor with the LCMS Mission in Lima, was diagnosed with COVID-19 after giving birth to her first child. Also, we should remember Diana Malik, a Global Lutheran Outreach missionary, who has lost 11 members of her extended family to COVID-19 in Kazakhstan. Holy and mighty Lord, who has promised, “no evil shall be allowed to befall you, no plague come near your tent” (Psalm 91:10), we beseech You to hear our cry for those who are suffering and dying under the visitation of COVID-19. Mercifully bless the means which are used to stay the spread of the pandemic, strengthen those who labor to heal and comfort the afflicted, support those who are in pain and distress, speedily restore those who have been brought low, and unto all who are beyond healing grant Your heavenly consolation and Your saving grace, through Jesus Christ, Your only Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God now and forever. Amen.

Baptism in the time of COVID-19

Baptism of Reiber Santiago.

Reiber Santiago Pirela Parra.

On Pentecost Sunday, May 21, 2020, seven-month-old Reiber Santiago Pirela Parra, received the gift of new life in Christ through holy baptism. We also celebrated the Eucharist for the first time since “national quarantine” was declared about two months ago.

In my last communication, I expressed hope that the quarantine would be lifted by Pentecost and we would be able to resume offering the Lord’s Supper every Sunday. Of course, immediately after I wrote those words, the quarantine was extended to June 12. But the rules have since been “relaxed”. What does that mean? Well, the 2019/2020 school year’s a wash. Schools, including our preschool, will not reopen until the new school year begins in September. Students are supposed to complete their studies on-line (something of a challenge, as I will explain) and we have opened the preschool every morning to distribute food and homework assignments to families in our community. Although the availablity of public transportation has been greatly reduced, we have been able to obtain the food through use of the car that your donations enabled to purchase.

The Lord's Supper.

In addition to closing of schools, most businesses are allowed to operate for a strictly limited number of hours per day, although the “relaxation” means some businesses are able to stay open longer now. No one is supposed to walk the streets and public areas without a facemask and maintaining about a meter of distance from other persons. In order to enter a place of business, you must have your hands sprayed with disinfectant. However, as far as I know, there are no rules specifically pertaining to place of worship. Since our chapel is not on public property, we have continued to hold Sunday morning services, although we will not celebrate the Lord’s Supper again until after June 12. Those who attend our Sunday morning worship are a small group of people that we see every day anyway. Nobody in our vicinity has shown signs of COVID-19 infection so far, so praise be to God for that as well.

Facemasks are in fashion.

Two thousand years of experience and scientific study have shown the likelihood of contagious disease being passed through the sharing of the communion chalice is very low. If your immune system is that compromised, you really should not leave your house anyway. Of course, we tell our communicants that they are not obligated to receive communion every time it’s offered, and if there is any indication that that they might be infected with COVID-19, they should stay home. While we certainly do not believe or teach that the Lord has promised the faithful immunity to pestilence whether we take precautions or not, we do believe that He will watch over us as we do the work that He has commanded His church to do.

Reiber Santiago’s parents, Ronelbys and Maria José, told me nearly seven months ago that they wanted their baby baptized in our chapel. But they wanted her sister in Caracas to be godmother. After waiting for her to able to travel from Caracas, they finally decided that this was not going to happen any time soon. They wanted Reiber Santiago baptized, so that if he did get sick and die, he would have the promise of heaven. So it was done on perhaps the best of days for a baptism, Pentecost.

Learning English.

In addition to continuing Sunday services, we have begun a new confirmation class and lessons in English for interested students. Everyone likes it when I sing the Mickey Mouse song. “M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E! Mickey Mouse! Mickey Mouse!” Watch for my Appalachian gospel/Memphis blues fusion version on iTunes.

To everything there is a season

As the writer of Ecclesiastes says, “To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven”, and sometimes the time for everything is all at once. We have entered Venezuela’s rainy season, the period from May to November in which total rainfall may add up to 78 inches. Just in time, too, because the water level in our well was getting very low. However, now we have the problem of heavy cloud cover reducing the efficiency of our solar-powered electrical backup system, combined with longer and longer power outages almost every day. There have been a few times the system has not been able to keep the lights on all night, because of lack of time for the batteries to recharge. We have had to become more conservative in our consumption of electricity in order to compensate. However, a somewhat more pressing concern is that our cellphone/Internet service used to last six hours after the public power went down, but now it only lasts two to three hours. This means that after a particularly long blackout, we will be without electricity, telephone, television and Internet service. This stymies the children trying to complete their studies on-line, but of course the situation is potentially more troublesome than that as we are completely cut off from the outside world.

Lit by solar lamps.

Sun-dried meat.

And we had a power outage that lasted three days in the week before Pentecost! The cause apparently was a powerful storm taking down power lines, but as far as we knew it could have been a much worse crisis. Furthermore, our auxiliary system does not keep the refrigerators in our home or the preschool going. Luz Maria was able to save the meat that we had stored by drying it in the sun, a technique that she learned in her childhood. The dried meat must be simmered in vegetable broth before being eaten, but it is quite tasty in the end.

Prayers for the Twin Cities!

There has been a wave of violence across the United States, evidently sparked by the tragic case of George Floyd. But the Twin Cities have been the epicenter and I was particularly struck by this Facebook plea from St. Michael’sLutheran Church of Bloomington, Minnesota, on May 29. St. Michael’s sent me to Venezuela as a lay volunteer in 2003 and has continued to support our mission in La Caramuca to the present day. So on Sunday we prayed for St. Michael’s and all the churches and communities affected by the rioting and looting, and also asked for better understanding and harmony between people of all races, especially through the peace found in Christ which passes all understanding.

Thank you, St. Michael's.

This is a call for prayer for the greater Minneapolis community. Areas of Minneapolis have been devastated by violent protests. The protests are reportedly coming to Bloomington and the suburbs tonight. Please take time to stop and pray now for peace.

Lord Jesus Christ we come to you our shelter in the present storm and we ask that you bring peace.

- For those who affected by the violence both physically and emotionally, especially for those who knew and loved George Floyd, bring your peace.

- For the protesters in the streets allow them to be people of peace.

- For the police who are called on to protect people and property allow them to respond in peace.

- For those who are afraid to leave their homes because of nearby violence reign your peace upon them.

Lord Jesus Christ you are the Prince of Peace and the Lord of lords. We trust you and seek your peace today, tomorrow and eternally. Amen.

Until day dawns and the morning star rises

Studying the Transfiguration.

It began with a star.

 

In Venezuela, dates are written day/month/year, rather than month/day/year as in the United States. But on the first Sunday of this month, that distinction did not matter, as it was 02/02/2020 either way. Not only that, but the date could be read the same way from left to right or right to left. This was the first such “palindrome day” in 909 years and the only one that will occur in this century.

Of course, Sunday also was Groundhog Day (the prediction is an early spring) and the first time the Kansas City Chiefs won the Super Bowl in 50 years. 

For us, however, it was Transfiguration Sunday. Epiphany season is all about the light of Christ. The Magi saw it in the Star of Bethlehem. Three of the disciples, Peter, James and John, saw one last vision of it before the darkness of Gethsemane.

. “For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty. For when He received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to Him by the Majestic Glory, this is My beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased, we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with Him on the holy mountain. And we have something more sure, the prophetic word, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were inspired by the Holy Spirit.” 2 Peter 1:16-21

Baptism of Jesus.

Just three of the apostles were taken to the top of the mountain where they saw the light of Christ made visible and audibly heard the voice of the Father. But our faith does not depend on mountaintop experiences, but rather the Holy Spirit speaking to us in the clear Word of the Scriptures.

Likewise the sacraments. As at the Transfiguration, the Father’s voice said, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Listen to Him” at the baptism of Jesus, which was our theme for the first Sunday after Epiphany. Father, Son and Holy Spirit are present at the baptism of every Christian.

Please pray for us

Well, January 2020 was a month that got people talking about end-time texts, what with earthquakes in Puerto Rico and other parts of the world, wildfires in Australia and floods in Indonesia.

We continue to pray for the victims of these natural disasters. We would ask you to pray for us as Venezuela already is in the midst of a public health crisis due to shortages of medicines, and is not prepared to face the threat of a new virus from China. Venezuela was hit hard by the last great pandemic, the Spanish flu of 1918.

Our preschool is back in session, but of 31 children enrolled, eight have at least one parent who has left Venezuela to find better-paying work abroad. Please pray for the restoration of united families.

Heavenly Father, bring relief to all who suffer this day.  Ease the anxieties of those who are distressed. Send help to those who are distraught. Graciously defend all from fire and flood, war and pestilence, hunger and want. Deliver us from our trials that we may be free to give You thanks and praise. Amen.

Studying geography.

Baptisms and confirmations from Advent to Epiphany

One challenge to Advent observance is convincing people that it is not yet the season to be jolly. In principle, Advent is supposed to parallel Lent as a season of reflection and repentance. In one case, we prepare ourselves to, in humility and gratitude, celebrate the mystery of the Incarnation, in the other, the mystery of the Resurrection. But the world wants to party and so it does.

In the cultural context of Venezuela, everyone is given time off for most of December and the first week of January. In the past, most have used this free time for vacations in the mountains or the beaches, or for visits with family members (even if these are relatives that they see every other day of the year anyway). Because of the current economic cristis, much of this activity has been scaled way back. But still too many have forgotten the real reason to celebrate in due time.

The long national holiday includes the closing of all schools, which is a rule that we must live by. So during the first week in December, we had our Christmas party for the preschool children and their parents. This was an opportunity to present the true message of Christmas as well as share food and gifts. One couple, Samantha and Sandro, parents of our preschool student, Juan Diego, portrayed Mary and Joseph. Their newborn son, Sandro Dionel, stood in for the Christ Child.

The following Sunday, December 8, Eduardo Garrido, a former preschool student and recipient of a scholarship for Christian education from the LeadaChild mission society, received the gift of eternal life in Christ through holy Baptism. The appointed text was Luke 21:25-26, and as I said in the sermon, the promise of the new covenant in Christ is for all nations. The hallmark of this new covenant is not circumcision as in the old covenant, but the baptism that Eduardo Garrido will receive today. No matter our race or tribe, we are Abraham's heirs in the water linked to the Word of God. Therefore, our hope is not only for Christmas next year, but for the day when Christ comes again in glory. Because in baptism we are also heirs of eternal life that Christ won for us on the cross. He was punished for our sins on the cross, but let us share in his resurrection from death because of baptism. Christmas points to Holy Week. Jesus was born in this world to suffer and die on the cross. He began his way to the cross with His baptism in the Jordan River by John the Baptist. Like the baptism of Jesus, the Father's voice spoke from the heavens and the Holy Spirit descended in the form of a dove, in each Christian baptism, the Father and the Son send the Holy Spirit to live in us.

 

The following Sunday, December 15, Juan Diego and Sandro Dionel were baptized. The appointed text was Matthew 11:2-10. As I said in the sermon, "He who is least in the kingdom of heaven" means any believer in the new covenant in the blood of Jesus Christ. John did not baptize with the Holy Spirit, but Jesus Christ did. The same Holy Spirit who descended upon Jesus at his baptism was poured out on the church on the day of Pentecost. Today Sandro Dionel Pérez and Juan Diego Rodriguez will receive new life in Christ through baptism. I am not John the Baptist, but I baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit with the same authority as the apostles. In addition, according to the old covenant, only the high priest could enter the Most Holy Place once a year to sacrifice the blood of animals for the sins of the people. But Christ sacrificed Himself once forever and now every Christian can enter the Most Holy Place, that is, the presence of God, at any time by the blood of Christ. Because of His baptism, every Christian has more power and authority than the high priest in the Temple of Jerusalem. The priests are not only the descendants of Aaron, brother of Moses, but all consecrated in the baptism of Jesus are heirs of the priests, prophets and patriarchs of the Old Testament. According to the old covenant, only the high priest could enter the Holy of Holies once a year to sacrifice the blood of animals for the sins of the people. But Christ sacrificed himself once forever and now every Christian can enter the Holy of Holies, that is, the presence of God, at any time by the blood of Christ. Because of his baptism, every Christian has more power and authority than the high priest in the Temple of Jerusalem. Priests are not only the descendants of Aaron, brother of Moses, but all consecrated in the baptism of Jesus are heirs of the priests, prophets and patriarchs of the Old Testament. The miracle of baptism that will occur today is greater than thunder and lightning on Mount Sinai, larger than the division of the waters of the Red Sea. In baptism we have the promise of eternal life and in that the peace that surpasses all understanding. Amen.

A rude awakening

We celebrated Christmas on Christmas Eve and the following Sunday, December 29. On the evening of December 31, we celebrated the circumcision and naming of Jesus. The service went well, but at 3 a.m., January 1, Luz Maria and I were awakened by the cries of our neighbors. There was a fire in the church! A ventilation fan had been left on, and it short-circuited and burst into flame. One fellow jumped on his motorcycle and went throughout the neighborhood alerting everyone of the fire. Thanks to everyone’s help, we were able to put it out before there was irreparable damage (except to the fan). But all the smoke had left a layer of stickly soot over everything but the altar (which was covered by a plastic sheet. We do that to prevent damage to the altar cloths from flying insects and birds). Fortunately, we were able to clean it all and repaint the walls before Sunday. 

At the same time that volunteers were cleaning and repainting the chapel, Luz Maria and I led a vacation Bible school on the work and mission of the church and the means of grace. There were perhaps as many adults as children in attendance. 

First communion on Epiphany

We celebrated the Epiphany on January 5, and also the third anniversary of the dedication of our chapel. Karla Valeria Frías Torrealba received her first communion that Sunday. Her mother, Yudy Torreabla, who joined our congregation by affirmation of faith, was by her side.

I included in the reading of the story of the Magi the account of the massacre of the Holy Innocents of Bethlehem. The visit of the Magi signifies that the promise of salvation is by grace (or gift) for believers of all nations. But the confirmation vow reminds that we must, with the help of the Holy Spirit, persever in our confession of faith, even under pain of death. We remembered in prayer the persecuted Christians of Nigeria, China and other parts of the globe.

Lord God, revealed in the Christ as the One whose foolishness is wiser than men and whose weakness is stronger than men, help those who suffer for the sake of truth to find Your strength in their weakness, to see your glory in what is despised, and to feel Your presence in what is desolate. Help them to understand that in Your gentleness there is power, that in Your grace there is strength, and that in Your forgiveness there is life. Relieve them from torture and pain, from strain of the emotions, and from temptation, danger and agony of soul. Use their suffering for the conversion of those who torment them, for the strengthening of those who love them, and for the welfare of Your people everywhere. Keep them in your steadfast love in Christ, our Lord, for His sake. Amen.

Lutheran Book of Prayer, Concordia Publishing House, 1970.

The Holy Spirit guides us by Word and sacrament

“These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” Revelation 7:14

A saint is a holy person, someone set apart from what is common or unclean. When Martin Luther posted his 95 Theses on the doors of All Saints Church in Wittenberg, Germany, on All Saints Eve 1517, he struck his first blow agains the idea of saints as those who had made themselves holy through good works. All have fallen short of perfect obedience to God’s will (Romans 3:23), yet all have received the new life in Christ through baptism with water and the Word (John 3:5). The true saints are those who have been declared righteous in God’s eyes through the righteousness and innocent suffering and death of Jesus Christ. We are justified by faith in this promise, and not by our merits, and this faith itself does not well from within us, but is given by the Holy Spirit.

One Lord, one faith, one baptism

Dubraska Rachell Alexandra Santana received the new life in baptism on October 13, 2019. Ephesians 4:1-6 was the appointed epistle lesson for the 17th Sunday after Trinity. For her, as for all, baptism was the invitation to the wedding feast that the Lord speaks in the day’s gospel reading (Luke 14: 1-11). It is not the only instance that He spoke of the kingdom of God as a banquet or wedding party.

But St. Paul makes another comparison. If Christ is our Passover lamb (1 Corinthians 5:7), baptism is our crossing of the Red Sea from slavery to Egypt (1 Corinthians 10:1-2). But we still have our pilgrimage through the desert with miraculous food and drink to sustain us (1 Corinthians 10:3-4).

To continue in the Word

Anyi Vanesa Garrido received the body and blood of our Lord in the Eucharist on October 27, 2019. On that Sunday, we celebrated the anniversary of the Reformation with our brothers and sisters from Corpus Christi Lutheran Church in Barinas, and Christ is Love Lutheran Church in Barquisimeto, Venezuela. Raimundo Brito, pastor of Corpus Christi, led the service of the Word. I led the service of the Lord’s Supper and the rite of public confession and first communion for Anyi. Eliezer Mendoza, pastor of Christ is Love, preached on John 8:31-36. Starting in the Garden of Eden, Pastor Eliezer said, Satan has twisted God’s Word into a lie to keep us enslaved to sin. But the pure Word brings forgiveness and freedom from the power of the devil. Thos who continue in the pure Word and receive the sacraments as He commanded remain His true disciples.

But what of those who have crossed the Jordan River ahead of us to enter into the Lord’s promised kingdom? “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.” (Hebrews 12:1) For this reason, Lutherans honor them on All Saints Day. As early as fourth century A.D., long before the medieval cult of the saints, the ancient church set aside a day to honor those who died for the faith under 300 years of Roman persecution. Later, all who had died in the faith were remembered.

Trick or treat?

For western European Christendom, November 1 has been the official date of All Saints Day since 835 A.D, with the observance starting the night before, as with Christmas. Because of the emphasis on remembrance of the departed, many different customs and beliefs associated with death and the hereafter have become associated with All Saints Day. Because of Spanish cultural influence, the first two days of November are when Venezuelans lay flowers on the graves of loved ones. Given the prevalence of witchcraft and all types of occultism in Venezuela, it is a little surprising that’s all there is. No altars and offerings to the dead as in Mexico’s Day of the Dead. On the other hand, Venezuelans who have been delivered from genuine experiences of the demonic are repelled by the foreign holiday of Halloween and regard it as purely satanic.

Halloween as we know it is, as a matter of fact, largely a concoction of North Americans in the 19th and 20th centuries. People of a more secularized and rationalistic age began playing with the superstitions and folklore that immigrants brought from their homelands, and some made-in-America legends as well. However, it is not a good idea to play at being a witch in a time and place where witchcraft is serious business. I like to say that what concerns me about Halloween is not where it came from, but what it has become. The original Christian significance has been almost entirely forgotten, and there is an unhealthy focus on death and the demonic. I do not condemn the harmless carving of pumpkins (or the resultng pumpkin pie), but I do think it is better to remember the Reformation on All Hallows Eve and honor the blessed dead on the following day.

Prayers for Chile and Ecuador

We continue to pray for natives and Venezuelan expatriates in Chile and Ecuador. The eruption of street violence in Santiago, Chile, was unexpected because of Chile’s reputation as one of the more prosperous nations in South America. The Confessional Lutheran Church of Chile, including former members of the Lutheran Church of Venezuela who have moved to Chile, have been instrumental in sending needed medical supplies to Venezuela. James Tino, director of Global Lutheran Outreach and former missionary to Venezuela, now serves as a missionary pastor in Chile. So does Adrian Ventura, former pastor of Christ the King Lutheran Church in Maturin, Venezuela, and the first national pastor that I ever met.

One flock, one Shepherd

Jesuly Marianyelis Fernández Torres and Josué Manuel Fernández Torres were baptized on January 6, 2019. Their older sister, Diana, was baptized January 8, 2017, at the dedication of our chapel, an anniversary that we marked on this Epiphany Sunday as well.

Their mother, Yexi Karina Torres, was baptized at Epiphany Lutheran Mission, along with her siblings, Deisi, Yovanny, Yhonny and Yaneth, March 23, 2007. Deisi and Yovanny received first communion on October 25, 2009, and Yhonny on October 31, 2010. Yaneth received first communion on December 13, 2015. Deisi’s daughter, Emily Antonella, was baptized on December 24, 2017. We give thanks for the grace that God has shown the Torres family.

In the week before Epiphany, the mission hosted a vacation Bible school with total attendance of 70 children over three days. “Jesus the Good Shepherd” was the theme. The first day focused on the shepherds who visited the Christ Child in Luke 2:8-20. The Bible story for day two was David the shepherd boy who faced the giant, Goliath, in 1 Samuel 17. On the third day we looked at John 10 and what Jesus meant when he said “I am the Good Shepherd; I know My sheep and My sheep know Me.” (verse 14). Also, how the words of verse 16, “I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd” relates to the Great Commission, “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them all that I have commanded you.” (Matthew 28:19-20).

We distributed among the families of the vacation Bible school children copies of “A Child’s Garden of Bible Stories in Spanish”. The original English version by Arthur W. Gross was first published in 1948. The Spanish version was made available to us through the efforts of the Lutheran Heritage Foundation. Some copies received from Castillo Fuerte Lutheran Church in Lima, Peru, during our visit there. Others were shipped to the Lutheran Church of Venezuela and brought to us by Roamird Castillo, Luz Maria’s nephew. The Spanish translation was by Luz Guerrero-Pacheco, a deaconess at Woodbury Lutheran Church of Woodbury, Minnesota. She, Luz Maria and myself served as volunteers in Monagas state, Venezuela, in 2004. In 2006, Luz Guerrero visited us in Barinas with a short-term mission team from Woodbury. We also put on a puppet show for the vacation Bible school with handpuppets given to us by Nancy Kapernick of Woodbury Lutheran Church in 2004.

We celebrated Christmas Eve with a vespers service on December 24 and the Divine Service of Christmas on Sunday, December 30. At our New Years Eve vespers service, we thanked the Lord for His protection and guidance in years past and prayed for more of the same in 2019.

Challenges ahead

About three weeks have passed without power outages that lasted more than an hour (we still may lose electricity at any time night or day, but not the entire day). This is good, because we have to rely on our electric stove for cooking, as there is an extreme shortage of LP gas. We have both electric and LP stoves in our living quarters. During the lengthy power outages, the LP gas stove held us in good stead. Now it’s the electric range’s turn. The preschool has its own LP gas stove, but we will have to replace it soon, because of its bad state of repair.

Last week a neighbor right across the street from us was robbed in the wee hours of the morning. He asked if we could review our security camera recordings, as we have a camera trained on the street in front of the mission. I did so, but was unable to find images of suspicious activity. The thieves had figured out that the neighbor’s house was in a blind spot, since the camera does not turn automatically. We are thinking about installing another camera for a more panoramic view of the street.

The lack of public transportation is getting to be more and more of a problem. For years, the government kept gasoline prices artificially low, which allowed dozens of bus and taxi lines to operate. Once there were three taxi lines operating full-time in La Caramuca’s plaza, now there is one that only sporadically working. Even gasoline is scarce in Venezuela now and it’s no longer true that a liter of gas is cheaper than a liter of water. What that means for us is that it takes all morning and most of the afternoon to run two or three errands in Barinas. We lose a lot of time just waiting for a bus (we no longer use taxis, because they require more cash than we usually have on hand). It would be very helpful now to have a truck or van to haul people and supplies for the mission. We even have worked out a plan for parking it at an undisclosed location in the evening, so we do not have to build a fortified bunker of a garage. But the challenge remains of finding a reliable vehicle at an affordable price.

A prayer for refugees

The coda to the story of the Magi in Matthew 2:1-12, of course, is the massacre of children in Bethlehem and the Holy Family’s flight to Egypt (Matthew 2:13-23). This year is a particularly good year to reflect on this narrative.

According to the 1951 United Nations Convention and Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees, “Refugees are people who have fled war, violence, conflict or persecution and have crossed an international border to find safety in another country.” It is estimated that record numbers of people were driven from their homes in 2017 by wars, violence and persecution, bringing the number of forcibly displaced people living around the world to 68.5 million.

Joseph, Mary and the Child in Mary’s womb were not refugees on the journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem as recorded in Luke 2:1-20. They did not flee war, violence, conflict or persecution and they did not cross an international border. However, when Joseph and Mary took Jesus and fled to Egypt (Matthew 2:13-23) , they certainly were fleeing politically motivated violence and persecution, of which Jesus was, in fact, the prime target. Did they cross an international border? You could argue that nearly that they never left the Roman Empire, even by traveling from the Holy Land to Egypt. Yet they were escaping from one jurisdiction to another. The Romans had declared Herod the Great king over all of Palestine in return for his defeat, on behalf of Rome, of an invasion by the rival Parthian Empire. The Romans gave Herod a free hand, for he also had executed his own wife, two brothers-in-law, three of his sons, and hundreds of non-relatives that he considered his political enemies, or just people he did not like very much.

The Scriptures have much to say about people we would classify as refugees today, and homeless and displaced persons in general. To unpack these verses in all their profundity, and avoid adding fuel to the fire of current political debates, requires discussion of the different Hebrew and Greek words that can be translated as “foreigner” and explaining the historical-cultural context of each passage. Someday I would like to prepare a lecture on the whole topic, but today is not that day.

Suffice it to say that the Scriptures in general teach us that God’s mercy and love knows no national boundaries, and therefore our compassion should not be limited to those of our own family, tribe or nation (see Luke 10:25-37; 17:11-19; John 4:1-30).

In fact, the visit of the Magi is all about the first revelation of God’s love in Christ to “all the nations” (etnias). So here is a prayer for all the refugees:

Heavenly Father, you who led the Magi to the Savior’s light and delivered the Christ Child from Herod’s wrath, preserve and protect all who travel by land, sea and air; especially those who are in danger or need. Defend them from fire and flood, war and want. Suppress the evil influence of all who would disturb the peace and order of human society and persecute your church. As we all are strangers and pilgrims on earth, guide to share your love with the less fortunate as we prepare for the life to come. Amen.

Welcome and farewell

One month ago I said that by Rogate Sunday (the fifth Sunday after Easter, which was May 6 this year) we either would be continuing to pray for rain or giving thanks for having received spring rains to recharge our well. ]ndeed, praise be to God that it was the second possibility that came true.

Better yet, on that Sunday we baptized Emmanuel David Sanchez and received into communicant membership Genesis Marquina. Emmanuel David is the son of Eleno Sanchez and Luz Maria’s daughter, Sarai, making him her twelfth grandchild. His baptismal verse was Colosenses 2:12. *Having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead.” Baptism is the visible means by which the Lord works regeneration in our hearts. Buried with Christ and dead to sin, we now, through the effective working of the word in Baptism, become partakers also of Christ’s resurrection: We are raised with Him by the same divine power by which God raised up Jesus from the dead. The casual comparison between circumcision and Baptism in this entire passage (Colossians 2:6-15) affords a very strong argument in favor of infant baptism; for the rite of circumcision, as practiced by the Jews, had to take place on the eighth day, and baptism is spoken of as being parallel to circumcision.

In fact, Genesis as one of the first to be baptized at our mission on June 29, 2008. Through baptism Genesis was adopted into God’s family, the church, by water and the Word, through a promise made good by the blood of Christ. Now she has entered fully into the communion of Christ’s body and blood in the sacrament of the altar for the strengthening of the faith created in her at baptism. This is the continuing work of the Holy Spirit as I noted in the sermon. Her confirmation verse: John 10:27-28. “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.” The Lord here gives us a guarantee against ourselves, against our own weakness and doubt. There are so many factors which tend to stifle faith in our hearts, to make us doubt the sincerity of God’s promises toward us, but this word of Christ must overcome all doubt most effectively.

So Rogate Sunday was a joyous day. But it also was a sad one, as we prayed that the Lord might protect them from material and spiritual danger, Luz Maria's daughter, Yepci Anahis Santana, and her children, Aaron, Oriana and Elias, in their travel to Peru. Like many Venezuelans, they will seek a brighter future in another country, Luz Maria's daughter, Wuendy Santana, has liived in Canada since 2010. Another daughter, Charli Rocio Santana Henrriquez, has lived in Ecuador for a little more than two years, as has Luz Maria's brother, Robert Henriquez Rivero. A niece, Romina Castillo, just left for Ecuador with her family, and another niece, Gabriela, now lives in Spain. So we prayed for them and the millions of other Venezuelans who have fled their homeland.

We ask that you, too, remember us and all Venezuelans in your prayers.

The light that shines in darkness

"In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it." John 1:45

We began 2018 with the loss of artificial light: A power outage that lasted from 4:30 to 8:30 a.m. on January 1. These outages have become a fact of life as Venezuela's economic crisis worsens. There is a spiritual darkness here much worse than when the electricity goes down before dawn. There is the loss of joy and hope as children die of starvation and diseases that once had been nearly eradicated; the mourning of old people as their children and grandchildren flee to other lands, perhaps never to return; the fear of someone trying the lock on your front door in the middle of the night.

But there is the light that no darkness can overcome, and that is the light of Christ. We began the chuch's year by lighting Advent candles and celebrated the beginning of the Christmas season with the baptism of Emily Antonella Torres on Sunday, December 24. Her mother, Deisi, was baptized at our mission in 2007, along with her sisters, Yexi and Yaneth, and brothers, Yovani and Jhonny. Yexi's daughter, Diana, was baptized on January 8, 2017, at the consecration of our chapel. Deisi and Yovani were confirmed on October 25, 2009. Yaneth was confirmed on December 15, 2015.

The following Sunday, December 31, we remembered the circumcision and naming of Jesus. On Wednesday of the following week, we began a vacation Bible school (since schools were closed and most people were on vacation until January 6).  The theme of vacation Bible school was "epiphany" as the manifestation of the divinity of Jesus Christ.

On Sunday, January 7, we remembered the visit of the Magi to the baby Jesus in Bethlehem and celebrated the first anniversary of the consecration of our chapel. Our preschool resumed on January 8. In the weeks that followed, I shared with the preschool children the stories of the baptism of Jesus and 12-year-old Jesus in the Temple. We concluded the season of Epiphany with the celebration of the Transfiguration of our Lord on Sunday, January 21.

The book of Genesis says that in the beginning God created light by the power of His Word. The Apostle John says that by this Word all things were made, in fact, because the Word existed in the beginning with God, that is, with the Father and the Spirit who hovered over the face of the great deep. This Word was God, along with the Father and the Spirit, and it may be spoken of as the Son, for it it was begotten, but not made, in the mind of the Father from eternity. This same Word was made flesh in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, and He became the light and life of men through His death and resurrection. By the power of the Word that created the world, sinful humans gain new life through baptism. In this there is joy, hope and love that lasts forever, which casts out fear, sadness and despair. Amen.