Shining the light of Christ

Scented gift candles made from leftover wax from altar candles.

“For this holy house, and for all who offer here their worship and praise, let us pray to the Lord” (from the long-form Kyrie),

On Sunday, January 5, 2025, we celebrated the Epiphany of our Lord and the eighth anniversary of the consecration of our sanctuary. We began construction of a two-story church and school building a year earlier, thanks to a donation from Venezuela Lutheran Mission Partnership (VLMP). 

It was kairos, the right time. Four years of hyperinflation would follow, emigration from Venezuela would become a stampede, and that was before COVID-19. We would not have been able to build this holy house at any point afterward.As in past years, members of our sister congregation, Corpus Christi Lutheran Church in Barinas, worshipped with us and later joined us for a meal and cake.

Luz para las naciones

The children who attended our vacation Bible school sang “Brilla, Jesús”, a Spanish version of “Shine, Jesus, shine” in sign language, their project for the week. The simple praise song, written by Graham Kendrick in 1987, is a favorite in Venezuela. It is based on Genesis 1:3; Psalm 139:23; John 1:5; John 8:12; John 8:32; 2 Corinthians 3:18; and Revelation 22:1-2.

This fit with the theme of our vacation Bible school, “Light for the nations”. This phrase appears in the messianic prophecies of Isaiah 42:6 and Isaiah 49.6. The Hebrew word translated as “nations” refers to those outside the covenant people of Israel, and thus could also be translated as “gentiles”. A form of the phrase is used with the corresponding Greek word in Luke 2:32, as part of the Nunc Dimittis or “Song of Simeon”, that we sing after the Eucharist every Sunday: “A light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel.” In Acts 13:47, Paul and Barnabas justify preaching the Gospel to gentiles with a more direct citation of Isaiah 49:6. “For so the Lord has commanded us: “I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.”
The first day of vacation Bible school was Thursday, January 2, the day after the Circumcision and Naming of Jesus on the church calendar (because it’s eight days after Christmas). So the activity involved identifying the names (or titles) given to Jesus in the Bible and choosing a favorite. Most chose “King of Kings”, but some chose “Light of the World”, “Messiah”, “Good Shepherd” and “Emmanuel”.

On the second day of vacation Bible school, we compared the verses John 8:12 and Matthew 5:14-16. If Jesus said, “I am the Light of the world”, how could He also say, “You are the light of the world”? Because we are sent out into the world to shine the light of Christ into its darkness. The second part of John 8:12 reads, “He who follows me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.” Our Lord also says in Matthew 5:14-16: “Let your light so shine before men that they may see you good works and glorify you Father in heaven.” So we studied the 10 Commandments and what the Small Catechism says about the third use of the law as a guide for living the Christian life.

Keeping the Mass in Christmas

On Sunday, December 29, 2024, we celebrated the Mass of the Nativity in the morning in La Caramuca and in the afternoon at Corpus Christi Lutheran Church in Barinas. This was the eucharistic service. On December 24, we marked Christmas Eve with a vespers service in La Caramuca. At both locations, worship was followed by a traditional Venezuelan Christmas dinner of hallacas, chicken salad and pan de jamón (ham-filled bread).

Creating hallacas involves wrapping a mixture of seasoned beef/pork, capers, raisins, olives, onions, garlic, peppers, and spices in masa, a corn dough. Banana leaves are used to cover the filled parcel before it’s secured with twine or string. To a gringo, the hallaca may look like a tamale, but do not call it that. With the tamale, a dish typically associated with Mexico and Central America, masa dough is filled with meats, cheese and veggies, wrapped up in corn husks and steamed. The corn husks impart a different texture and flavor.

Witnesses till the end

On St. John’s Day, December 27, 2024, we met with local coordinators of other LeadaChild projects in Venezuela in a Zoom conference. We thanked everyone for their work over the past year, including Elsy Machado, national director of LeadaChild Venezuela; Nury de Milian, director of LeadaChile Latin America; and Dr. Philip Frusti, executive director of LeadaChild in the United States.

We meditated on the fact that “martyr” means “witness” in Greek. From St. Stephen (Acts 7) to the present day, many Christians have died for faith in Jesus Christ. We give thanks for their testimony, which has been the seed of the church. Even those who die for Christ without giving voice, like the Holy Innocents of Bethlehem (Matthew 2:13-23), show by their death the depth of evil and the truth of God’s Word. We also gave thanks for St. John the Evangelist, the only one among the apostles to die of old age (John 21:21-24). Some face a violent death with the help of the Holy Spirit and by their example bear witness to the truth of God’s Word. But others, like John, are blessed with a long life to teach new Christians. Those of us involved with LeadaChild are committed to seeing children grow in faith and to teaching that faith to their children.

The blessing of marriage and family

“My family: A blessing from God” was the theme of our vacation Bible school from August 16 to 18. The content was developed by Félix Zamora, the pastor of “Cristo Vencedor” (“Christus Victor”) Lutheran Church, La Pica, in the eastern state of Monagas, Venezuela. Seventy children and adults attended the first day, and 40 on each of the two following days.

The first day: God instituted marriage in principle between a man and a woman for life with the goals of companionship and mutual help between parents and the formation of the best environment to raise children (Genesis 1:27-28; 2:21-24). Our Lord reaffirmed that God “made them in the beginning, male and female He made them” and “For this reason a man will leave his father and his mother, and be united to his wife, and the two will be one flesh. ” This design does not include divorce: "Therefore what God joined together, let not man separate" (Matthew 19:4-6). God instituted marriage in the beginning as a blessing, but divorce is always the result of sin. Also regarding sin, Saint Paul says that marriage is not necessary for salvation, but marriage should be desired as a means to avoid the temptation of sexual immorality (1 Corinthians 7:2-4).

The second day: We are children of God by the order of creation, but we share the sinful nature of our human parents. Because of the fall of Adam and Eve, the first parents in sin, we lost the primordial harmony between God and humans, and between humans, especially between men and women, and nature. However, God promised them a Savior who would defeat the devil. Jesus Christ, as the second Adam (Romans 5:12-21), restored right relationship with God in fulfillment of God's promise (Matthew 1:18-25). We are now children of God by the new birth in baptism (1 Peter 1:22-25).

The third day: The family is the nucleus of human society, the Christian family is also the best environment for the formation of the faithful. In his profession of faith, Joshua spoke like a faithful father, saying that even though all others rejected God's justice and mercy, his family would continue to worship the true God (Joshua 24:14-15). In addition, Joshua called the people to leave behind the gods that their fathers worshiped in Egypt. However, although our identity as children of God is more important than family loyalty, we are still obligated to honor our earthly parents as the Son of God did (Luke 2:39-52).

We concluded the program after the Divine Office on the eleventh Sunday after Trinity with the presentation of prizes to those who brought the most family and friends to the vacation Bible school, those who gave of their time so that all the activities were a success, and notebooks for all children.

The appointed reading of the Old Testament (Genesis 4:1-15) showed how parental disobedience against God's commandments results in even greater rebellion in the next generation. Also, those who think they deserve God's blessing for false displays of piety often look down on others, which was also the point of today's Gospel (Luke 18:9-14). Saint Paul says in the epistle (Ephesians 2:1-10) "But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you are saved).” In his mercy, he put a mark on Cain, so that anyone who found him would not kill him, by grace the Lord has marked us through baptism for eternal life.

Some of the children who attended vacation Bible school have been coming to our Sunday afternoon Bible study. Currently we are reviewing the books of the Bible, their type of literature and chronological order.

Maintenance needs and future building plans

As preparation for the new school year that begins this month, Pedro Santana, Luz Maria’s son, doing the latest round of repair on the preschool playhouse. It was built in 2010, but requires periodic maintenance because of termite and weather damage. We had originally thought of installing a plastic playhouse like you see at McDonald’s, but were unable to obtain one. So we had one made of locally available lumber (forestry is part of our economy). Our problem with termites has been greatly reduced with the expansion of our free-range chicken flock. The chickens eat a large quantity of insects, not only termites, but also biting ants.

Power outages continue to be a challenge. Our electricity can go down at any time of day, with the blackout lasting anywhere from 15 minutes to 12 hours. This summer we have experienced both heavy rains (resulting in downed power lines) and intense heat (increasing electrical demand). So lately the outages have been lasting longer every day. Solar energy has been part of the solution for us, But solar energy requires storage capacity, especially when one rainy day follows another, so we would like to buy two more batteries to extend the period when we keep the lights and security cameras on at night.

Our 2012 Volkswagen Parati Crossover continues to serve us well, but the fuel tank float no longer works. So we cannot be sure how much gasoline we have in the tank, and this is important as there are long lines at the service stations. We are waiting for a replacement tank float to become available. There also is a part that we need for our printer that we have to wait to be shipped from Costa Rica.

But maintenance and repair is not our only practical concern. We are talking with Pastor Eliezer Mendoza, director of the Juan de Frias Theological Institute about the establishment of a regional library and study center. In the absence of a residential Lutheran seminary in Venezuela, the Juan de Frias Institute has, since the 1970s, provided theological education by extension. A new headquarters for Juan de Frias (possibly the beginning of a seminary) in Barquisimeto, a major city three hours drive north of Barinas. We would become a branch of that. There is space here for another outbuilding constructed for that purpose.

A prayer request for Doña Carmen

August 26 marked a full year since Luz Maria’s mother, Carmen Rivero de Henriquez, fell and fractured her hip. She turns 93 this month. It has been a long recovery and Luz Maria and her six siblings continue to work together to provide Doña Carmen with round-the-clock care. An assisted-living unit, like where my mother lives, is out of the question. But, thanks be to God, all of her children live in and around the city of Barinas, except for Moisés, who lives in Caracas. Despite her advanced age, Carmen has contributed her time and talents to our mission since the beginning. 

“The days of our life are seventy years, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away. Who considers the power of your anger, and your wrath according to the fear of you? So teach us to number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” (Psalm 90:10-12)

A week of prayer and praise

On July 1, Canada celebrates the day when the country became a self-governing “dominion” within the British Empire. On July 4, of course, the United States of America celebrates its Declaration of Independence from British rule. Venezuela celebrates a similar declaration of independence from Spain on July 5. Tucked in between these national holidays is July 2, when, according to the historic, one-year lectionary, the church remembers the Visitation of the Virgin Mary to her cousin, Elizabeth, after the conception of Jesus.

All of this factored into our plans for the first week in July as we closed our school year with a farewell for the summer party for the preschool children and vacation Bible school for the older children that Luz Maria tutors in the afternoon.

Four children will leave our preschool to begin first grade next school year (which begins in September):

• Diana Carolina Torres Ortega;
• Cristian Alexander Dugarte Laguna;
• Josneybert Alexander Ramirez Chacón;
• Adriana Alejandra Zambrano Carrera.

We already have said goodbye to a fifth child who would have graduated, but whose parents took her with them as they moved to the neighboring state of Apure:

• Eliannay Gabriela Farfan Castellano.

This year marks the 15th year since we started the preschool and Luz Maria has provided afterschool tutoring almost as long. Most of those who have been baptized and received first communion in our mission have done so because of their exposure to Christian education in the preschool and afterschool classes. There are families who attend other churches, but nevertheless support our educational endeavors, because there are so few other schools that pay attention to spiritual as well as intellectual, emotional and social formation. Also, as we have witnessed over the years, much of this is not due to our efforts, but to the work of the Holy Spirit in Word and sacrament.

The theme for our vacation Bible school was “Heroes of Faith”, with emphasis on Abraham; Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego; Daniel; and Hannah, the mother of Samuel the prophet. For our opening devotion on July 4, I read from Daniel 9:1-19, a long prayer in which Daniel confesses his own sins and those of his people, interceding for his nation and asking for God’s mercy and blessing. The stories of Daniel in the lion’s den, and the three cast into the fiery furnace, were especially appropriate as they were living in exile. Many Venezuelans have left their homeland, for somewhat but not entirely self-imposed exile due to political and economic conditions here. But faith in God’s promises sustained them and God rescued them even in the face of certain death. Likewise, it is good for Christians of all nations to remember, especially on national holidays, that God does not bless nations with peace and prosperity on their own merits, but out of His mercy. And nations that depart from His law, even the nation He chose to the people among whom the Savior was to be born, will be chastised.

On Thursday, July 5, I opened the vacation Bible school by reading the Song of Hannah from 1 Samuel 2:1-10. This is a poetic expression of praise to the Lord from a barren woman given a son to be dedicated to the Lord’s service. It prefigures the Song of Mary (the Magnificat) in Luke1:46-55, which Mary sang after her cousin, Elizabeth, said to her, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of the womb”, and that the child in her womb (John the Baptist) jumped for joy at the approach of the Child that Mary bore. This is an important proof-text for the Biblical teaching that human life begins at conception, something on everyone’s minds as the success of pro-abortion activists in Ireland and Argentina have prompted renewed efforts to clear the way for legalized abortion in Venezuela.

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.

Summer of the prophets

We completed our vacation Bible school for the summer in five days, from Tuesday, August 16, through Saturday, August 20. In addition, on Sunday morning, August 21, the sermon was tied in with the final lesson of vacation Bible school and after the service, several students were recognized for outstanding memorization of Bible verses. Sixteen children attended the first day of vacation Bible school, with attendance of around 30 for each of the following days. Each daily session included an opening devotion, songs, crafts and games. This year's Bible school focused on several prophets of the Old Testament: Elijah, Elisha, Joel, Habbakuk and Christ in His role as prophet. The materials were developed and provided to us by the Lutheran Church of Venezuela.

The text for the first lesson was 1 Kings 17:1-15 (the story of Elijah and the widow of Zarephath). The objective was that the children might learn that God provides all that we have and all that we need. Each lesson was divided into a teaching of the Law and a teaching of the Gospel. In the first lesson, the message of the Law was that we often are afraid that we will not have everything we need because of a lack of faith that God will provide for us at all times and in all circumstances. The Gospel message: Knowing what God works and how He provides for each of us in our need, He promises to multiply the blessings in our lives, so we seek first the Kingdom of God and all the rest will follow.

The text for the study of Elisha was 2 Kings 4:38-44 (Elisha and the miracle of the great pot). The theme was the miracles of God in our lives and the objective was for the children to learn that in any situation, good or bad, God never will leave us and will provide the means necessary for us to emerge victorious. The Law: When we do not trust in God, we do not see His wisdom displayed in our lives, therefore we do not receive all blessings He intends for us. The Gospel: God has the power to transform the bad things in our lives into blessings. The text for the third lesson was Joel 2:27-32. The theme was the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in baptism with the objective that the children learn about holy baptism and the Holy Spirit comes to them through the visible means of grace. The Law: God judges all nations according to His commandments and punishes those who do not trust in Him. At times we may believe that we can obtain salvation through our own works and forget that we are saved only by the merits of Christ, Who comes to us by means of Word and the sacraments (baptism and the Lord's Supper). The Gospel: God will pardon all who call upon His name and all who receive the Holy Spirit in baptism will be illumined by His gifts and be able to confess Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

The text for the fourth lesson was Habakkuk 1:2-4, 3:17-19, and the theme was the just shall live by faith. The objective was that the children understand although many bad things may happen in this world, God does not abandon us, but justifies us through faith in Christ Jesus. Law: We may be tempted to despair, because we do not trust in God does everything good in His perfect time. The Gospel: We may have confidence that God will do justice in the perfect moment because we are not traveling through the valley of fear, but rather climbing the heights of faith.

The text for the fifth and final lesson was Matthew 17: 1-8 (the story of the Transfiguration). The theme was that Christ is now the one and only prophet and that the children understand the office of Christ as prophet, knowing that there is no true revelation from God apart from Him. Law: There are many things that we do not understand, so we look toward our own security and avoid venturing outside our comfort zone. The Gospel: With Christ as our Guide and Counselor, we need not be afraid and look toward the future with hope and joy.

That Sunday's sermon text was 1 Corinthians 10:1-13, in which St. Paul compares Moses, whom the Jews regarded as the greatest of the Old Testament prophets, with Christ, the prophet greater than Moses of whom Moses prophesied, and the liberation of the Israelites from slavery with redemption and new life in Christ. In baptism we cross from slavery to sin to freedom in Christ, as the Israelites by a mighty show of God's power, were able to cross from slavery in Egypt to liberty on the other side of the waters of the Red Sea.

But they still had a long journey to the Promised Land, so God provided for them food and drink in the wilderness, as He provides His body and blood in the Lord's Supper to sustain us through our journey through this life. Despite God's loving care, however, most of the Israelites died in the wilderness and did not reach the Promised Land. So it will be with us if we do not stay true to the faith of our baptism and fall into idolatry. No matter if we receive the blessing of baptism, if we do not live as sons and daughters of God, if we fall into sin and not repent, we will not escape the judgment of God on the Last Day. And if we receive the Body and Blood of Christ unworthily, that is, without repentance, we receive the sacrament to our condemnation.

We give thanks to God for the children who were able to attend this vacation Bible school and we hope to host another during the Christmas-New Year break.

Queen for a day

The preschool children chose Gaudis Saray Rangel Rosales as their Queen of the Carnaval for 2009. Every year we have a Carnaval party on the Friday before Ash Wednesday because what follows is a four-day weekend, in which schools, businesses and other institutions are closed. "Carnaval" is derived from a medieval Latin phrase that means "farewell to the flesh", and the four days of Carnaval are supposed to provide a last chance for partying before the beginning of Cuaresma, or Lent. Supposedly everyone will be fasting and avoiding meat and other fleshly pleasures during Lent (if you believe that, I have some ocean-front property in Arizona that might interest you).

Carnaval in Venezuela is characterized by parades, street parties and pranksters throwing water-filled balloons at passing traffic. Every parade must have a queen to lead it. We choose our queen with a simple show of hands, but often the selection of a Carnaval queen is a fullblown beauty pageant. This type of contest is serious business in Venezuela. It is a matter of national pride that Venezuelans have won more international beauty pageants than women from any other country.

Winners of the national Miss Venezuela pageant have won the Miss Universe contest five times, Miss Universe five times (including Miss Universe 2008), Miss World five times, and Miss International five times. Alexandra Braun Waldeck, who won Venezuela's first Miss Earth title in 2005, was first runner-up at the Miss Venezuela pageant.

Between 1983 and 2003, Miss Venezuela placed in the Miss Universe semifinals each consecutive year, and placed in the top six or higher every year from 1991 to 2003. This streak was ended in 2004 when Ana Karina Áñez was not chosen as a semifinalist at Miss Universe 2004. Venezuela has also twice held the Miss Universe and Miss World titles simultaneously: in 1981-1982 with Irene Saez (Miss Universe) and Pilin Leon (Miss World), and again in 1995-1996 with Alicia Machado (Miss Universe) and Jacqueline Aguilera (Miss World).

Some Miss Venezuela competitors have achieved success in other national pageants. Natascha Börger became the first Venezuelan to switch countries, when she won the Miss Deutschland title in 2002 after placing 14th at Miss Venezuela 2000. She went on to place sixth at Miss Universe 2002 behind Miss Venezuela Cynthia Lander. In 2006, Francys Sudnicka, who placed in the top 10 representing the state of Trujillo in Miss Venezuela 2003, won the Miss Poland Universe title. She represented Poland at Miss Universe 2006. Three Venezuelans who won the Miss Italia nel Mondo (Miss Italy in the World) pageant placed in the final five of Miss Venezuela.

Nevertheless, we do not emphasize competition in our selection of a queen. The point of our Carnaval party gives the children the opportunity to dress up in colorful costumes and spend some time with their parents, many of whom attend. Genesis Marquina came as a cat and another girl wore a rabbit suit this year. After enjoying some games and refreshments, the children march around the neighborhood blowing whistles. They also distributed about 50 tracts from Cristo Para Todas Las Naciones (CPTLN or the Spanish Lutheran Hour).

Due to drastic worldwide budget cuts by Lutheran Hour Ministries, CPTLN activities in Venezuela have been greatly diminished. The organization's headquarters has been moved from Caracas to the much smaller city of Valencia. Longtime director Dr. Jaime Paredes resigned and passed administration of CPTLN in Venezuela to a nephew. That is about all we have heard, although we continue to occasionally receive packages of CPTLN tracts.


The story of Samuel

The following Saturday, February 21, we brought five young people from La Caramuca to a one-day vacation Bible school at Corpus Christi Lutheran Church in Barinas. We had visiting teachers from Barquisimeto, Sandra and Francisco Mania, and Pastor Miguelangel Perez. Pastor Eduardo Flores also was on hand. There was a total of 12 young people in attendance.

The theme was the birth and childhood of the prophet Samuel. We began by discussing how God answered Hannah's prayer for a son (like Isaac, Samson and John the Baptist, Samuel will be a son born to a previously barren woman) and looking at the Song of Hannah in 1 Samuel 2:1-10. The Song of Hannah is a poem inserted into the prose narrative of 1 Samuel. In synagogues to this day this passage is read every year on the first day of Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year celebration.

The Song of Hannah follows the characteristic patten of an Israelite hymn:

• An introductory summary;
• Praise of the Lord as Creator of the universe;
• A confession of confidence in Him who will judge the entire world and send His Messiah.

The Song of Hannah foreshadows the Magnificat, or Song of Mary, in Luke 1:46-55. Like Hannah, Mary praises the Lord for the gift that He has implanted in her womb. It was not only a personal blessing for her, but for Israel and all nations, and for that, "all generations shall call me blessed." Also, like the Song of Hannah, the Magnificat plays on the theme of reversals; God shall humble the proud and exalt the humble, show mercy to the righteous and judge the wicked.

The Song of Hannah was used to explain to the young people why hymns used in liturgical worship are structured the way they are. The point of singing hymns is not to make ourselves feel good, but to glorify God and proclaim His message of salvation.

I often think of this as I struggle to learn guitar chords. Alonso's assignment to Corpus Christi ends this month and he has done so much to teach music both to the young people and the congregation as a whole. For example, he has taught the congregation to sing "Sostenos firmes, oh Señor" ("Lord, Keep Us Steadfast In Thy Word") as a round, which is very beautiful. We certainly will miss him when he's gone.

After the Song of Hannah, we focused on the story of Samuel as a boy in the temple and how the Lord called to him (1 Samuel 3:1-4:1. We emphasized how even a young person might be called to serve the Lord, even in a difficult task (in the case of Samuel, it was to announce God's judgment against the high priest Eli and his corrupt sons).

After the lessons, the young people enjoyed themselves, playing games in the street.

Imposition of ashes

We had an attendance of about 15 people for the Ash Wednesday evening service, which was quite good when you consider a) the total membership is no more than 30; and b) Ash Wednesday, unlike the days of Carnaval, is not a national holiday in Venezuela. We followed the Order of Public Confession in Culto Cristiano (much the same as in the 1941 Lutheran Hymnal), but added in the imposition of ashes (definitely not in TLH, but I understand there is an order of service for it in the new Lutheran Service Book).

The practice of wearing sackcloth and sprinkling oneself with ashes to express sorrow and/or repentance of sin dates back to ancient times. The ritual of beginning the season of Lent with everyone receiving the mark of the cross in ashes on one's forehead seems to have originated in the 12th Century. Before that, the imposition of ashes was reserved only for those who had fallen away from the church through grave public sin (murder, adultery, etc.) and wished reconciliation. During the time of the Reformation, Lutherans retained Ash Wednesday as the beginning the 40 days of Lent, but the imposition of ashes ritual fell into disuse, for reasons that are not entirely clear. Recently there has been a revival of the ritual in Lutheran circles, including the Lutheran Church of Venezuela but it is not considered mandatory for everyone to participate.

As practiced here, everyone who so desires may write down on a piece of paper some specific sin of which they wish to repent. Then the pieces of paper are burned to produce the ashes. (I have heard elsewhere that the tradition is to burn palms from the previous Palm Sunday.)

Receiving the imposition of ashes certainly is consistent with our understanding of Lent as a time of repentance and reflexion on the suffering and death of Christ on the cross for our sins. Luz Maria and I wish all of you a blessed Lent in anticipation of an even more blessed Easter.

By Salvation's Walls Surrounded

One of my favorite hymns is "Glorious Things of Thee are Spoken" by John Newton (he also wrote "Amazing Grace"). The first verse goes like this:

Glorious things of thee are spoken,
Zion, city of our God.
He whose Word cannot be broken,
Formed thee for His own abode.
On the Rock of Ages founded,
What can shake thy sure repose?
By salvation's walls surrounded,
Thou may'st smile at all thy foes.

Of course we are by salvation's walls surrounded in La Caramuca, but now by a wall of masonry as well. It lacks only metal gates, which we expect to have installed in the next couple of weeks. The entire mission is now enclosed.

Despite a generous donation toward this project, it has strained our budget to continue. This has been due to the steadily rising costs of materials and labor in this inflationary economy. Nevertheless, we have pressed on for three reasons:

• First, the more we improve the property, the more we must
  control access to prevent petty theft and vandalism (somebody stole our
  parrot a few weeks ago!).


• Second, for the sake of the children. We have encouraged
  them to visit us and use our property as a playground. But up to now we
  have not been able to prevent them from doing so when we are absent and
  therefore unable to supervise them. To avoid accidental injuries (and
  there have been some close calls), we must establish a physical barrier.


• Third, the wall gives the mission a more "institutional"
  appearance and helps convince the community of our intention to serve
  over the long term. Just down the block stands an empty building that
  had been a Pentecostal church. It did quite a few good works in the
  community for the two years that it was in operation, but the doors
  have been closed for seven years now. Pentecostal churches, especially
  the "house churches" rise and fall like mushrooms. One of our big
  challenges is to assure everyone that our mission (God willing) will
  not be like those of the past: here today, gone tomorrow.

Wedding of Ted and Rebecca Krey


On August 30, 2008, Luz María and
I attended the wedding of Pastor Ted Krey and his wife, Rebecca, at La Fortaleza Lutheran
Church in Maracay. They had been married in Canada, but this ceremony was for all their Venezuelan friends who could not attend the first one.

The service followed the common liturgy that has been adopted by the Lutheran Church of Venezuela. I might note that the closing hymn was a Spanish version of "Joyful, joyful, we adore
Thee", a hymn set to the fourth and final movement of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, commonly known as the "Ode to Joy". This is a very popular piece of classical music in Venezuela. You frequently hear it on the radio and high school bands often play it.


"Joyful, joyful, we adore Thee", was written by Henry J. van Dyke, and first was published in the 1911 Presbyterian Hymnal. The first stanza in English goes like this:

Joyful, joyful, we adore Thee, God of glory, Lord of love;
Hearts unfold like flowers before Thee, opening to the sun above.
Melt the clouds of sin and sadness; drive the dark of doubt away;
Giver of immortal gladness, fill us with the light of day!

This is the Spanish version:

Jubilosos, te adoramos, Dios de gloria y Salvador.
Nuestras vidas te entregamos como se abre al sol la flor.
Ahuyenta nuestras males y tristezas, oh Jesús.
Danos bienes celestiales. Llénanos de gozo y luz.

Bereshit bara Elohim et hashamayim ve'et ha'arets

Really, it's:

בראשית ברא אלהים את השמים ואת הארץ

But your mileage may vary in regard to Hebrew fonts and Web browsers. The more familiar English translation is, "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth" (Genesis 1:1).
We dashed to Maracay for the wedding August 30, then returned to La Caramuca that evening so that I could preach in Corpus Christi Sunday
morning and we could lead our Sunday school in the afternoon. Then Sunday night we boarded the bus for Caracas to attend a week-long intensive study of Genesis. The course was taught by Pastor Mark Braden of Zion Lutheran Church, Cleghorn, Wisconsin. We studied the text word by word in the original language, which means we did not get that far even for an overview, only to chapter 17.

Luz María and I took the course together, which was a lot fun. But I had something of an advantage in pronouncing the guttural Hebrew, since Spanish does have many sounds made deep in the throat. I cannot roll my r's the way Venezuelans do, though.

We reviewed the many foundations of the New Testament in Genesis, starting with the original Messianic prophecy (Genesis 3:15).

We also looked at Noah's Flood as a prefiguring of holy baptism (1 Peter 3:21), and Pentecost and the Great Commission as reversals of the Tower of Babel (in the Genesis episode, humanity was cursed with a confusion of tongues and dispersed to many parts of the world; at Pentecost, people gathered from the far corners of the Roman Empire heard the Gospel proclaimed in their own language, and in the final verses of Matthew, chapter 28, Jesus sends his apostles out into the
world to gather all the nations into the church).

We talked quite a bit about the mysterious figure of Melchizedek, priest of "God Most High" and king of the city that one day would be called Jerusalem. In Genesis 14, it is written that Melchizedek "brought out bread and wine" and blessed God and Abraham. Not only did Abraham accept the blessing, he offered Melchizedek a tithe of all that he had taken from the petty kings that he defeated in the process of rescuing his wayward nephew, Lot.

Later the writer of the epistle to the Hebrews would call Jesus Christ "high priest after the order of Melchizedek", both high priest and king forever. In Psalm 110, King David wrote, "The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at My right hand...You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek". This psalm is referenced by our Lord Himself in Matthew 22: 41-46:

"Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question, saying, “What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?” They said to him, “The son of David.” He said to them, “How is it then that David, in the Spirit, calls him Lord, saying, The Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet? If then David calls him Lord, how is he his son?” And no one was able to answer him a word, nor from that day did
anyone dare to ask him any more questions."

In Psalm 110, David refers to One who will be a king greater than himself, that is to say, the Messiah of Israel, seated at the right hand of Jehovah. As we learned in our course on the Psalms, taught by Pastor Rudy Blank, to be seated at the right hand of a Middle Eastern king meant to be entrusted with the full confidence and authority of that king. David also prophecies that the Messiah would be both a king and high priest, like Melchizedek.

In 2 Samuel 24:25 we read that David offered up sacrifices to God in the manner of a priest. When King Saul tried this, his sacrifices were not acceptable to God, because at that point God had withdrawn His favor from the faithless and disobedient Saul and would direct Samuel to anoint David as God's chosen king. The word "Messiah" means "anointed one". Thus, to Jewish believers in the first century, to call Jesus a high priest after the order of Melchizedek meant that although he was not a descendant of Aaron, according to the priesthood of the Old Testament, as the promised king of the lineage of David, he could offer sacrifices to God as did Melchizedek, priest of God and king of Jerusalem in Abraham's day, and as did King David himself. Like His ancestor, David, Jesus was both priest and king -- and prophet. Although David's identity as a prophet is not emphasized in the Old Testament, Psalm 110 and other psalms contain Messianic prophecies.

Congress of Lutheran Educators

Luz María took the final exam for the Genesis course early and left Thursday night with Elsy de Machado for the annual Congress of Lutheran
Educators in Barquisimeto. Luz María is national coordinator for Christian education for the Lutheran Church of Venezuela. In Barquisimeto she presented a slide show on the results of this year's vacation Bible school program. The highest levels of attendance were found in La Caramuca (92 children in total) and Tierra de Gracia
Lutheran Farm in Monagas (208 children). Volunteers from St. Louis,
Missouri, and several young men in the "seminarista" program were involved in VBS on the farm.

On Friday evening I returned to La Caramuca to prepare for preaching and leading the service at Corpus Christi on Sunday, Sept. 7, 2008.

Two weeks of vacation Bible school

We just completed two weeks of vacation Bible school.

According to information gleaned from the Web, the first vacation Bible school was held in 1894 at the Methodist Church in Hopewell, Illinois (30 minutes from Peoria) under the supervision of Mattie Miles. A former public school teacher who had married the Methodist minister, she also taught Sunday school, but was frustrated by the time constraints of teaching one morning per week. Forty children enrolled for her first summer event, which ran for four weeks.

Two weeks were enough for us.

We presented the same five-day program in La Caramuca from August 5 to 9 and at Corpus Christi Lutheran Church in Barinas from August 12 to 16. Closing ceremonies in la Caramuca were held Sunday, August 10, in la Caramuca, and Sunday, August 17, in Barinas.

In la Caramuca, 62 children attended our first day of vacation Bible school. The Scripture lesson was Genesis 1:37 and the theme was how God instituted marriage and family.

Second-day attendance was 63. The lesson was the story of Noah and the Ark from Genesis, chapters 6-9, with the theme being that God preserves families in difficult situations.

We saw our record attendance on Thursday with 69 children. That day we focused on an explanation of the Fourth Commandment ("Honor you father and mother").

Attendance was down a little on the fourth day with 54 children present. The Scripture text was 2 Timothy 3:15 and the theme was the family circle as a place to read and study the Bible.

Finally we had 55 children in attendance. The Scripture text was St.Luke's account of the 12-year-old Jesus in the Temple of Jerusalem. The theme was the church as God's family and the sacraments (baptism and Holy Communion) as the means by which we become part of this family. The Scripture text was chosen because it represents Jesus' coming of age in the faith and because the children we expect will be ready for confirmation this fall are all about 12 years old.

These older children were involved as assistants in organizing activities for the younger ones. Eduardo and I were responsible for leading opening and closing devotions, while Luz María's daughter, Yepci, was in charge of crafts. Charli, another one of Luz María's daughters was in charge of physical recreation, while Luz María related the Bible stories. In addition, we
also had help from several members of the Corpus Christi congregation.

Our older children from la Caramuca also helped facilitate vacation Bible school in Barinas the following. Attendance at Corpus Christi was not as high, ranging from about 15 children up to 28. Luz María, Yepci, Eduardo and myself also were involved in VBS at Corpus Christi.

The curriculum used in both locations with an overarching theme of "In Jesus Christ we are children of God", was developed at a national church meeting at La Fortaleza Lutheran Church in Maracay. Luz María played a leading role at this event because she is the Lutheran Church of Venezuela's national coordinator of Christian education.

The VBS curriculum focused on Biblical teachings on marriage and family because of a concern over the high level of family instability in Venezuela. Part of the problem is a cultural legacy: Unlike European settlers in North America, the Spanish conquistadores seldom brought their wives and children to the New World with them. Rather they sired children with a series of native women. Thus began the tradition of "machismo", which means a really strong, virile man does not let
himself get tied down to one woman and her children. Added to this is the problem of rapid urbanization, which has affected Venezuela as well as other developing countries. People (usually men) leave their families behind supposedly to seek higher-paying jobs in the cities.This weakens existing social ties and leads to a great deal of infidelity.

Also, the civil law in Venezuela does little to strengthen marriage as an institution. A man and a woman may move in together and have children with all the legal benefits of marriage for as long as they want to play house. But if one or the other wants to move out, there are no legal penalties. If they go through the civil marriage ceremony, then one or the other may sue for divorce, alimony and child support. So naturally many people (usually men) try to avoid a legally binding commitment if at all possible.

The result is that many Venezuelan children grow up in an environment characterized by adultery, jealousy, heavy drug and alcohol consumption, physical and verbal abuse, and lack of any solid values and relationships.

This year's VBS program is aimed at teaching the children that their families are a blessing from God, even if the families that they have often are highly fractured.

We also were blessed Sunday, August 17, with a visit from newlyweds Pastor Ted Krey and his
wife, Rebecca. She had been a research scientist in their native Canada, but now has committed herself to living in Venezuela for as long as Pastor Krey serves here. They brought a Venezuelan flag for everyone at Corpus Christi to sign.

The day before, Saturday, August 16, Lusveidis Pinzón de Orellana, a longtime member of Corpus Christi, gave birth to her first child, Luís Gabriel.

Fence-building again

We finally have resumed construction of the gated wall around our property. There still are periodic shortages of cement, to the pointwhere the federal government has ordered the nationalization of the cement industry. There continue to be food shortages as well. One local newpaper, De Frente, said the purchase of chicken, beef and milk has become like a lottery:
You just have to be in the right store at the right time because there is no guarantee as to when and how much of these items will be stocked.

Nevertheless, we were able to buy some cement. Luz María's son, Pedro, this week began clearing part of the property for laying the foundation of the wall facing the street. Specifically, he and another fellow cut down the mango tree with large branches that would have been in the way. There were other problems with the tree. In Venezuela, mangos grow in nearly everyone's backyard, so if the tree produces more than your family and friends can consume, there is not really a market for the excess fruit. Keeping the yard clear of rotting mangos is really a chore. The tree also was a magnet for local boys who threw stones to knock down the fruit hanging high in the tree. Recently one boy threw a stone hard enough and far enough to shatter the glass in our bedroom window. So, all things considered, it was time for the mango tree to go.

The last week of March, Eduardo and I traveled to Barquisimeto for a seminar on urban missions at El Paraiso Lutheran Church. The seminar was taught by Jim Tino, a former Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod missionary to Venezuela. El Paraiso actually is located in Cabudare, a suburb of Barquisimeto. The church compound is like a little garden of Eden with many rare plants.

There were perhaps 40 to 50 people in the seminar and even more showed up that weekend for the ordination of Miguelángel Perez. As a national missionary, Miguelángel will serve as pastor to the two Lutheran Church of Venezuela member-congregations in Barquisimeto, El Paraiso and Cristo es Amor (Christ is Love). Eduardo stayed for the ordination, but returned to Barinas Saturday to lead the Sunday service at Corpus Christi Lutheran Church.

I left the seminar with these thoughts about our mission in La Caramuca:


In the Lutheran Church of Venezuela's eastern zone you may find the largest and most stable congregations in the national church, such as Cristo Rey (Christ the King) in Maturin. These are the legacy of Heinrich Zeuch, a Lutheran deacon who came to Venezuela to start a new life after his family's home in Germany was destroyed by Allied bombing during World War II. Zeuch worked at a variety jobs in the agricultural sector in the eastern state of Monagas, all the while starting Bible study and prayer groups. When LCMS missionaries in Caracas heard of what Zeuch was doing in the early 1950s, they quickly contacted him and saw to it that he was ordained as a missionary pastor. The Zeuch family eventually moved to Brazil, but the rural congregations planted by Heinrich Zeuch continued to thrive and serve as seedbeds for congregations in the more highly populated areas of eastern Venezuela.

As in the United States and much of the rest of the world, the tremendous increases in agricultural productivity over the last 100 years in Venezuela greatly reduced the need for unskilled farm labor and spurred emigration to urban industrial areas. Venezuela, which perhaps experienced the most rapid urbanization of any Latin American country, has been ill-equipped to deal with the growth of urban masses, many of whom found the promise of better-paying jobs in the city to be an illusion.

But thanks to a generally high birth rate, rural populations in Venezuela have not declined that much, despite emigration to the cities. Rural Venezuelans face many of the same problems as urban Venezuelans: poverty, alcohol and drug abuse, family instability, lack of any sense of a higher purpose in life. But because economic and human resources have been shifted to urban areas to deal with the high concentrations of people there, rural communities in this most "urbanized" South American nation are more isolated than ever.

For a time families from the rural churches of Monagas served as nuclei for new urban churches. But then a decision was made to move North American missionaries, upon whom the Lutheran Church of Venezuela still was highly dependent, completely out of rural ministries into the cities because "that is where the people are." But this decision to "follow the numbers" proved to be a mistake.

The rural churches were not prepared to deal with this shift and fell into decline. With the seedbeds in disrepair, a generation of leadership was lost. Now, with the withdrawal of nearly all LCMS missionaries from Venezuela (and, in fact, from nearly all of Latin America), the Lutheran Church of Venezuela is in crisis. With a total membership of only about a 1,000 in a nation of 26 million people, there still are not enough pastors to serve all of the exisiting congregations, much less do evangelistic outreach. In Caracas, Venezuela's largest city, the Lutheran Church of Venezuela has only three member-congregations and only one of those is served by a full-time pastor.

Tierra de Gracia agricultural mission, where I served as a lay volunteer when I came to Venezuela, was set up in Monagas to help revive the rural churches there.

Its objectives include:

• Help farm laborers improve their skills and opportunities for employment.


• Evangelize those who work on the farm and their surrounding communities.


• Support evangelization in rural areas and pastoral care in the existing rural churches.

Here in western Venezuela we do not have the historic base that the churches in Monagas have. But we think the development of Christian education in our rural zone can solve this problem. With the availability of quality Christian education, many would not have to leave the area to improve their skills and prospects in life. At the same time, those that did move to the city would be prepared to serve as lay leaders and full-time church workers there. Actually, it is easier for a person from the country to adapt to city life than a city person to adapt to the country.

We have historical examples of how this could work. For example, in the 19th Century Wilhelm Loehe trained and sent Lutheran missionaries to North America, Australia, New Guinea, Brazil, and the Ukraine from Neuendettelsau, a small town in Bavaria.

Likewise, what would become Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, began as a one-room school 100 miles south of St. Louis in rural Perry County, Missouri. Today the seminary has more than 800 students from around the world.

Concordia University of Seward, Nebraska (population 6,500), since 1894 has trained teachers and candidates for the seminary among the cornfields of eastern Nebraska.

From 1893 until 1986, St. John's College of Winfield, Kansas, did the same amid the Flint Hills of Kansas and Oklahoma.

That is why at La Caramuca Lutheran Mission we have these goals;

• To provide Christian education for children from preschool through sixth grade.


• To establish a Lutheran congregation to support the school and serve the surrounding community.


• To establish an educational center for the training of pastors,
  teachers and evangelists for the Andes and Venezuelan Plains regions.

Missionary journey to Apure

On Tuesday of Holy Week, Luz María left with her daughters, Charli and Sarai; grandson, Edwar José; son-in-law, José Garrida; and 11-year-old Sandro Pérez on a missionary journey to the neighboring state of Apure. As far as we know, it was the first time anyone has visited Apure on behalf of the Lutheran Church of Venezuela. I would have loved to have gone with them, but Eduardo and I were committed to leading Maundy Thursday and Good Friday services at Corpus Christi Lutheran Church in Barinas.

We had been invited by the large, extended family to which José and Sandro both belong (they are cousins). Since nearly everyone in Venezuela enjoys a whole week of vacation during Holy Week, they thought it was a good time to have us lead a vacation Bible school for children in Palmarito, Apure.

Sandro lives with his family just across the street from us in La Caramuca. He has attended our Sunday school regularly for a long time and now is one of the students in our confirmation class. This year he is one of the recipients of scholarships from Children's Christian Concern Society of Topeka, Kansas. This trip was a great opportunity for Sandro to meet his grandparents and many aunts and uncles in Palmarito that he had never seen before.

Apure is one of the 23 states that constitute the republic of Venezuela. It lies southwest of our state, Barinas, and is also bounded on the north by the states of Táchira and Guárico. To the southeast of Apure lie the Venezuelan states of Bolívar and Amazonas and to the south and west, the nation of Colombia. Together with the states of Barinas, Portuguesa, Guárico, Anzoátegui y Monagas, Apure is part of a region known as los Llanos, which is Spanish for “the Plains”. This is a broad grasslands region which stretches across the center of Venezuela, north of the Orinoco River but south of the mountains which stretch along most of Venezuela's northern tier and just to the west of the vast Orinoco delta. Los Llanos are home to many Texas-style cattle ranches and, in fact, there is a “cowboy mystique” about the region similar to that of Texas and the southwestern United States.

Apure is the setting of Doña Barbara, Rómulo Gallegos' epic novel about Venezuelan ranch life, which is the Venezuelan national novel. Two feature film adaptations of Doña Barbara have been made, one in 1943 and the other in 1998. A television miniseries was broadcast in 1975. To understand current Venezuelan politics, you must understand the literary allusions to Doña Barbara and Alberto Arvelo Torrealba's epic poem, “Florentino y el diablo” (which also is set in los Llanos).

Our group gathered at 6 a.m. to take a bus to Pedraza, which bills itself as the “river capital of Venezuela” as it is a center for whitewater rafting expeditions. They traveled west to go east, but it was really the most direct route to Palmarito.

It was an hour's ride to Pedraza, and then three and half hours in a rented van to the banks of the Apure River where the town of Palmarito is located. A tributary of the Orinoco, the second-largest river in South America, the Apure is a large body of water in its own right. The van had to be ferried across the river to reach Palmarito and later our group made several visits to peoples' homes by canoe. However, unlike in the novel, Doña Barbara, nobody had to shoot any alligators.

Luz María thinks Palmarito is a larger town than La Caramuca, but it is much more isolated from the outside world. During the last half of the 20^th Century, Venezuela was transformed from a predominantly rural nation into an urban one, much like the United States. However, although the population of Venezuela's urban areas exploded as people moved from the country to the cities, the overall birth rate remained high enough that rural populations did not diminish as in the United States, but remained stable. But as economic resources have been diverted to urban areas to deal with the massive influx of people, the backwoods of Venezuela have been left more backwoodsy than ever.

There is a fairly large Roman Catholic church building in Palmarito, but there has been no priest in residence for many years. A priest shows up about once a year to celebrate Mass, but has no other involvement with the community. This is typical of rural Venezuela as there is a critical shortage of priests to serve the more isolated areas. Three nuns live in the church to maintain it and organize a variety of activities for children and young people. While our group was there, the nuns organized a traditional procession of the Cross, with the help mostly of young people. There are very few adults that are in any way active in the Catholic church, other than possibly attending the once-a-year Mass. Many people in the community, however, are involved in the practice of brujería or witchcraft. The prevalence of brujería in los Llanos also is one of the themes of Doña Barbara.

The nuns also teach classes in cooking, sewing and computation. There is an elementary school in Palmarito, but no opportunities for education beyond that level anywhere near the town. Anyone who wants to learn skills that would enable them to be other than simple manual laborers must leave Palmarito. Of course, most of those who do will not return to provide the community with the benefit of their education. There is great poverty in the area. Many of the children and even some teenagers have never owned a pair of shoes. There are people who work for nothing but to have food and clothes on their backs.

For this reason, our group brought gifts of clothing donated by the Corpus Christi congregation and by interested persons in La Caramuca. For the vacation Bible school, Luz María made use of many of the teaching materials that have been provided for us by our supporting churches in the United States.

The theme of the vacation Bible school was the connection between the Genesis account of the creation and fall of man, and the events of Holy Week. Many of the children had never made this connection before and they had many questions. There were 42 in attendance Wednesday, the first day of the vacation Bible school. The second day there were 29 and the fourth day there were 40.

It was a great adventure for Luz María because, although she was born in the neighboring state of Guárico, she had never been to Apure before. She bought herself an inexpensive digital camera and took over 200 pictures throughout the trip. Thanks be to God, everyone returned to Barinas safe and sound on the Saturday before Easter Sunday.

Meanwhile, we had good attendance for all our Holy Week services at Corpus Christi. I preached the Palm Sunday and Maundy Thursday sermons, while Eduardo preached on Easter Sunday. On Good Friday we alternated between reading and offering brief meditations on each of the seven last words of Christ from the cross.