How we celebrated Holy Week 2025

Reaffirmation of Alfonso Torres.

"But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." Joshua 24:15.

 On Easter Sunday, April 20, 2025, we  received into membership Alfonso Torres. We have known him and his family for 23 years. Five of his children were among the first to be baptized at our mission on March 25, 2007: 

Psalm 37:4

    • Yexi Karina;

    • Deisy Yovana;

    • Yaneth Andreina;

    • Yovanny Javier;

    • Jhonny Alexander.

Yaneth was the youngest at 18 months. Deisy brought Yaneth to our Sunday school classes and, from 2 to 6 years of age, Yaneth was a 

 in our preschool. Deisy and Yovanny received first communion on October 25, 2009 (Reformation Sunday). Jhonny received first communion on October 31, 2010 (again Reformation Sunday). 

Alfonso and his wife, Maria Cecilia, welcomed another daughter, Diana Carolina, and she was baptized on January 8, 2017 (the dedication of our current sanctuary). Diana also would attend our Sunday school and preschool. She received first communion on October 31, 2021.
Deisy’s daughter, Emely Antonella Estrada Torres, was baptized on December 24, 2017. Two more of Alfonso and Maria Cecilia's grandchildren, Jesuly and Josué Fernández Torres, were baptized on January 6, 2019. We received Maria Cecilia into membership by reaffirmation of faith on September 15, 2024.

Reaffirmation of Maria Cecilia.

The Torres are an example of how family can strengthen the faith and faith can strengthen the family. The great outflow of people from Venezuela has had a devastating effect on many marriages, which have not survived lengthy separations. Of the Torres children, only Yaneth and Diana remain in La Caramuca, but we give thanks to God that they have a home with both parents present and a church home in our mission.

Second part of the Sanctus

Of  course, we began our observance of Holy Week seven days earlier, on Palm Sunday, April 13, 2025.

According to John 12:1, six days before the Feast of Passover Jesus arrived in Bethany, where He had raised Lazarus from the dead. When he left for Jerusalem the next morning, a large crowd came out of the city to greet him. Having heard of Lazarus's resurrection and Jesus' other signs, both the residents of Jerusalem and Passover pilgrims came out to greet him as the multitude had welcomed Simon Maccabeus when he entered to drive the Gentiles from the holy city (1 Maccabees 13:51). But Jesus did not approach Jerusalem as a conqueror coming to free Jerusalem from its oppressors and establish his kingdom by force. He was not mounted on a white charger, but on a donkey in fulfillment of Zechariah 9:9.

He entered Jerusalem as the true King of Kings whose “dominion shall be from sea even to sea, and from the river, the Euphrates, even to the ends of the earth”, but not to make war but to “speak peace to the nations” (Zechariah 9:10).

We remembered this mission with our annual procession of palms and, as we do every Sunday, sang with joy, “Hosanna, hosanna, hosanna in the highest! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" in the second part of the Sanctus in our Holy Communion liturgy. As on the first Palm Sunday, the words are drawn from Psalm 118:25-26. The first part of the Sanctus is based on the prophet Isaiah 6:1-5.

 The vocation of womanhood

April 13 also was the fifteenth birthday of Luz Maria’s granddaughter, Anyi Vanesa Garrido Santana. We celebrated her quinceañera that afternoon. The quinceañera is celebrated across Latin America as a religious and a social event that emphasizes the importance of family and society in the life of a young woman as she passes from childhood into adulthood. The Roman Catholic version includes a mass and vows to the Virgin Mary, 

But in our Lutheran quinceañera reaffirmed her baptismal vows. She was baptized here on June 19, 2010. Her parents, along with the entire congregation, spoke the vows for her. Why repeat the baptismal vows at this time? Truly, we should remember our baptism daily, every time we pray in the name of the Trinity. Dr. Martin Luther said to remember your baptism every time you wash your face. But it was a special moment for Anyi to reaffirm her identity as a child of God as she contemplated her future direction in life. Especially because, as a woman, that might involve carrying new life in her womb, something no man will ever experience.

Nor did we forget that most blessed among women, the mother of our Lord (Luke 1:28). When the angel told Mary heard that the fruit of her womb would be the Word made flesh, she simply said, “Behold, the handmaid of the Lord; be it to me according to your word.” (verse 38). When she heard nearly same words from her relative, Elizabeth, “Blessed are you among and blessed is the fruit of your womb”, Mary broke out into the song of praise we call the Magnificat (Luke 1:47-55). We sang it at Anyi’s quinceañera.

Come, Tell the Story of Salvation
After Palm Sunday, we began a vacation Bible school with the theme, "Come, Tell the Story of Salvation." There are many Pentecostal sects in our area that don't celebrate Holy Week. Their pastors tell them it's a pagan holiday. From Monday to Wednesday, we explained the biblical basis of Holy Week to 20 children. We encouraged them to use the chronology of Holy Week to tell their parents the story of Christ's death and resurrection. It also was the occasion to celebrate the seventh birthday of Emmanuel David Sanchez, Luz Maria’s grandson.

Maundy Thursday in Barinas

We celebrated Maundy Thursday with divine service at the Corpus Christi Lutheran Church in Barrio El Cambio, Barinas. The epistle designated for Maundy Thursday (1 Corinthians 11:23-32) contains the same words of institution of the Lord's Supper as in the three synoptic gospels. For Matthew, Mark, and Luke, it is part of their account of the Passover meal that Jesus shared with the apostles before his crucifixion. However, in John's gospel, we do not find these words, but rather the story of Jesus washing his disciples' feet. In the ancient world, footwashing helped prepare people for specific tasks. 

In the Old Testament ritual context, footwashing was a symbol of purification. Priests were required to wash their hands and feet before entering the Holy Place and offering the sacrifice on the altar (Exodus 30:17-21; 40:30-32; 2 Chronicles 4:6). In Exodus 29:4 and Leviticus 8:6, footwashing is part of the priestly consecration rite. There are parallels in Greco-Roman literature. In the works of Homer and Strabo, people routinely wash their feet before entering a sacred place.

We observed Good Friday at La Caramuca with a Tenebrae service. This liturgical ceremony originated seven or eight centuries after Christ. The purpose of this service was to remember the dark moments that occurred in Jesus' life, from his euphoric entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday until the night of Jesus' burial on Good Friday. The most notable aspect of the service is several lit candlesextinguished one by one while Scripture readings are shared to tell the story of Holy Week.

After the pandemic, the palms

Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Hallelujah!

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

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

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

Something of a Passion play

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

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

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

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

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

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

Resurrection and baptism

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

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

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

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

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

News from the chicken coop

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

The bricks and mortar of the Church

A blessed Holy Week to everyone!

The numbers change daily, but as I write this, there have been165 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Venezuela, with seven deaths and 65 recoveries in a country with a population of 29 million people according to the last census. That figure probably is lower now with an estimated 4 to 5 million having fled to neighboring nations in the wake of Venezuela’s economic meltdown. Despite the borders with Colombia, Brazil and Guyana being closed, in theory, hundreds of Venezuelans have been making their way back home, because quarantine measures in other countries have left them without jobs and income to pay high rents. Since confirmed cases of COVID-19 have been much more numerous in these other countries, the returning Venezuelans are likely to have been exposed.

Nobody that we know has been stricken with the virus, much less died, but police are patrolling the streets of La Caramuca to make sure no one is on the street without a facemask, and that people maintain a proper distance in the food markets. Access to the city of Barinas has been restricted. The slaugherhouse, which is the major source of employment in La Caramuca, is still in operation, but with hours per week greatly reduced (agriculture is the major industry in our state, Barinas, with an emphasis in livestock production).

We suspended our annual Palm Sunday street procession and marked the first Sunday in Holy Week with the service of morning prayer. We always have celebrated the Eucharist every Sunday, but for the last two Sundays we have not. Since the communion service always includes the sharing of the peace, and morning prayer does not, we made this change to mimimize physical contact. I also am not greeting people at the door until it appears the worst of the pandemic has passed. The members of our small flock all see each other every other day of the week anyway, and we do not expect visitors until the crisis is over. If and when the virus appears in our surrounding community, it is unlikely that it will be spread through our Sunday morning gatherings. And the people continue to show up. But we will take some precautions.

Living stones

“You also, as 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 Peter 2:5

Sometimes it is said that the church is not a building, but people. Ŧo precise, it is ŧħe assembly of believers gathered around the Word of God preached in its purity and the sacraments administered according to the Lord’s command (Augsburg Confession, Article VII). Since the church on earth exists in three dimensions, and the living stones of the spiritual house are creatures of flesh and blood, and the sacraments consist of visible elements linked to God’s Word, this implies a physical place where God’s people meet. A house of brick and mortar (or whatever building material is available) that is an image of the spiritual house.

The preaching of the Word is proclamation, seed cast throughout the field (Matthew 13:3-23; Mark 4:3-20; Luke 8:4-15). It is broadcast to all who have ears to hear. So it makes sense to extend public preaching through a PA system, the radio, television or the Internet. But the sacraments are incarnational; the infinite is made finite in baptism and the Lord’s Supper. The grace of God is made particular to each believer, but normally not to each believer in isolation, but in community. As the sacraments can be seen and touched, as the words of confession and absolutions must be heard, there must be a solid house of prayer and worship. The house of God’s people is God’s house, and its doors must be kept open for those who seek a place of refuge. Amen.

Praying for peace and liberty

Holy Week of 2017 began with an explosion heard around the world as two suicide bombings killed 44 people at Coptic churches in Egypt on Palm Sunday. The attacks constituted one of the deadliest days of violence against Christians in Egypt in decades.

But some of the violence that marred Holy Week 2017 struck much closer to home for us. Political tension in Venezuela came to a head and five people died as encounters between anti-government protesters and the authorities turned violent.

On Wednesday, a pro-government mob attacked Jorge Urosa Savino, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Caracas as he prepared to celebrate Mass at Santa Teresa Basilica. According to reports, members of the news media also were attacked, and worshippers attending the Mass were robbed of cell phones and other valuables.

 Thousands took to the streets on Caracas on Maundy Thursday for a rally that remained peaceful until the end, when young men clashed with hundreds of riot police who lobbed tear gas to break up the crowd.

During our Holy Week services on Thursday, Friday and Sunday, we remembered in prayer both the Coptic Christians and Archbishop Urosa and his flock in Caracas. We have stressed, for the benefit of those confused by such events as Pope Francis participating last year in a Reformation Day Service with officials of the Lutheran World Federation in Lund, Sweden, that as confessional Lutherans we are not in full doctrinal agreement with either the Roman Catholic Church or the Lutheran World Federation. However, we recognize freedom of conscience and belief as a basic human right, because faith properly belongs to God's kingdom of grace, not to His kingdom of power. Furthermore, any attack on the name and symbols of Christ is a threat and an offense to us as well.

The events of Holy Week 2017 reminded us that as the shouts of “Hosannah to the Son of David” on Palm Sunday turned to “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!” on Good Friday, the fame and favor of the unbelieving world is fleeting. We understand that good government, which preserves the safety of the streets and national borders, is a blessing from God, part of the “daily bread” for which we pray in the Lord's Prayer. But we also understand that the only true peace in this world is that which we have in anticipation of our own resurrections on the day when the Lord returns in glory.

Therefore we prayed a prayer based on this collect suggested by the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod Worship Ministry:

Almighty God, heavenly Father, Your beloved Son assured His own that they would suffer in this world and yet called them to rejoice in His promise of a life no death could ever take from them. Strengthen all Your children living under persecution and threat of violence; fill them with Your unshakable peace and use their witness to bring salvation even to their persecutors and slanderers and, according to Your gracious will, bring an end to the bloodshed and violence; through the same Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Nations shall come to your light

"For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the LORD will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you. And nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising." (ESV)

 While I read from Isaiah 60:2-3, José Ignacio Garrido lit the first candle in our Advent wreath on November 29, the first Sunday in Advent 2015. The words are addressed to the people of God, who were the children of Israel in Isaiah's day, but now the verses speakto the Church of the New Testament.  They announce the opening of the Messianic period. In Jesus the glory of the Lord has arisen upon the Church, like the sun in all its splendor and majesty. While the earth as a whole still is covered by the darkness of sin and iniquity, the light of Christ upon the Church, which shone upon those who awaited the Messiah, arose and shone during all the long centuries since the Gospel first was proclaimed. This light will shine through the Church into the darkness and draw the nations to it, as light of a heavenly chorus drew the shepherds and later the miraculous star drew the Magi to Bethlehem.

This is the first years that we have used an Advent wreath during this season in our worship at Epiphany Lutheran Mission of La Caramuca. The candlestand was built by ironworker Ciro Mendoza, and was decorated by Luz Maria and her daughter, Angi Santana. As I explained, the circle of candles appears to be adorned with pine branches, but the spines really represent the crown of thorns on the Lord's head as He made His journey to the cross for us. 

That is why our first Gospel reading for Advent was Matthew 21:1-9. This is Matthew's account of the Lord's last entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. We remember it as we begin our preparation for the celebration of His birth, because His Incarnation also was a joyous entry into this world, at which time He was hailed and adored. But it also was the beginning of His road to the cross, because He was born into this world to suffer and die for us. 

We closed the old church year amid news of disasters, terrorist attacks, an international refugee crisis and the possibility of another global war. There were Venezuelans who, with people of other nations, died in the terrorist actions in Paris and Mali. Closer to home, starting on November 7, the neighboring state of Mérida, Venezuela, was struck with a series of earthquakes measuring as high as 5.3 in magnitude, and resulting in death, injuries and damages to homes and public buildings. Our preschool, as well as other schools, was ordered to close early for the year, as critical national elections have been scheduled for December 6. Many hope these elections will bring about changes in a country that has for years been plagued by runaway inflation, shortages of foodstuffs and medicines, and one of the world's highest rates of violent crime. Unfortunately, fears for public safety during this politically tense period proved valid as one candidate, Luis Manuel Diaz, was assassinated on the campaign trail.

Of course, the Scripture readings for the last three Sundays of the church year deal with the end times, the trials to come and the ultimate victory of Christ. We have been able to take comfort in such passages as Matthew 24:6-13, "And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you dare not be alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are but the beginning of the birth pains. 

“Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come." (ESV)

Due to the early closing of the preschool, we held a Christmas party for the children and their parents on November 26, as we may not see some of them again until January. All the children received presents and they sang their favorite Christmas songs, such as "Campanas Por Doquier" which sound like "Jingle Bells", but really is about the Nativity). On November 18, the preschool children exchanged Christmas greetings with the preschoolers of St. Michael's Lutheran Church, Bloomington, Minnesota, by way of an Internet videoconference. We only recently have had the bandwidth to try something like that.

We ask you to remember Venezuela in your prayers in the days to come, and especially to ask for a peaceful solution to the country's problems and a brighter future in 2016.



El Amor de Dios/Campanas Por Doquier from David Ernst on Vimeo.

A tale of two donkeys

A meditation for the day of the Annunciation, March 25, 2015.

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

On Monday we began our activities with the preschool children to prepare them for Holy Week. The first activity in the Book of Holy Week that each received was coloring a picture of Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. We will celebrate Palm Sunday, the first Sunday of Holy Week, this next Sunday.

When they saw this drawing, children, without prompting, suddenly began to sing a Christmas song, "Mi Burrito Sabanero.”

Con mi burrito sabanero voy camino de Belén.
Si me ven, si me ven, voy camino de Belén.

And then:

Navidad,navidad,hoy es navidad.
Es un día de alegría y felicidad.

Why? In this picture Jesus is seated on a donkey, in the same way that in the drawings of the Virgin Mary, she is sitting on a donkey for the journey to Bethlehem with Joseph. In a sense this link is appropriate because today we remember the Annunciation, when the archangel Gabriel appeared to the Virgin Mary to greet her and announce that she would be the mother of the Savior.

In the historic church calendar, March 25 is the day of the Annunciation. Why do we remember this story of Christmas in the middle of Lent, the season of the suffering and death of our Lord?

A part of the answer is another question: Why do we celebrate Christmas on December 25? The Bible does not give a precise date of Jesus' birth. So why the December 25?

Today there is a great lie that the date, December 25, is derived from a pagan festival of worship of a god other than the Triune God. The truth is slightly more complicated, but it is important to understand.

A third question: Why is the date of Easter is variable? Why not celebrate Easter on the same date every year? Because Christ's Passover is linked with the Passover, which is the celebration of the Israelites' liberation from slavery in Egypt.

Our calendar, that of Spain and other European countries, is a form of the Roman calendar, which is based on the movements of the sun. The Hebrew calendar is based on the movements of the moon, so its months does not correspond exactly to those of our calendar. The date of Easter in our calendar follows the Hebrew calendar, so it varies according to our calendar.

However, according to an ancient calculation, the date of Passover in the year of Christ's death was March 25. So Christ died on March 25 and at the time of the Greco-Roman culture, people placed great importance on symmetry in the universe. For example, they believed that the deepest point of the sea should be equal to the height of the highest mountain in the world. Today we know that is not the truth, but it made sense to them.

It also made sense to them that Christ died on the same date that He was conceived, the day the Archangel appeared to Mary. So, according to this view, Christ died on March 25 and was conceived on March 25. And, what date is nine months after March 25? The 25th of December!

In this way they developed our church calendar. True, no one knows the exact date of the birth of Jesus Christ. Our church calendar, however, is a great tool to remember the life of Christ in the course of one year. And the whole life of Christ had only one purpose: to keep the Law of God in our place, suffer the punishment for our sins and die in our place on the cross. Because of His death, we have forgiveness of our sins, and because of his glorious resurrection on the third day, we have the promise of eternal life.

God has His will for our lives, to live as His sons and daughters. However, because of our sinful nature, none of us can fulfill God's law perfectly. But Christ has done so in our place, and suffered the punishment in our place. And because of His victory over sin and death, one day we are going to rise from the dead and live forever with Him,

For this purpose Jesus was born of the virgin Mary, and in the season of Advent, in preparation for Christmas, we remember His destiny. Also in this Lenten season, we give thanks for the gift of Jesus the angel announced first to Mary.

In this gift we hope for the future, so at this point, let us pray with confidence for the future of our children, for our country and for peace and the resolution of all our problems.

In Christ we have the peace that passes all understanding. Amen.

We celebrated the Annunciation with the preschool children and their famlies

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.

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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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