The glory of Thy people Israel

Jhoan Andres Leal Santana, Luz Maria's 10th grandchild, celebrated his first birthday on January 30, 2014. It was an opportune moment for us to give thanks for the gift of his life on Sunday, February 2, the Feast of the Purification of Mary and the Presentation of our Lord.

The opening words of the appointed Gospel, Luke 2:22-32 read, “And when the days of her purification according to the law of Moses were accomplished, they brought Him to Jerusalem, to present Him to the Lord; (As it is written in the law of the Lord, every male that openeth the womb shall be called holy to the Lord;) And to offer a sacrifice according to that which is said in the law of the Lord, a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons.”

This is the last story of the baby Jesus recorded in the four Gospels perhaps depending on when the visit of the Magi may have occurred). Explaining just what it means may require a certain amount of delicacy, depending on your audience. What is this talk of purification and sacrifice? Why did Mary need to be purified and why did the baby Jesus need to be declared holy before the Lord? One needs to read and understand the 12th chapter of Leviticus.

“And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If a woman have conceived seed, and born a man child: then she shall be unclean seven days; according to the days of the separation for her infirmity shall she be unclean. And in the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised. And she shall then continue in the blood of her purifying three and thirty days; she shall touch no hallowed thing, nor come into the sanctuary, until the days of her purifying be fulfilled. But if she bear a maid child, then she shall be unclean two weeks, as in her separation: and she shall continue in the blood of her purifying threescore and six days. And when the days of her purifying are fulfilled, for a son, or for a daughter, she shall bring a lamb of the first year for a burnt offering, and a young pigeon, or a turtledove, for a sin offering, unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, unto the priest: Who shall offer it before the LORD, and make an atonement for her; and she shall be cleansed from the issue of her blood. This is the law for her that hath born a male or a female. And if she be not able to bring a lamb, then she shall bring two turtles, or two young pigeons; the one for the burnt offering, and the other for a sin offering: and the priest shall make an atonement for her, and she shall be clean.”

The post-natal discharge of blood from a woman's womb was considered to be “impure” as was her normal menstrual discharge. This meant that for a week after giving birth to a son, or two weeks after giving birth to a girl, a woman could not engage in sexual intercourse, or in the preparation of food or other household chores. After this initial period of isolation, a woman was free to perform the ordinary duties of the household, but for 33 days in the case of a male child, or 66 days in the case of a female, she could not take part in sacrificial meals, the Passover and other festivals, nor was she permitted to enter the court of the Temple in Jerusalem. The flow of blood often continued past the initial week to two weeks, but was not believed to pass the impurity to other people during the latter period. The longer period of time for the girl child did not mean that girls were inferior, but rather reflected an observation that the post-natal discharge tended to last longer for girls than boys. The required sacrifice was the same for both boys and girls.

So what is this all about? It may seem very strange to the modern mind. Here is one way that one might approach an explanation. At Mount Sinai, God made a pact with the people of Israel: If they would worhip Him exclusively as their God and obey His commands, He would make of them a great nation, give them a land where they could live in peace and prosperity, and prepare them for the coming of the Messiah, the promised Savior of the world, among them. Moses, by the command and power of God, had brought them out of Egypt, cross the Red Sea and to Mount Sinai as part of their journey to the Promised Land. But liberty is more than an outward state. Outwardly, the Israelites had escaped the oppression of the Egyptians, but inwardly they still were slaves and fugitives. To live as free men and women, they needed to learn to take responsibility for their own actions before God. The Law that God provided them through Moses was a complete guide to achieving this, on every level from the national to the interpersonal. Much of this Law of Moses fully reveals the universal moral law, God's design for how all human beings should live. Honor your father and mother, do not steal, do not commit murder or adultery, love God above all else. The moral law reveals the righteousness of God.

But part of the Mosaic law dealt specifically with how the Israelites were to worship their God in anticipation of the Messiah. The worship of Israel's God revolved around an annual cycle of sacred meals and sacrifices, all of which affected every aspect of daily life. The rules which governed this worship are called the “ceremonial laws” and were intended to teach the Israelites the holiness of God. Central to the ceremonial law was the concept of ritual “impurity.” Those who would approach God in prayer and worship had to be cleansed of all that would be inappropriate to bring into God's presence.

Often people think these ceremonial laws were based on health or sanitary considerations in an era before refrigeration and chemical preservatives, such as the prohibitions against eating pork or shellfish. An improved level of health may have been one consequence of following the Old Testament dietary laws, This, however, was not the main point, and it is hard to make sense of some of the ceremonial laws from the perspective of human health.

The point of the ceremonial laws was to utterly distinguish the worship of Israel's God from that of the pagan gods of the cultures which surrounded Israel. The pagan worship amounted to the practice of witchcraft and necromancy, in which totemic words and substances could be used to entice, or even command, the favor of powerful spirit-beings. One such substance was blood from a woman's womb. To declare it “impure” was to de-sacralize it, to divest it of any magic power.

Some things designated as ritually impure because of their association with pagan worship, were punishable by death because they also were violations of the moral law, such as sacrificing one's children to the god Moloch (Leviticus 20:2-5, which may be compared to the practice of abortion nowadays) or the practice of homosexuality (Leviticus 20:13). However, in most forms of “defilement”, such as the eating of shellfish (9-12), the offender was only escluded from the sacred meals and worship in the Temple until proper rites of purification had been observed. This is one answer to the so-called “shellfish argument” (Why take seriously the condemnation of homosexuality in Leviticus when only orthodox Jews today pay any attention to the prohibition against shellfish?). Leviticus does not place these offenses on an equal level. Also New Testament teaching makes it clear that the condemnation of homosexuality is not just a ceremonial law, but belongs also to the moral law (do not commit adultery) which still is binding on New Testament believers.

Also central to Old Testament worship was the concept of sacrifice. There were sacrifices of thanksgiving and “sin offerings” for the propitiation of sins. A sin offering was required even for the birth of a child. But the Old Testament sacrifices had no virtue in themselves, only as foreshadowings of the great propitiatory sacrifice by the one spotless Lamb of God. So when the baby Jesus was brought to the Temple for the first time, something new happened. He had been circumcized eight days after His birth, according to the Law of Moses, and His mother had brought the sin offering, according to the Law of Moses. So would begin the fulfillment of the entire Old Testament Law, both moral and ceremonial by Christ in our stead. Because of His sinlessness, His death on the cross would meet the demands of God's righteousness and pay for the sins of all forever, we need not offer animals for sacrifice in our places of worship. Because we are covered by His divine holiness in baptism, we need not worry about what we may touch or what we may eat before entering the presence of God.

This is why there is a moment of epiphany, or revelation of the Christ Child's divinity, when old Simeon takes Him in his arms and declares, “Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word: For mine eyes have seen thy salvation,  Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people; A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel. “ Amen.

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Headlines and Habbakuk

Luz Maria took two of her grandchildren, Pedro and Karelis Santana, to the eighth central-western youth gathering of the Lutheran Church of Venezuela, August 16 to 18, 2013. The gathering was hosted by Pastor Miguelangel Perez and members of Nueva Vida (New Life) Lutheran Mission in Barquisimeto at a campground in the state of Yaracuy. Congregations in Caracas and Maracay also were represented.

Pedro and Karelis came by to study the book of Joshua (the Biblical focus of the retreat) every evening for several weeks before the event. They also developed a drama for the gathering's “talent night”, based on the book of Habakkuk. Habakkuk is one of the books of the so-called “minor prophets.”

The booka of the “major prophets” are Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations (of Jeremiah), Ezequiel and Daniel. The 12 books that follow the major prophets were originally referred to as “the 12 prophets” in Hebrew and Greek writings. They are not referred to as minor because of a lesser degree of divine inspiration, authority or reliability. They are minor in that all 12 books are very brief compared to those of the major prophets.

Key passages from the minor prophets undergird New Testament teaching. For example, Micah 5:2 is quoted as part of the Christmas story in Matthew 2:6. Likewise, the Apostle Peter hails Joel 2:28 as fulfilled prophecy in Acts 2:17, and quotes Amos 9:11-12 in Acts 15:116-17.

Now Habakkuk may be the most obscure of the minor prophets. I have known, or heard of men today named Joel, Amos, Micah, Jonah or even Malachi, but I have never even heard of someone in modern times named Habakkuk. Yet this very obscure book contains a phrase very well-known because of it use in Romans 1:17 and Galatians 3:11. St. Paul not only cites Habakkuk 2:4, he bases his entire presentation of the doctrine of justification on it: “But the just shall live by his faith.”

The apostle expounds on how through faith we receive the promise of eternal life in Jesus Chrsit, and by that faith have the hope to endure the trials and difficulties of this present world with inner peace and joy. Likewise, Habakkuk says that the faithful will be sustained by the promises of God's justice and mercy.

Habakkuk lived more than 600 years before Christ, at a time when violence, theft, robbery, family feuds, legal and illegal lawsuits and all manner of injustice prevailed in the land of Israel. The greed and covetousness of those who had amassed wealth and power for themselves had resulted in poverty and destitution for many. God reveals to Habakkuk that He will raise up the Chaldeans, a foreign power, to conquer Israel and bring about the downfall of those who disregard His holy law.

The Chaldean, or Neo-Babylonian, Empire began in 626 B.C., when Nabopolassar, king of Babylon, lead a revolt against the Assyrian Empire. Only 13 years later, Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, lay in ruins. Seven years after that, Nabopolassar's successor, Nebuchadnezzar, would defeat and rout the armies of Egypt. The Chaldeans would destroy Jerusalem in 568 B.C.

Habakkuk asked God the perennial question: Why should the righteous suffer along with the wicked? Those in Israel who tried to live according to God's will already felt “hemmed in” by those who did not. Would not they also be enslaved by cruel, rapacious conquerors? Did this mean that the Lord was breaking his covenant with Abraham and abandoning Abraham's descendants? Where was God's justice and mercy in a world where the survival of the fittest seemed to be the only law?

Although the book of Habakkuk was written centuries ago, for Venezuelans these themes seemed ripped from the latest national headlines. Venezuelans today also live in a time of rising violence, crime, corruption and shortages of food and other basic necessities. In addition to these worries, many fear an invasion by the great power to the north, the United States, would only make things worse. That is why Pedro, Karelis and Luz Maria chose to base their play on Habakkuk.

God's answer to Habakkuk is the same as it is for us in these times. The hour of God's judgment will bring only destruction and despair to those who will not repent of their sins, but those who by faith believe in God's promises will not only endure, but receive blessings far in excess of their sufferings. To Habakkuk and people of his day, the Lord said that the people of Judah would not be destroyed, because among them would be born the Messiah, the Savior of the world. This was the covenant that would not be broken and would be fulfilled at its appointed time. The Chaldean Empire would crumble to dust as quickly as it rose, as will all the kingdoms and empires of this world.

Like the people of the Old Testament, we do not always understand why God permits things to happen as they happen, but we trust that He is in charge and that ultimately His purposes will be accomplished at the appointed time. This includes the second coming of Christ, at which time He will judge the nations and those who have lived by faith will pass into eternal joy and the wicked into eternal fire.

By the way, our group won first prize for their presentation on talent night and generally a good time was had by all.

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Confirmation and first communion for Gianny Vanessa Roa Ruiz

 Here is the English text of the sermon that I preached for the confirmation and first communion of Gianny Vanessa Roa Ruiz. It was based on Proverbs 9:1-10 and Luke 14:15-24, the appointed Old Testament and Gospel readings for the second Sunday after Trinity, according to the one-year lectionary.


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

Many of you are here at the invitation of our sister, Gianny Vanessa Roa Ruiz, because today is the day of her confirmation and first communion She wants to share her joy with you.

We find an invitation in our reading of the Old Testament. "Wisdom has built her house, hewn out its seven pillars killed her victims, mingled her wine, and set her table. She has sent her maids on the topto the rooftops of the town to cry, Whoever is simple, come here.”

In the book of Proverbs, the concept of wisdom is symbolized by the figure of a woman. In chapters before the ninth, is the contrast between the figure of Wisdom, who is good, and a tempting adulteress. These women represent two lifestyles, or two ways. Wisdom is the way of the Lord, that is, how to live according to the will of God. This is the way of happiness that lasts forever. The other is the path of destruction, in which there is the promise of many vain pleasures, but in the end is only a trap.

There is something more, because in our text for today we have a picture of a great feast, prepared by the figure of wisdom with an invitation for everyone. "Come, eat my bread, and drink the wine I have mixed." T his is a foreshadowing of Jesus Christ, who would be the true incarnation of divine wisdom and who has invited us to eat bread and drink wine, and also His body and blood in the Lord's Supper.
Furthermore,in our gospel for today, our Lord tells a parable, ie a symbolic story, of a man who prepared a great banquet and invited many. "And at the time of the banquet he sent his servant to say to those invited, Come, for everything is now ready."

But what happened? "And they all began to make excuses. The first said: I have bought a field, and I must go and see it: I pray thee have me excused. And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I'll try them out, excuse me. And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot go. "

What was Jesus talking about in this parable? Obviously, the father of the family is God the Father Almighty. His feast is eternal life in heaven. Why do so many refuse the invitation?  They do not see with eyes of faith the invitation to hear the word and receive the sacraments as a preview of the eternal feast in heaven. They are preoccupied with their businesses or their own personal matters. The same contrast is found in the book of Proverbs. Earthly affairs often seem more urgent or more attractive than seeking first the kingdom of God. However, the wise man, his mind enlightened by the Holy Spirit, understands that heavenly joy lasts forever, not just for the moment.

Furthermore, although the invitation to the Lord's Supper is free and for all, it is available only for a while. When our earthly life is over, so is the invitation and there is no second chance.

Look, many of you have received an invitation card for a wedding. The invitation is a gift for you. It's yours. Nobody can offer money to buy an invitation to a wedding. But what if someone takes an invitation card and throws it in the trash? He is not likely to get another invitation.

It is a more serious matter with the invitation to the Lord's Supper. We speak of the two kingdoms, the kingdom of God's power nd the kingdom of God's grace. The kingdom of divine power is the order of creation, the domain of His Law. The moral Law is the universal will of God for our lives. All humans are suubject to this Law and only one has fulfilled the Law, the will of God, perfectly. Therefore, to live under the Law is a sentence of physical and spiritual death.

However, one has fulfilled all the Law in our place, Jesus Christ. He paid the price for our sins, so we have our invitation to share in the joy of the Lord's Supper. One day we will be with Him in heaven, but in this world we have the opportunity to receive His body and blood in, with and under the bread and wine of the sacrament. "Do this in remembrance of me" does not just mean looking back to the first century, but also to anticipate the great feast with the church triumphant after the end of the world.
We have eternal life only by grace. No one can buy it and nobody earns eternal life on their own merits, however, we may decline the invitation and there is no other chance to escape eternal death.

We receive eternal life by faith alone through baptism. By our baptism, we are members of the body of Christ, the communion of saints, which is the church. The Bible says the invitation to baptism is for all nations, all families, men, women, old, young and babies. Why not share the sacrament with everyone?

In the Lutheran Church, we recognize only two sacraments, not seven as does the Roman Catholic church. By our definition, a sacrament should be instituted and commanded by our Lord Jesus Christ, should be a means of grace (forgiveness), and must have a visible element linked with the Word of God. In the case of baptism, the visible element is water, in the Lord's Supper the visible elements are the bread and wine.

 Confirmation is not a sacrament, it does not give a measure of grace that baptism that does not deliver. It is a ritual that marks the culmination of the preparation for first communion. The difference between the sacrament of baptism and the Lord's Supper is the warnings that to receive the Lord's Supper worthily, a person must examine his conscience and consciously repent of his sins, and discern the body and blood of Christ in the sacrament. To receive the sacrament unworthily is to receive condemnation, not a blessing.

So we teach these things to young believers with the Small Catechism of Dr. Martin Luther, written for parents to teach their children. The catechism contains the Ten Commandments, the Apostles' Creed, the Our Father and basic doctrine. Confirmation is a public testimony of faith and a sign that the believer is ready to receive the sacrament.

Now our sister, Gianny Vanessa, has chosen the better portion, like Mary of Bethany. She is a wise girl. Let's welcome her as a communicant member.
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The peace that passes all understanding be with each of you forever. Amen.

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Crossing into 2012

 

Happy New Year and a blessed Epiphany to everyone! We would especially like to thank all who contributed to the donations that we received by the end of 2011. Your support is critical to the work of La Caramuca Lutheran Mission and we are very grateful.

Last Sunday was not only the first day of 2012, but also, by the church calendar, the day we celebrate the circumcision and naming of the infant Jesus. I was struck by how appropriate was the appointed Old Testament lesson, Joshua 24:14-24. Under the leadership of Joshua (the Old Testament figure for whom Jesus was named), the people of Israel finally had crossed the Jordan River into the Promised Land. They stood on the threshold of a new era. They were offered a new beginning - and a choice.

“Now therefore fear the LORD and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that  your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers  served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in  whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."

In this new year of our Lord 2012, we all are presented with an opportunity to start anew, yet the same choice. May God grant that we should fear and love Him above all things, and not worship other gods, whether in obvious or more subtle forms.

Looking ahead

We have replaced the water pump that was stolen and modified the connections so that it may be detached from the well and stored in a more secure place at the end of the day. The plan is to set the pump in place once a week or so, to fill the tank that will supply our public restroom/shower faciiy, as well as our house and preschool in times of emergency. This project, the renovation of the well as an auxiliary water source, and the construction of the restroom/shower facility, is nearly complete. It will greatly enhance our ability to host larger groups of people.

But this is only preparation for what we hope to begin this year: The construction of a freestanding worship/classroom building. Up to now we have been meeting for Sunday service under a covered patio. The roof protects us from the intense tropical sun, but not from the wind and rain, which we have in abundance in Venezuela. A white plastic lawn table draped in the appropriate liturgical color serves as our altar. There is no pulpit or lectern. Aside from exposure to the weather, the biggest drawback to this arrangement is this: When we was have especially good attendance, the patio is filled to capacity and it becomes difficult to maintain a line of separation between the "chancel" and the "nave". Often it is difficult to serve Holy Communion because of the lack of space between the "front row" and the altar.

"The church is people, not a building." This is true. It's even biblical: "As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house,  to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ" (1 Pedro 2:4-5). But as people we live in a world of the five senses and of spatial relationships. That is how we understand things.

That is one reason why "the Word became flesh and dwelt among us" (John 1:14). It is also why our Lord instituted the office of the ministry of Word (that through public preaching the inspired message might be heard audibly) and sacrament (the administration of visible means of grace). And it is just common sense that as creatures of five senses, we are able to dedicate ourselves to certain task better in the appropriate environment. We hope the new building will provide that environment, plus some additional space for Christian education beyond the preschool level.

In fact, our long-term vision is of an center for Christian education serving all of our southwestern region of Venezuela (actually it was first Luz Maria's vision and now I share it). We have had our property plotted and we have the space and plans for six-room complex, plus playground, courtyard and parking lot. May God grant that these plans come to fruition.

An Eastertide gift of new life

Anyi Vanesa Garrido Santana, Luz Maria's eighth grandchild, was born April 13, 2010, weighing in at 3.65 kilograms. Anyi is her mother, Sarai's first daughter. Her two brothers, Edwar José (two years old) and José Ignacio (about one year), at first referred to her simply as "la niña" (the girl). After a time, they absorbed that idea that she has a name, although sometimes when they say "Anyi Vanesa", it sounds like "Angi Belleza" (Angi the Beauty). I am not sure whether that is what they intend to say or not.

That Wednesday afterward, I talked with the preschool children about Anyi's birth and also about the birth of Moses (Exodus 2:6). Once upon a time, I said, the people of Israel, the nation to whom God had promised the birth of a Savior, were slaves in Egypt. But their God was them and blessed them in that the women of Israel were strong and easily gave birth to many children, "not like the women of Egypt." So the Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, became alarmed at how the Israelite population was growing in comparison to that of the Egyptians, and ordered the baby boys of Israel to be killed.

Likewise, I said, there are people today who say there are too many people in the world, not enough natural resources to provide for everyone, and so maybe some children should not even be born. But this is contrary to the will of God, who is the true Giver of all life, to Whom every new life is precious and has a place in His design.

So we see in the story of Moses how God foiled the evil plan of Pharaoh to keep the Israelites under Egyptian domination. The baby destined to liberate Israel from slavery was placed in a basket to float hidden in the reeds of the Nile while his sister kept watch over him. And the sister's name was Maria, just like the mother of the Child destined to liberate all people from sin, death and the devil! (Maria, or Mary, of course, is derived from the Hebrew name rendered "Miriam" in English translations of the Old Testament, but the Reina-Valera Bible has it as Maria.)

When the Pharaoh's daughter came down to the banks of the Nile to bathe, she found the baby Moses and wanted him for her own son. So the man who one day would defeat the king of Egypt grew up in the Egyptian court, although his sister made sure that he had his true mother as a nursemaid.

A later chapter in the story of Moses was the theme of a presentation by the youth after the Palm Sunday service. We had a good crowd (between 20 and 30) composed of children, youth and adults for Palm Sunday. The youth communicated through drama, dance and art what they had learned about the Ten Plagues, the first Passover and the Exodus, and how these events prefigured the events of Holy Week.

There were about 10 in attendance for the Good Friday service, which consisted of our order of evening prayer with a meditation on the seven last words of Jesus from the Cross. For Easter Sunday we had between 10 and 15 in attendance. I was pleased with this, because most of the homes in our community were padlocked during Holy Week as the families went on vacation during the week-long holiday.

Pray for rain

After months of drought, we have entered Venezuela's rainy season. The arrival of tropical rains has raised hopes that water levels in the Orinoco River will rise enough to sustain normal levels of electrical power generation by the Guri Dam facility, which provides about 80 percent of the electricity for the country. However, it appears the government's electricity rationing plan will remain in place for another two months. In other words, we still are experiencing daily power blackouts of at least three hours in duration. We pray that the rains will continue and that by the end of this period, the blackouts will have ceased.

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Ashes of a consuming fire

Recently I received by e-mail my electronic copy of Logia, a journal of Lutheran theology. Logia dedicates each quarterly issue to a central theme and advertises its editorial schedule well in advance. So I had been waiting more than a year for the Epipany 2010 issue on Lutheranism in Latin America.

There was a lot of good stuff in the magazine, but what I would like to note is a comment by Dr. Douglas R. Groll, professor emeritus of Concordia Seminary, St. Louis. He described Culto Cristiano, the hymnal whose order of service we follow, as "a fine mid-century Lutheran hymnal considered by many non-Lutherans to be the best Spanish language hymnal of the last century." I share his opinion, but I mention this only to praise Culto Cristiano before criticizing it. But it is only a small criticism.

Culto Cristiano (from Concordia Publishing House) was originally published before the revival of interest among Lutherans in the imposition of ashes to mark the start of Lent. The imposition of ashes basically consists of the pastor using ashes to mark the foreheads of the penitent with a cross while repeating a paraphrase of Genesis, chapter 3, verse 19: "Remember, you are dust and to dust you will return." Dust and ashes are often used interchangeably in the Scriptures as images of mortality (as in Genesis 18:27 or Job 30:19). The ashes also signify repentance as the practice of wearing sackcloth and sprinkling oneself with ashes to express sorrow and/or repentance of sin also dates back to Biblical times.
Of course, the cross symbolizes the hope of forgiveness and redemption in Christ.

Ash Wednesday is named for the rite of imposition of ashes, which seems to have originated in the 12th Century. During the Reformation, Lutherans retained Ash Wednesday as the beginning the 46 days of Lent, but the imposition of ashes ritual fell into disuse, for reasons that are not entirely clear. It certainly is rather odd to celebrate "Ash Wednesday" without the ashes, so perhaps it is not surprising that there has been a revival of the ritual in Lutheran circles, including the Lutheran Church of Venezuela.

But there is no recommended form for this ceremony in Culto Cristiano, so there is no standard practice. For our first Ash Wednesday service in La Caramuca, I led our group in the order of public confession and absolution, followed by the imposition of ashes, then by the order of evening prayer. Fortunately, the lessons provided by the lectionary served very well, for instance, Psalm 51:1-13.

I delivered a brief meditation in which I compared the light of God's holiness to the tropical sun at midday. Standing in that intense light for any length of time without covering might mean death by heat stroke or dehydration, but the light of God's holiness is much more intense than the midday sun. Without the protective covering of Christ's righteousness, it would burn us to ashes. The ashes in the form of a cross remind us that because of Christ's suffering and death on the cross, we may walk in God's pure light, free from the powers of darkness.

With the preschool children, I tried a different approach. I showed them a jar of soil, a jar of ashes left after we burned some leaves and a whole leaf from one of our trees. As long This might take a long time, if the leaf was just covered by other leaves, or a very short time if the leaves were burned. So in some countries, dead bodies are buried in the ground and slowly return to dust, while in other countries the bodies are burned and quickly become ash. Either way it's ashes to ashes, dust to dust. But in Christ we have the promise that one day we all will be restored to life, body and soul. So instead of just dumping human bodies in a landfill, or burning them, we honor the deceased with a burial service that expresses the hope that the body planted in the earth will one day rise again to eternal life.

A teaspoon of theodicy

More news on the Haiti front, or rather the frontier between Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Last week Luz Maria and I met with Pastor Sergio Maita, who had just returned to Caracas following a week or two of volunteer service there. Sergio, a young Venezuelan man who was ordained with me in December 2009, traveled with Ted and Rebecca Krey, former missionaries to Venezuela who are now based in the Dominican Republic, to the bordertown of Jimani where they offered what assistance they could in a hospital that had become a refuge for earthquake victims. Sergio told us that he had taken a lot of pictures of trip to the Dominican Republic, but did not feel like sharing everything that he had seen in he hospital, for the suffering was very great.

On occasions like the earthquake in Haiti, there always are those try to draw grand conclusions about the misery. Some want to say that such suffering on a grand scale "proves" there is no God, or at least not a loving and merciful God. The problem for these people is that denying the existence of God does not relieve any of the pain experienced by earthquake victims or others one bit, or bring those that died back to life. Yet without an absolute point of reference, there is no basis for saying the pain and death in Haiti was "unjust" or "excessive" or anything else. The world is what it is, and apart from faith in God, there is little reason to think our efforts to change it will make any difference, that there is any hope for anything better (for even the concept of "better" has no significance) or that there is any point in helping those less fortunate than ourselves. Far from the existence of suffering on a grand scale disproving God's existence, only faith that God will one day provide recompense for those who have suffered unjustly, and judgment for the wicked who have evaded punishment by human courts and the natural consequences of their misdeeds, helps one make any sense at all of the whole business.

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On the other hand, there are those who want to see the earthquake as a sign of God's wrath directed specifically at Haiti, perhaps for the worship of voodoo gods. In the same manner, the Maundy Thursday earthquake that devastated Caracas in 1812 was said by some to be a sign of God's displeasure with the Venezuelan War of Independence from Spain. This error, unlike the first, claims belief in the Holy Scriptures, but this is not true.

According to the Bible, certain calamities were indeed signs of God's wrath against the wicked and the disobedient. Old Testament examples include the Great Flood, the Ten Plagues of Egypt. various afflictions suffered by the Israelites in the desert, the destruction of the Assyrian king Sennacherib's army (1 Kings 19:35), and many more. In the New Testament, we have the death of Herod Agrippa I (Acts 12:21-25) and the deaths of Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:1-11). But the entire book of Job and other passages of the Old Testament are devoted to refuting the idea that bad things only happen to bad people, and that the severity of the disaster reflects the level of God's wrath.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said that God makes the sun to rise on both the evil and the good, and sends rain to both the just and unjust (Matthew 5:45). In Luke 21:25, He said the signs of the end-times will include "great earthquakes, and in various places, famines and pestilences," not to mention wars between nations and everywhere persecution of the faithful. These terrible events are not to be interpreted as specific judgments against the wicked, but rather as general signs that the great and final Day of Judgent is approaching.

We understand the significance of certain past events, such as the Great Flood and the Ten Plagues, based on the authority of divinely inspired Scriptures. Outside the Scriptures, there is no such authority and it is presumptuous to second-guess God. We know nothing of His nature and will outside of what He has chosen to reveal to us. The Bible contains all we need to know for our salvation, and there will be no more divine revelations until the glorious fulfillment of God's plan for the world in the second coming of Christ.

Thus we find the final word on this topic in Luke 13. Jesus was asked an event that caused a lot of stir and consternation back in that day. It was the massacre of Galileans in the Temple, ordered by Pontius Pilate (those that think the New Testament portrays Pilate as a fundamentally decent fellow, please note), such that their blood mingled with the blood of their sacrifices to God. Essentially, both questions were put to Jesus. If the Galileans had done nothing to deserve death, where was the just and merciful God during this massacre? And if they had done something especially deserving of God's judgment, what was it?

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Jesus responded by reminding them of an even more puzzling event (the apparently senseless deaths of 18 men in the collapse of the tower in Siloam) and answered both questions in this way:

Neither the Galileans or the 18 men in Siloam deserved death any more than anyone else. However, all humans stand equally condemned under God's law, and deserve not simply physical death, but eternal damnation. By God's grace, all who believe will receive forgiveness of sin and eternal life through the blood of Christ, but with few exceptions, no one will escape physical death (the few exceptions being Enoch, Elijah and those still living when the Lord returns). While we may have the promise of eternal life in heaven, none of us are guaranteed one year, 20 years or 80 years on this earth. So the question we must ask ourselves is not why this individual or that group of people had to die at a particular time and in a particular manner, but why we ourselves still are drawing breath. If we still are alive, God still has a purpose for us here. We may not know everything about this purpose, but He has revealed enough in His Word wor us to respond in faith. So, as Jesus said, we must not allow ourselves to be distracted by the petty pleasures of the world, but remain alert and watchful for opportunities to serve God and our fellow man.

Mirror images talking to each other

Luz Maria and I spent the last week of January in Caracas at a seminar on "the means of grace." Our instructor was Pastor German Novelli. Born in Maracaibo, Venezuela, and confirmed in the Lutheran Church of Venezuela in 1983, German Novelli some years ago left his native country and embarked on on a geographical and spiritual odyssey that led him to Mexico, Puerto Rico, Canada, and finally the Wisconsin Synod seminary in Mequon, Wisconsin. He now is the pastor of a Latino mission on Milwaukee's South Side.

Mequon, Wisconin, by the way, is also the location of the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod's Concordia University, Wisconsin and Trinity Luth¡eran Church of Freistadt, the oldest Lutheran congregation in the state (and of which my great-great-grandparents were founding members).

I lived on Milwaukee's South Side from 1986 to 1995, so it was interesting to compare notes with Pastor Novelli on our impressions of Wisconsin and the Milwaukee area in particular. We were like two mirror images talking to each other: the Venezuelan serving as the pastor of a mission in Milwaukee and the former Milwaukeean serving as the pastor of a mission in Venezuela. I shared with him some of my fondest memories; the Lake Michigan shoreline in summertime, the Mitchell Park Conservatory, eating real Mexican food at the Acapulco Restaurant.

Pastor Novelli shared with me the thesis that he wrote for his masters in divinity degree on Wisconsin Synod mission work in Latin America. Active in the region since 1964, the Wisconsin Synod's missionary efforts in the past focused on Mexico, Puerto Rico and Colombia.

Today the Wisconsin Synod supports what it calls its LATTE team. LATTE stands for Latin American Traveling Theological Educators. Latin American because work is done in all of the mission fields in Latin America—Mexico, Puerto Rico, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Haiti, and Brazil. Traveling because visits are made to each field on a rotating basis. Theological Educators because missionaries serve as the seminary professors of the men who desire to be pastors in their national churches. The LATTE program has been functioning since 2003.

The Wisconsin Synod also has been active in Haiti earthquake relief.

Evangelical Lutheran Synod missionaries have been active in Chile and Peru for about 40 years. The ELS has established a seminary in Lima, Peru. Thirteen men have graduated and have been ordained and twelve vicars and students continue working with congregations and various groups.

Lutheran alphabet soup

The current-day ELS developed from a remnant of the old Norwegian Synod that refused to merge with other synods in an effort to form one national Lutheran church-body in the United States. The end-result of these mergers is the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. The philosopher Voltaire once said of the Holy Roman Empire, "It was neither holy nor Roman nor an empire." Much the same could be said of the ELCA, except that it definitely is headquartered in America. In fact, German theologian Wolfhart Pannenberg basically said as much:

"Here lies the boundary of a Christian church that knows itself to be bound by the authority of Scripture. Those who urge the church to change the norm of its teaching on this matter must know that they are promoting schism. If a church were to let itself be pushed to the point where it ceased to treat homosexual activity as a departure from the biblical norm, and recognized homosexual unions as a personal partnership of love equivalent to marriage, such a church would stand no longer on biblical ground but against the unequivocal witness of Scripture. A church that took this step would cease to be the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church."

My great-grandfather, Andrew John (A.J.) Hemmingson, was a member of the old Norwegian Synod, which in fact had declared full pulpit-and-altar fellow with the Missouri in 1872. Pulpit-and-altar fellowship had been established between the Missouri and Wisconsin synods in 1868. From 1872 until the late 1950s, Missouri, Wisconsin and the ELS were partners in the Evangelical Lutheran Synodical Conference. The Synodical Conference was a strong voice for confessional Lutheranism in the United States and has never been entirely replaced. The federation broke up when the Missouri Synod began moving toward closer relation with the more theologically liberal American Lutheran Church (ALC).

Fellowship between the Missouri Synod and the ALC lasted only until 1981, when a majority of Missouri Synod delegates to its national convention voted to dissolve the relation because of a continued drift toward the theological left by the ALC. In 1988 the ALC was absorbed into the ELCA.

May God grant that the remaining confessional Lutheran church-bodies find the basis for doctrinally sound unity and strengthened mission work at home and abroad.