Gifts of healing on Pentecost

On Pentecost Sunday, June 9, 2019, we delivered the bulk of the latest shipment of medicines from the Confessional Lutheran Church of Chile and Global Lutheran Outreach to 15 families in need of them.

Requests for medicine are coordinated through the Lutheran Church of Venezuela. Recipients can choose from a list of 25 common medications (up to three medications per patient). Each of those 25 medicines are available in Chile without a prescription. With money raised by Global Lutheran Outreach, medicines are purchased in Chile with the cooperation of a local pharmacy. Members of the Confessional Lutheran Church of Chile collate the orders and prepare each congregation’s shipment. Medicine is shipped using a globally known shipping company, and then is unpacked and sorted for distribution to the beneficiaries. After arriving in Venezuela, the medicines are sorted and packed for distribution to each beneficiary. In the first three months of 2018, Global Lutheran Outreach shipped a month’s supply of medicine to over 440 patients. The average cost per patient for a month’s supply is about $15 (including shipping).

Global Lutheran Outreach began its Venezuela Relief Project by sending funds to help people purchase food. Although food shortages are an acute problem for many Venezuelans, the lack of medicines is even more grave in a number of ways. Without adequate medicines, medical equipment or sanitary supplies, diseases that had virtually disappeared from Venezuela, such as malaria, diptheria and tuberculosis are spreading once again. Medical conditions that once were considered minor problems have become life-threatening. People who need medication to deal with such conditions as epilepsy and schizophrenia are in dire straits. And this is the situation everywhere.

To put things in perspective: During the last half of the 20th Century, there was rapid population growth in Venezuela’s urban centers without corresponding investment in infrastructure (roads, railways, water systems, electrical generating capacity, etc.). With the collapse of Venezuela’s economy, it’s the people who live in once prosperous cities like Caracas or Maracaibo who suffer most from shortages of food and drinking water. It has been noted that, ironically, the remote, rural areas that never fully benefitted from the post-WWII prosperity are now coping better with food shortages. The people in these areas either can grow their own food or barter goods and services with agricultural producers. However, even being able to grow medicinal plants in your backyard is not a substitute for vaccines and other modern forms of treatment.

School supplies from LeadaChild

Also in this past month, we have received school supplies – notebooks, pencil sharpeners, construction paper, glue and the like – from LeadaChild, a mission society based in Olathe, Kansas. A Recognized Service Organization of The Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod and a 501(c)(3) nonprofit charity, incorporated in the state of Kansas, and a charter member of the Association of Lutheran Mission Agencies (ALMA), LeadaChild has supported educational projects in Venezuela since the 1990s and Epiphany Lutheran Mission since 2006.

We presented some of the school supplies and Bible storybooks from the Lutheran Heritage Foundation to Luz Maria’s afterschool students who next month will graduate from sixth grade to begin high school in September.

Completing coursework

On June 11, we received a visit from Pastor Eliezer Mendoza, director of the Juan de Frias Theological Institute, and Pastor Miguelangel Perez, president of the Lutheran Church of Venezuela. Much of our discussion centered on the fact that I am close to completing my coursework with the Formación Pastoral Hispanoamerica program.

Perhaps I should explain a few terms. There has never been a residential Lutheran seminary in Venezuela. The Juan de Frias Theological Institute was organized in the 1970s around the Theological Education by Extension (TEE) model pioneered by Ralph D. Winter, a former Presbyterian missionary to Guatemala, in the 1960s. TEE was the precursor for modern day theological distance education programs. The idea behind TEE was to make it easier for local church leaders to learn and be ordained as ministers without relocating them and their families for years to the capital city to attend seminary. These students could continue their ministry while studying at extension campuses near their town or village. Then, once a month, they would go to the seminary in the capital city to study.

When I came to Venezuela in 2003, I started taking extension courses from the Juan de Frias Institute (it is named for a Augustinian friar from Caracas who was burned at stake for teaching Lutheran doctrine in the 17th Century). Eventually I was invited by the national church to enroll in an intensive program to train pastors that required weekly attendance of classes in Caracas throughout 2007. In 2008, I continued to attend Juan de Frias seminars periodically until my ordination in December 2008.

Unfortunately, this program depended heavily on visiting professors from Concordia Seminary, St. Louis; Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, Indiana; and Seminario Concordia, Buenos Aires, Argentina. Given current circumstances, it no longer is possible for professors from these seminaries to safely travel to Venezuela, nor is it as safe to travel every week to Caracas. There also are not enough qualified Juan de Frias instructors living in Venezuela to travel to all parts of the country as in previous decades.

But there is distance learning via the Internet, and for the past four years I have been taking on-line courses as a student in the Formación Pastoral Hispanoamerica (FHP) program, which is part of the LCMS Specific Ministry Program (SMP). The SMP is a means to provide ordained men to serve in ministry situations for which a residentially trained pastor cannot be supported. SMP–Español/English (SMP–EsE), headquartered at Concordia Fort Wayne, addresses the growing need for pastors in the LCMS who speak Spanish and are equipped to serve in bilingual congregations. FHP is an extension to the SMP-EsE distance education program to Latin America, with its base at the newly established Seminario Concordia El Reformador in the Dominican Republic. Dr. Arthur A. Just, Jr., who now serves on the faculties of the seminaries in both Fort Wayne and the Dominican Republic is director of the FPH program.

God willing, I will finish the program this year and next year receive a diploma from Seminario Concordia El Reformador. The value of this is that I then will be qualified to serve with the Juan de Frias Institute in training future pastors, deacons and deaconesses in Venezuela. This is consistent with our long-term goal of making Epiphany Lutheran Mission a center for such training in southwestern Venezuela.

Our days are numbered

We have completed the so-called “festival half” of the church year with the celebration of Trinity Sunday. The major festivals, which include Christmas, Easter, Ascension and Pentecost, all occur during the first half of the ecclesiastical calendar, which begins in November with the first Sunday in Advent. The latter half sometimes is called, in a very boring manner, “the non-festival half”, but I prefer the term, “Ordinary Time”, which does not mean ordinary in the sense of common, but ordered or enumerated. Thus the Sundays are in order, first, second, third, etc., Sunday after Trinity/Pentecost (depending on which lectionary that you use) until the last Sunday of the church year, Christ the King Sunday. This represents the idea that the days are numbered until the Second Coming of the Lord in glory.

“Just as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the Son of Man. They were eating and drinking and marrying and being given in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot—they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building, but on the day when Lot went out from Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all—so will it be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed.” (Lucas 17:26-30)

The mission of the church during these ordered days is to proclaim the whole Word of God, Law and Gospel. The good news of salvation in Jesus is to be understood in the context of the imminent outpouring of God’s wrath, when there will be no more grace and mercy, but only judgment upon the wicked.

“For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.” 1 Corinthians 11:26

As for those who have received the Lord’s grace in baptism, we will not be taken unaware by the day of judgment, whenever we celebrate the Eucharist we proclaim not only His atoning death, but also His return in glory. Amen.

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.

The Good News of the Ascension

Ascension Sunday 2015

First, the good news about Ascension Lutheran Church of San Felix de Guayana, Venezuela. One of the largest and oldest congregations in the Lutheran Church of Venezuela, it had been threatened with expropriation of its property by local government authorities. However, it seems that the alcalde (mayor) has reversed this position and has assured the congregation that there will be no such action. We thank God for this and also we thank the many persons who joined in prayer for Ascension Lutheran Church. Please continue to pray for all of us here as reports of harassment and intimidation against religious groups increase.

We celebrated the event for which Ascension Lutheran Church is named on Sunday, May 17, 2015. I made a  a comparison between the Old Testament reading (2 Kings 2: 9-15) and our gospel (Mark 16: 14-20).  The book of 2 Kings reads: "And when they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, Ask what you want me to do for you before I am taken from you. And Elisha said, I pray that a double portion of your spirit be upon me. "

We confess in the Nicene Creed that we believe in the Holy Spirit, who spoke through the prophets. All the prophets spoke by the Holy Spirit. So all the books of the Old Testament are written testimony of the prophets and, therefore, are inspired by the Holy Spirit and are the Word of God.

It was the will of God to replace Elijah with Elisha as the prophet of God sent to Israel, and for Elijah to leave this world in a miraculous way. Elisha received Elijah's mantle and the Holy Spirit to preach the Word to Israel, that is, the office of the prophet Elijah.

Christ ascended into heaven to be seated at the right hand of the Father. To be seated at the right of the king at that time meant that someone was charged with all the authority of the king. Many times Jesus told His disciples that He would return to the Father who sent Him to send them the Holy Spirit in His name and that of the Father.

As Elijah was the teacher and Elisha his disciple, Christ was the Master and the apostles were His disciples. Elias gave up his job to Elisha, Christ gave His authority to His church to preach the gospel in all parts of the world. This is the good news of the Ascension.

As the last words of Mark's Gospel say, "Go ye into all the world; preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.” And then, “After the Lord had spoken unto them, was received up into heaven, and sat at the right hand of God. And they went forth, and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with the following signs. "

Also, it says in Acts 1: 1-11, "In the first book, Theophilus, I talked about all that Jesus began to do and teach, Until the day in which, having given commandment through the Holy Spirit to those apostles whom He had chosen, He was taken up; To which, having shown Himself alive by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the kingdom of God. And when they were together, he charged them not to depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which you heard from me. "

Of what did Jesus speak when he commanded them not to leave Jerusalem until the day when the Holy Spirit came? This is a prophecy of Pentecost, which we will celebrate next Sunday. On the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit was poured out upon the whole church.

The disciples were gathered in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost and suddenly came the sound of a strong wind and flames of fire over the heads of them and all spoke several languages. These were the signs that the church had received the Holy Spirit.

From that day forward, the apostles testified of Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit, so, the books of the New Testament, as the written testimony of the apostles, are inspired by the Holy Spirit also. In our Bible today we have all the revelation, all the testimony of Christ by the Holy Spirit.

Christ has promised us to return in the clouds, as He ascended into the clouds, to judge the living and the dead. However, the hour of judgment has not yet arrived. Between Ascension and the Second Coming of Christ, the church has the mission to call the world to repentance of their sins and proclaim the good news of forgiveness in Jesus Christ. Now is the time of grace, when a person can hear the Word of God from the church, and reject it or not. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.

Between Ascension and the Second Coming is the time of the church. And the Lord has told us, this is a time of testing. The Lord told us there will be signs in the heavens and the earth, for example, earthquakes in Nepal and other parts of the world. What does these things mean for us? Not to calculate the time of the Second Coming of Christ. The Bible prophesied signs in heaven and earth to assure us that all things are in God's hands. We should not be frightened, but we trust in the good will of God. As Psalm 27 says, "The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?" Amid all the disasters and the difficulties of this world we must trust in God.

When Christ returns in glory, there will be the final judgment and the victory of the church forever. Therefore, in this Ascension Sunday we look forward to Pentecost and to the Second Coming of Christ that is our hope. We thank God for this hope and peace that passes all understanding. Amen.

To read my complete Ascension Sunday sermon, please click here.

Related articles

• Ascension Day

Preparing for the end of all things

Valeria Sanchez, born April 16, 2012

Eight of the children enrolled in our preschool were born in 2012, the year the world was supposed to end. In case you have forgotten, the whole Y2K crisis was a big dud. Civilization did not collapse in the year 2000 because of computer malfunctions, so many people in the early 2000s convinced themselves that the end would come in 2012 because of an alleged Mayan prophecy.

The ancient Mayans were good at mathematics and astronomy, and developed an elaborate calendar system. Just as our Gregorian calendar begins a new annual cycle every January 1, and a new cycle of 10 centuries every 1,000 years, one "great cycle" of the Mayan calendar ended on the day that corresponded to December 21, 2012 (the winter solstice) on our calendar. For the ancient Mayans, that date only signified the beginning of a new "great cycle", as indicated the oldest-known representation of the Mayan calendar which calculates the movements of heavenly bodies millions of years past 2012.

But the idea that the supposed Mayan end-times prophecy would be fulfilled just before Christmas 2012 became so popular that a Hollywood blockbuster movie, simply titled "2012", was based on it. But the 2012 movie, released in 2009 and starring John Cusac and Thandie Newton, was directed by Roland Emmerich, the New York City).

Nahir Alexandra Mederos,
born November 1, 2012

same fellow who brought us "Independence Day" (extraterrestrial invaders nearly destroy the earth, but are thwarted by an Apple MacIntosh), "The Day After Tomorrow" (a new Ice Age sends North Americans fleeing over the Rio Grande into Mexico, ha! ha!) and "Godzilla 1998" (a giant iguana rips up

In fact, the world did not end on December 21, 2012. However, the end of the world is something that Christians should think about every years as Christmas draws near. The appointed lessons for the last three Sundays of every church year (in 2014 these Sundays were November 9, 16 and 23) deal with the Day of Judgment, the church triumphant, and Christ's second coming in glory as King of king and Judge of the nations. The church's calendar begins with the first Sunday in Advent (November 30 in 2014). The Scripture lessons for the second Sunday in Advent continue this theme.

According to the book of Malachi, chapter 4:  "For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.  But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall.  And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the LORD of hosts."

Some may recognize this verse as the inspiration for a stanza of Charles Wesley's Christmas hymn, "Hark, the Herald Angels Sing":

Decorating the Christmas tree.

Hail! the heav'n born Prince of peace!

Hail! the Sun of Righteousness!

Light and life to all he brings,

Risen with healing in his wings

Mild he lays his glory by,

Born that man no more may die:

Born to raise the sons of earth,

Born to give them second birth.

Hark! the herald angels sing,

Glory to the newborn King!"

For this verse from Malachi is both a prophecy of the Christ coming first in humility and mercy, and a second time in glory and judgment. The season of Advent should be a season of preparation for Christmas, the Incarnation of the Second Person of the Trinity as a babe in Bethlehem and also for His second coming as King of Kings.

Likewise, in last Sunday's Gospel lesson (Luke 21:21-36), we read: "And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring;  men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.  And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.  And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh."

Of course, our Gospel reading for November 23, the last Sunday of the church year (Matthew 26:1-13), warned: “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming."

So why does the Lord Jesus speak of signs in the sun, the moon, the stars and on the earth? These signs are not given to establish a time-table until the world's end, but rather to establish that, despite all the uncertainty and apparent disorder that we live with in this world, all is under God's control and history is unfolding according to His will. We do not have to know all the details of this plan, for we know that God already has won the victory for us in the death and resurrection of Jesus. The world will end, as our lives in this world will end, but neither will end in chaos and darkness, but in the light and hope of Christ.

For this Gospel reading highlights the difference between how believers and unbelievers view the end of the world. Unbelievers are obsessed with the end, both of the world and their own earthly lives, because they fear what will come next. They want to know how much time they have left to realize the maximum amount of happiness possible in this life before it's all over. They do not want to think about the end, yet they can't help thinking about it, thus the popularity of worthless end-time prophecies.

Christians, however, look to the future, however, with the expectation that "our salvation is nearer than when we first believed" (Romans 13:11-14). We know that our own deaths, or the death of the world, will only mean the fulfillment of our Lord's last promise: that when our lives here are done, we will live with Him forever in eternal joy.

During Advent, we prepare to celebrate the Lord's first coming, His continuing presence among us, and anticipate His second coming in glory. But that is what our entire lives are about anyway.

We wish everyone a blessed and merry Christmas.

Related articles

• Advent is Here
• Advent - New Year of the Christian Church
• Advent in Us: A Special Time of Anticipation

Death and new life in the new year

Attendance at our January 1, 2014 service of morning prayer.

We began 2014 with the service of morning prayer on January 1, celebrating the circumcision and naming of Jesus, according to the Gospel of Luke, chapter 2, verse 21. Also we reflected on Joshua 24:14-24 as a basis for renewed dedication to walking with the Lord in the new year.

On January 2, we learned of the death of Javier Mirabal. The 38-year-old man had been hospitalized with an infection, but appeared to be recovering. He was not a communicant member of our mission, but rather of another "evangelical" church (in Venezuela, the word "evangelical" refers to almost any congregation that is not Roman Catholic). Nevertheless he was a great friend and supporter of our mission and in 2007 had stood up as a sponsor at the baptism of one of our members, Jimmy Perez. Javier was a schoolteacher and the only member of his family to earn a university degree. He enjoyed passing out tracts provided by "Cristo Para Todas Las Naciones" (the Spanish arm of Lutheran Hour Ministries). A respected and well-liked young man, his family's misfortune moved the entire community and his funeral drew a remarkable number of guests. We had prayed for Javier's health on January 1, and remembered the family in our prayers in our celebration of the Epiphany on Sunday, January 5.

The following week, the death of Monica Spear, former Miss Venezuela and actress, garnered international headlines. On Monday, January 6, she and her husband, Henry Thomas Berry, were murdered on the highway near Puerto Cabello, Venezuela's main seaport. The couple’s car reportedly broke down and they resisted a robbery which occurred while they were awaiting a tow truck. Their five-year-old daughter was with them and lived to tell of the crime. The couple had been separated for a year and a half, but were in the process of reconciliation. They had celebrated with a trip to the Venezuelan Andes and were on their way back to Caracas.

Their deaths rocked the entire nation and led to a historic summit between opposing political factions in this deeply divided country on resolving the problem of Venezuela's level of violent crime, one of the highest in the world.

 In Job 14:1-6 , Job cries to the Lord , "Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble. He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not.  And dost thou open thine eyes upon such an one, and bringest me into judgment with thee? Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? Not one. Seeing his days are determined, the number of his months are with thee, thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass; Turn from him, that he may rest, till he shall accomplish, as an hireling, his day."
 It was a deep cry of misery for the universal sinfulness of the human race , which brings the judgment of God upon us all. Rich or poor, famous or unknown, we all must face the hour of our death. Even though we might think we have years of life ahead of us, we have no guarantee that the end might not be upon us this very day.

Yet for all that life is short and fragile, it is not with sadness that we say , God has put limits on our time here. St. Paul writes in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, " Nor , brothers , do we want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep , lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus . "
 Many people think that there is no existence beyond this earthly life , so we must enjoy as many of the good things of this life as we can. This is the path of greed and envy because we can never have enough of the good things of this world. This lifestyle leaves us feeling empty , because we know the purpose of life is more than being born , competing so we can acquire what we can and then die . We know that we were created to live as children of God , in communion with Him.  For those that believe in Him, there is the promise of eternal life in Christ.

The gospel of Jesus Christ says that Christ has fulfilled the will of God in our place, also suffered the punishment for our sins in our place, so that on the Day of Judgment when we must give account of our lives, no matter the duration, we will escape the wrath of God by being clothed with the righteousness of Christ. and not have to worry about our short-term destiny, because God has decreed our long-term destiny: eternal life with Christ. Amen.

Related articles

• Dedicated to the Lord
• Circumcision and Name of Jesus
• Venezuela president suggests slain beauty queen may have been targeted
• Slain actress: Symbol of Venezuela's crime woes
• Hundreds protests over murdered Miss Venezuela
• A meditation for Epiphany

Darkness before dawn

The season of advent has arrived. In the week following Christ the King Sunday (last Sunday of the church year) we celebrated Christmas early with the preschool children and their teachers. Many of them do not regularly attend Sunday service at our mission and we may not see them for another month. The preschool will be closed for the first week in December due to critical national elections and the regular Christmas-New Year break begins December 16. The preschool will not be officially closed between Dec. 8 and 16, but is unlikely that many of the parents will bring their children to the preschool for just one week in December.

Anyway, our Christmas party for the preschool was Friday, November 29. During the opening devotion, the children sang “Din, din, din”, a traditional Venezuelan Christmas carol about Joseph and Mary preparing to leave on their journey to Bethlehem.

On December 1, the first Sunday in Advent, the altar was lit with blue candles and for the first time I wore a blue stole, made for me by Yoxandris Marcano de Maita, the wife of Pastor Sergio Maita of Cristo Rey Lutheran Church in the city of Maturin in the eastern Venezuelan state of Monagas. This particular shade of blue is called “Sarum blue” because it was used as a liturgical color in the Sarum Rite, a pre-Reformation version of the Latin Mass used in southern England from the 11th to the 16th centuries (“Sarum” is the old Roman name for Salisbury, England). Blue was used as a liturgical color in the Mozarabic Rite, a form of the Mass used throughout Spain and Portugal during the days when Muslims ruled most of the Iberian Peninsula. Also, I understand that the blue has long been a traditional Advent color in the Lutheran Church of Sweden. Dark blue is used as a liturgical color in the Eastern Orthodox churches, but typically during Lent. The predominant practice in Western Christendom has been to use purple as the liturgical color of both Advent and Lent, but recently there has been a revival of the use of blue during Advent.

Of course, many of the members of our congregation are very young, so I try not to overload them with information. I simply explained that we were using this shade of blue because it was the color of the predawn sky just before the first rays of the sun break the horizon. Thus it symbolizes our hope and anticipation of the light of Christ breaking into a dark world.

The appointed sermon text was Luke 3:1-6.  “Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Cæsar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judæa, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of Ituraea and of the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias the tetrarch of Abilene,  Annas and Caiaphas being the high priests, the word of God came unto John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness.  And he came into all the country about Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins; As it is written in the book of the words of Esaias the prophet, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.  Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth;  And all flesh shall see the salvation of God.”

 I might also have used John 1:5-9. "And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.  There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.  The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe.  He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.  That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. “

 I explained that John prepared the way for Jesus by calling the people of Israel to repentance. The darkness of the world without Christ is not only around us, but within us as well.  “For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies...” (Matthew 15:19). Before the preaching of the Good News for us, that Jesus Christ has paid the price for our sins on the cross, we must hear the law, that is, the preaching of condemnation in order to acknowledge our sins and repent.

Repentance is not as when a thief in jail feels sad about his crimes because the result was jail. True repentance is when a thief changes his mind to acknowledge his sin against God, and rebellion against God. It is the same with each of us. Repentance is a change of mind and heart to reject the sin in us. If we do not recognize the darkness inside of us, what does the death of Christ for us? Nothing. So, we must preach the Law before the Gospel. The Holy Spirit works in the preaching of both Law and Gospel to touch the human heart, to convert our minds and hearts to true repentance, and to faith in Christ.

The true penitent will not seek to escape the short-term consequences of his own sins, but rather seeks to make right that which was wrong, even at his own cost, knowing that Christ has set us all free from the long-term consequence of our sin and restored us to a right relationship with God. With heart and mind illumined by the Holy Spirit as to what Christ has done for us, the penitent sinner, having received a second opportunity to live as a child of God, seeks with God's help to avoid falling back into the darkness of his own heart. He does not try to justify himself before God by his own works, but avoids that which obscures the light of God's love in confident expectation that the trials of this life are only for a short time.

Thus St. Paul writes in the epistle for the first Advent Sunday (Romans  13:11-14), "And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof."

Related articles

• Pastor Ernst - The darkness inside us (lcmssermons.com)
• Happy New [Church] Year: The First Sunday in Advent: Ad Te Levavi (cyberbrethren.com)
• The Three Advents of Jesus (steadfastlutherans.org)

Reaffirmation on St. Michael and All Angels Day

Angi Sarai Santana de Garrido with her husband, José, and children, Edwar, Ignacio and Anyi.

On Sunday, September 29, 2013, we observed St. Michael and All Angels Day, a “minor” festival of the church year that offers the opportunity to teach the correct doctrine regarding these beings. We also received as a communicant member by reaffirmation of faith, Luz Maria's daughter, Angi Sarai Santana de Garrido.

She was baptized and confirmed at Corpus Christi Lutheran Church in Barinas, but has not attended services there for some time. Now, after a period of regularly attending our Sunday service, we have formally received her into membership.

St. Michael's Lutheran Church (Photo credit: dernst)

St. Michael's Lutheran Church monument (Photo credit: dernst)

Known among Anglicans as “Michaelmas”, St. Michaels and All Angels Day has been celebrated In the Western church since the 12th century, although Christian churches have been named in honor of the Archangel Michael since as early as the fifth century after Christ. While living in Minnesota, I was a member of St. Michael's Lutheran Church of Bloomington, and while living in Dodge City, Kansas, I heard stories from former members of a St. Michael's Lutheran Church that once flourished in rural Hodgeman County.

The Lutheran Reformers retained St. Michael and All Angels Day on the church calendar and Philip Melanchthon even wrote a hymn specifically for the festival, “Lord God, To Thee We Give All Praise”.

I found it difficult to choose a sermon text from among the appointed lessons, because they all are so rich in meaning. Psalm 91 contains the well-known text, “For he will command His angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. on their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.”

In the Old Testament reading, 2 Kings 6:8-17, the prophet Elisha's servant sees the angels surrounding his master as “horses and chariots of fire” arrayed against the Syrian army. The Gospel reading, Matthew 18:1-10, Jesus says that the angels who have been charged with protecting little children see God the Father's face in each one.

A popular image of St. Michael.

But I chose Revelation 12:7-12: “Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back, but he was defeated and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. 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 brethren has been thrown down, who accused 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. Therefore, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!”

Here is the English version of my sermon (it also may be found here). I mention that only three angels are given names in the Bible: Michael, Gabriel and Satan. Some might quibble and say that “the angel of the bottomless pit” in Revelation 9:11 is named “Abaddon” or “Apollyon”. But it is not clear from this single verse whether the angel of the bottomless pit is an image of Satan, the Antichrist or some third entity. “Abaddon” is used as a place-name in the Old Testament. In Hebrew it means “place of destruction” and refers to the realm of the dead. Apollyon is derived from a Greek verb meaning “to destroy” and may be literally translated as “The Destroyer”. An angle named Raphael appears only in the apocryphal or deuterocanonical book of Tobit, but not in any books of the original Hebrew canon.

Grace and peace in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

There are people who think in their curiosity about the possibility of a species with intelligence equal to or greater than human beings. Perhaps these beings are not limited to one planet. Some of these people have sent signals to the stars, in the hope of an answer. Their motto is we're not alone.

The Scriptures say if there are beings more intelligent than humans and who are not limited to the earth or another planet. We may describe them as extraterrestrials. But contact with them is problematic, as I will explain.

Other people think that around our visible, material world is an invisible and intangible plane, where there are spirits that can influence events in our world. The Scriptures say if this spiritual world exists. But it is best not to try to communicate with these spirits.

We find in Spanish and English, the word "angel", derived from the Greek word αγγελος which means "messenger." This Greek word is used in the New Testament, which was written in Greek. In the Old Testament, there is a Hebrew word for "angel", מַלְאַך. It also means "messenger."

Sometimes the words translated as angel mean humans. For example, in the Apocalypse of St. John, the Lord commanded the apostle to write letters to the angels of seven churches in Asia Minor. In this case, angel means the pastor of the church, because he who publicly preaches the Word of God is the messenger of God to the church. On the other hand, sometimes in the Old Testament, the angel, or messenger of God is obviously God Himself, as in the story of the patriarch Jacob at Bethel. Many Bible scholars think that in these cases, the Angel of the Lord is the second person of the Holy Trinity, the Son of God appearing before His incarnation as Jesus of Nazareth.

In other instances, however, angel means one who is not God, but not a human being, either. We confess in the Nicene Creed that God is the Creator of all things, visible and invisible. We believe that angels, in this sense, are the primary creatures of the invisible world. They are spiritual beings, who normally have no physical forms, but sometimes can take a physical form for a while. They have not existed from eternity, like God, but are immortal. They never die, nor sleep, nor need food or drink. They do not have power or intelligence equal to God, but have power and intelligence beyond any human. Angels have the power to influence events in our world. The Apocalypse of St. John says there are angels who have the power to destroy the earth if God would permit it, but God did not allow it.

There are many questions about these spiritual beings to which we do not have the answers. When did God create the angels? He created Adam and Eve on the sixth day, but the book of Genesis does not say on what day He created angels. If we are surrounded by these powerful spirits, why does the Bible forbid direct communication with them? God, in His Word, forbids all manner of spiritism or witchcraft. So why speak of spiritual beings?

There are many false teachings about angels in Venezuela.

Moreover, according to the Bible there are many angels and archangels, but only three are named in the inspired Scriptures. We find one in our text for today. San Miguel, one of the chief angels, that is, an archangel, is mentioned for the first time in the Old Testament book of the prophet Daniel (Daniel 10:13-21, 12:1) and in the New Testament in Jude 1:9 and in our text for today. Another angel named in the Bible is Gabriel, best known for his announcement to the Virgin Mary, Blessed are you among women, because you will be the mother of the Savior, Jesus.

Who is the third angel named in the Bible? Our text reads: And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon fought and his angels. And they prevailed not, neither was their place found any more in heaven. Thrown down was the great dragon, that old serpent, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

Satan, or the devil, is the rebellious archangel and the head of the rebel angels. Nor does the Bible say when this rebellion against God happened, but it was at the beginning of the world, because it was Satan who deceived Adam and Eve in the garden. Satan and the rebel angels are evil angels, enemies of God and man, who strive to destroy the works of God.

The angels who remained loyal to God are holy and powerful beings, and as confirmed in bliss, praising God around His heavenly throne, and executing the commands of God and serving men on earth.

The Lord has revealed something about the angels to show three points:

1. Satan is not equal to God. He and his angels are creatures of God and under God's control.

2. At the same time, Satan and his angels are more intelligent and powerful than any human being, so no one can resist them by their own forces.
3. We are not alone in the fight against the devil, because God has commissioned the good angels with our protection, even children as says the gospel for today (Matthew 18:1-10).

Now, mind you, the good angels only execute the will of God and bear God's messages. As the pastor of the church can not proclaim anything more than the written Word of God, the good angels have no new revelations for us. They do nothing that God has not commanded. Therefore, it is useless to attempt to communicate with them, much less pray to them. There is only one mediator between God and us, the Lord Jesus Christ.

If it seems someone is in contact with a supernatural entity, who has knowledge that no human being can have, the entity has to be an evil angel, a devil, bent on deceiving us. That is why Scripture says, we just have to trust God and bring our supplications to Him, and avoid spiritism and witchcraft.

Because the war in heaven that our text describes was not the original rebellion of the devil and his angels. John writes, "And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying: Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they loved not their lives unto the death. "

This passage describes the victory of Christ from the heavenly perspective. On earth people saw a man dying on the cross. But by the suffering and death of this man, the devil was cast out of the presence of God forever. He could stand before the throne of God only to accuse us of our sins and claim our souls for damnation. The devil and his angels attacked believers, that is, accused them before God day and night, carefully maintaining an account of every failure and every transgression that may have been charged to their account, and then shouted it in the ears of the Lord continuously.

But the hymn of victory is presented, giving all honor to God the Father, the Author of our salvation, and His Son, Jesus Christ, who wrought out full salvation for us. His kingdom is established forever, and all subjects of this kingdom, all true believers are secure in its power. All the accusations of the devil, true and serious as they would be in themselves have lost their force in view of the fact that the atonement of Christ has covered all these sins and guilt, that in the redemption He has carried out for us a complete reconciliation with God. The inhabitants of heaven were also called to rejoice in the victory of Christ, even the good angels took part in the victory over the powers of darkness.

The angels rejoice with us in our salvation and defend us from all evil, as the Lord has sent.

O God, heavenly Father, you have given all creatures, those which are seen and which are not, the opportunity to serve You. You have created the holy angels to serve You in all things. On this day of St. Michael and All Angels, we praise you for all the holy angels and the work they do in response to Your holy will. May they continue protecting and keeping Your people safe from all evil that threatens them. Allow your angels to do Your will and guard us in all our actions, whether awake or asleep, so that when our journey here is over, we can join the hosts of heaven in praise to you forever. Amen.

Related articles

• St.Michael and All Angels - Sermon: "On Guard For You" (lutheranlogomaniac.com)
• Sermon - St. Michael - Rev. 12:7-12 (preachrblog.blogspot.com)
• The Festival of St. Michael and All Angels (cyberbrethren.com)

The way of the Cross

“Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.” Luke 14:27

It would have been more fitting to have had the procession of the Cross on Palm Sunday. However, our visitors from Barquisimeto were not due to arrive until the following day, so it became part of the opening worship for our three-day regional retreat for preteens on Monday.

We had the cross made for the processional. It is a plain, wooden cross three meters in height (that's an inch and a fraction short of 10 feet). I carried it in front of the group as we marched around Barrio Las Lomas, singing hymns. The cross did not seem so heavy at first, but my arms and shoulders were aching at the end of the trail.

The Ark of the Covenant, symbol of the promises God made to Israel at Mount Sinai, was solemnly carried in front of the people of Israel as they crossed the Jordan River into the Promised Land (Joshua, chapters 3 and 4) and also before the people in a march around the city of Jericho (Joshua 6). When King Solomon had built the first Temple of Jerusalem, the ark was carried in solemn procession into the innermost part. Processions of the cross reflect this Old Testament imagery.

Christians began marching in the streets behind a processional cross in the fourth century A.D., when such demonstrations became tolerated in the Roman Empire. The processions moved from church to church, with participants, alternately saying or singing prayers, psalms, and litanies.

The procession of the Cross also embodies another metaphor from the ancient world used in both the Old and New Testaments, that of the triumphant king's victory parade. Isaiah 60:11 says.

Your gates shall be open continually;
day and night they shall not be shut,
that people may bring to you the wealth of the nations, with their kings led in procession.

Also 2 Corinthians 2:14:

But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere.

Processions of the cross, with either a plain cross or a crucifix, also have a long and honorable history in Lutheranism. The Reformers objected specifically to the Corpus Christi procession, because it involved actual public display and adoration of the host (communion bread). They did not, however, object to the idea of a procession of the Cross. Many Lutheran churches have never abandoned the practice of processionals, especially on festival days. For it is a principle of our confession that the practices of the ancient church, if they do not conflict with the clear teaching of Scripture, should be preserved to every extent possible.

In Venezuela, of course, one must walk a certain fine line. On the one hand, many of the evangelical/pentecostal sects here consider even the display of a plain cross to be too “papist”.It is not our intention to give offense, or create a stumbling-block for the faith of these people (per 1 Corinthians 8:13), but for Lutherans this position is completely unacceptable. The cross, and not just the unadorned cross, but especially the crucifix, is the central symbol of the faith, the visual expression of what itś all about. We call our theology the “theology of the cross”, because Christ's suffering and death on the cross was His victory and ours. He atoned for our sins on the cross and thus gained for us the hope of eternal life. Certainly, “if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins” (1 Corinthians 15:17), but to celebrate Easter without Good Friday is to preach a gospel of “cheap grace,” of salvation without atonement.

On the other hand, in popular Roman Catholic piety here (as elsewhere in the world), people often will pray to the image of the Crucified. Thus, to avoid tempting anyone to the sin of idolatry, we chose a plain cross for our procession.

Fun for preteens of all ages

Our guests during the first three days of Holy Week included Miguelangel Perez, pastor of El Paraiso Lutheran Church in Barquisimeto, and Sandra Lopez, Katharina Ramones and two young girls from Nueva Vida Lutheran Mission in Barquisimeto. The rest of the children attending the retreat were from our neighborhood in La Caramuca. Total attendance was around 50 people.

Tuesday was devoted to Bible study and activities reminiscent of vacation Bible school. The theme of the retreat was “Timothy: A Good Soldier of Christ Jesus” with special emphasis on 2 Timothy, chapter 3, verse 15:

“And how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.”

Wednesday's event was an outing to the Paguey River. The people from Barquisimeto had all returned home by end of day Wednesday, but for us Holy Week activities were not over. We observed Good Friday with a 5 p.m. Service and celebrated Easter as part of our regular Sunday service. Children who attended the Easter service received leftover watermelon and other goodies.

Related articles

• Salem Churches Hold Cross Walk to Mark Good Friday
• Way of the Cross in Stroudsburg
• Holy Name Procession of the Cross