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.

Anniversary after the ashes

 

The season of Lent is supposed to a serious, solemn time with an emphasis on repentance and confession, meditation and prayer. But after an Ash Wednesday service which recalled the sackcloth, ashes and fasting of the Old Testament (Jonah 3:1-10; Joel 2:12-19), we joined in a celebration. Our mother congregation, Corpus Christi Lutheran Church, marked 29 years at its current location. Due to the recent departure of Pastor Raimundo Brito (who has announced his intention to emigrate to Brazil because of the economic hardship in Venezuela), I officiated at a eucharistic service with members of our mission and Corpus Christi present on Saturday, February 17, 2024. After the service, the youth and children went out to play games in the street. The Corpus Christi congregation sponsored me as a candidate for pastoral training so that our mission in La Caramuca could continue growing through baptisms and confirmations. When I made my grand tour of Lutheran churches in Venezuela in April, 2003, I stayed the night in the guest room of Corpus Christi. The following morning I found Luz Maria sleeping on of the pews in the church. Corpus Christi is not far from the public bus terminal, so upon returning from a trip to Caracas, she decided to stay at the church rather than look for a late-night bus to La Caramuca. We went out for breakfast and she introduced me to her mother, Carmen Rivero de Henriquez, who also lives close to the church. That was how we first met. While there is much that can be said about our mother church over the last 29 years, the connection between Corpus Christi and La Caramuca dates back many more years. While Corpus Christi acquired its own house of worship in 1995, Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod (LCMS) missionaries began evangelistic work in the city of Barinas in 1985. The first missionary to visit Barinas was Philip Bickel, who, as missions pastor at St. Michael's Lutheran Church, Bloomington, Minnesota, convinced me to travel to Venezuela on a short-term mission trip in 2002. Lutheran worship services in Barinas first were held in the home of Luz Maria’s mother. Luz Maria and two of her brothers, Moises and Robert Henriquez, were confirmed as Lutherans. Moises would move to Caracas and become a member of El Salvador Lutheran Church, director of Christian education at its Concordia Lutheran School, and served a term as treasurer of the national church, the Lutheran Church of Venezuela. While living in Barinas, Luz Maria took courses in theology by extension provided by the Juan de Frias Theological Institute (this was a form of distance learning before the Internet was widely available). She moved across the country to the city of San Felix de Guayana and, while living there for a time, continued the formation that would lead to her certification as a deaconess. This included practical experience such as teaching Sunday school and other volunteer work in Ascension Lutheran Church of San Felix. She continued her work and study after her return to Barinas in the 1990s. Carmen, her mother, eventually joined a Baptist church in Barinas, but continued to host LCMS missionaries and Lutheran worship in her home until Corpus Christi established itself at the present site. At 92, Carmen is no longer capable of living on her own. Luz Maria and her six siblings are cooperating in caring for their mother, since placing her in an assisted-living unit is not an option. Every week we deliver food to her mother's house, and when Luz Maria’s siblings need a break for their family and work, we keep her mother here for a few days. That is why Carmen was with us for Ash Wednesday worship. We wish Godspeed to Pastor Raimundo and his wife, Sandra, who is one of the women that Luz Maria mentored through four years of the deaconess training program sponsored by the Juan de Frias Institute and Concordia El Reformador Seminary in the Dominican Republic. Our relationship with them was one of mutual support, even through the worst of the COVID-19 crisis. It began with Pastor Brito's installation and a joint Reformation Day service in 2019 and was last highlighted by a joint activity with members of Corpus Christi during Holy Week of 2023. Former missionary leads online class Speaking of former missionaries to Venezuela and distance, Daniel Conrad on February 29 (Leap Day!) taught a session of “Readings in the Confessions”, a course I am monitoring at Concordia El Reformador Seminary in the Dominican Republic. Pastor Conrad teaches at the seminary, which draws students from 11 countries in Latin America. Before that, he served as a missionary for 20 years in Venezuela (1984–2003), including the city of Barinas. While in Venezuela, he focused on the formation and mentoring of national pastors. Pastor Conrad also served as the pastor of Zion Lutheran Church, Terra Bella, California, (2003–2014) prior to receiving the call to serve again as a theological educator, first in Mexico and now in the Dominican Republic. The February 29 class continued our study of the Apology to the Augsburg Confession, and included not only seminarians in the Dominican Republic, but also a visiting group of seminarians from Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Sweethearts of the science fair We give thanks for past recipients of LeadaChild scholarships who continue to excel in their academic pursuits as well as grow in their faith. Anyi Garrido and Yusmelvis Salas represented Samuel Robinson high school in the seventh Scientific Exhibition Challenge at the local level. Then they proceeded to take first place in state competition. The two will compete at the national level in Caracas at a date to be announced. The topic of their project is: "Solution or Toxin? Calling for reflection on substances that can be toxic to the body, such as tattoos or permanent makeup." Anyi’s brother, Eduar Garrido, and his classmates, Yandry Gomez and Franyelis Martinez, won a similar mathematics competition representing Samuel Robinson among three high schools at the local level, but did not place in state competition. It was said their topic, “Better Strategies for Learning Mathematics” was more suitable for teachers rather than students. Anyi, Yusmelvis and Eduar are all communicant members of our mission. Another shipment of medicine received from GLO We have received another shipment of non-prescription medicines from Global Lutheran Outreach (GLO) to distribute among the families of our mission according to need. This GLO project benefits not only Epiphany Lutheran Mission of La Caramuca, but all of the congregrations of the Lutheran Church of Venezuela. Since 2017 volunteers in Chile have packaged and shipped needed medicine to Venezuela. Luz Maria works closely with Corali Garcia  Ramos and Elianeth Pineda, Venezuelan expatriates in Chile, to coordinate requests for medicines from all the Lutheran congregations in Venezuela. Recipients can choose from a list of 18 common medications (up to three medications per patient). Each of those medicines are available in Chile without a prescription. Additionally, every congregation in Venezuela receives a supply of seven common medications. Medicines are purchased in Chile with the cooperation of a local pharmacy. Volunteers collate the orders and prepare each congregation’s shipment. Medicine is shipped using a globally-known shipping company. After arriving in Venezuela, the medicines are sorted and packed for distribution to each beneficiary.

The habitation of the Lord's house

 

On January 9, 2022, we celebrated the fifth anniversary of the consecration of our “templo”, or temple, which is the Spanish word often used for the actual sanctuary where Christian worship takes place, with the distribution of foodstuffs from our monthly offering. And there was cake.

While the Romance languages use variations of “ecclesia” (the Greek word, “ekklesia” imported into Latin) for both the people and the place (in Spanish, it’s “iglesia”), “church” came into the Germanic languages from the Greek “kyriakon doma” (the Lord’s house). It is most likely that the pre-Christian Germanic tribes learned to identify Christian places of worship with this term, which dates back to the fourth century AD when there were public houses of worship to be identified. We say the “visible” church is wherever the Word of God is preached in its purity and the sacraments administered according to Christ’s command, but what outsiders often see first is the bricks and mortar, or whatever local construction materials are used.

Ekklesia is the word translated as “church” throughout the New Testament in English versions of the Bible. It may be translated as “assembly”, which may mean the local congregation, but also the whole body of Christ, the gathering of all Christians who have ever lived and will live on this earth before Christ’s throne in glory. But its original meaning was more precisely people called out from their homes to gather in a public place, for example, a town hall meeting. Christians are called out from their homes to hear the Word publicly proclaimed and receive the sacraments, and as a royal priesthood, to offer their praise, petitions and sacrifices of thanksgiving to God. Thus, the author of Hebrews, while speaking of a “tabernacle not made with hands” (9:11), also warns believers against “forsaking the assembling of ourselves together” (10:25).

For King David, it was the Tabernacle, the mobile tent of meeting where the people of Israel had worshipped since Mount Sinai. “O Lord, I love the habitation of your house and the place where your glory dwells” (Psalm 26:8). David may have written this psalm when he was fleeing from his rebellious son, Absalom. At any rate, he is far from the place of public worship; his love is to be there united with the people of God in solemn service.

King Solomon, David’s son, built the first Temple of Jerusalem around 586 BC, and its consecration was the topic of our Old Testament lesson, 1 Kings 8:6-13. As the Ark of the Covenant is installed there, the God blesses the place with a visible manifestation of His glory in the form of a cloud. Solomon’s Temple was destroyed by the Babylonians and a new Temple built after the end of Jewish exile. Herod the Great began an ambitious project of renovating and expanding the Temple 20 years before Jesus was born, so by the time that Jesus was 12 years old, the Temple of Jerusalem was bigger and better than ever.

That was where Joseph and Mary found Him after searching Jerusalem for three days in our Gospel text for that day, Luke 2:41-52. Jesus asks them, “Why were you looking for me?” The Greek text that follows reads literally like this: "Didn't you know that I need to be in that of my Father?" The King James Version translates this verse as “Didn't you know that I need to be about my Father's business?” But the context indicates that the verse is better understood as" Didn't you know that I would be in my Father's house? "

Jesus spoke of the Temple as his Father's house many years later when he twice drove out the money changers and merchants. He did it the first time early in his public ministry. In John 2:16, he told them, "Take this away from here, and do not make my Father's house a marketplace."

But these practices did not stop and during Holy Week, the last week of his life, Jesus again drove the merchants out of the temple. According to Mark 11:15, he said to them, "Is it not written: My house will be called a house of prayer by all nations? But you have made it a den of thieves." There are two Old Testament quotes here: Isaiah 56: 7 and Jeremiah 7:11. Look at the verse from Isaiah, "My house will be called a house of prayer for all peoples." The plan of salvation was not just for the Jews, but for all nations.

But the Second Temple was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD. Where is the Father’s house now? It is where Jesus is, when two or three are gathered in His name (Matthew 18:20), and where the Father is worshipped in Spirit and in truth (John 4:23).

Leaving the Lord’s house with His blessing

The theme of universal salvation is also evident in the text for the second day of February, 40 days after Christmas. Lucas 2:22-32 is the account of the first visit of Jesus to the Temple 40 days after His birth, when Joseph and Mary offered on his behalf the sacrifices required by Old Testament law. This passage also includes the blessing of Jesus by Simeon, which has become a hymn of the church since the earliest times.

“Lord, now let your servant depart in peace, according to your word: For mine eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared before the face of all people; A light to bring revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel.”

This is the Nunc Dimittis (Latin for “now let depart”) which, according to Lutheran custom, we sing after the Eucharist. It is a most appropriate moment, for, having received the body and blood of our Lord, we leave His presence and go out into the world to reflect the light of His salvation in a dark world. It is more than a Lutheran peculiarity. The earliest occurrence of the Nunc Dimittis in a eucharistic context appears in the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom (circa 347-407 AD). Historically, the Nunc Dimittis also has been used as a hymn of closing at vespers and compline (evening and late-night) prayer services and at funerals.

For this holy house

For years, our mission’s place of worship was a simple, covered patio. The current two-story structure with its belltower can be seen from a great distance, and has greatly enhanced our presence in the community (Google Maps says our mission has received 382 views so far this month). It was built with money raised by our friends and supporters in North America.

Continued support is needed for maintenance of the building and possible future expansion. We just had the pump for our well cleaned and repaired for the first time since the public water system went down nearly five years ago. During that period, it pumped water not only for our household needs and those of the preschool, but also provided water for our neighbors, too. The public water system has been restored partially, but still is not a totally reliable source. However, our preschool was ready and waiting for students to return, now that in-person classes are again permitted. Luz Maria has begun anew her afterschool tutoring and is mentoring Venezuelan deaconess students online through a program sponsored by Concordia El Reformador Seminary in the Dominican Republic.

Also, with the spiraling cost and limited availability of public transportation, our mission-mobile has proved critical to keeping it all going. The car is a 2014 VW Crossfit Parati, so it is very reliable, but does need regular maintenance.

We thank the Lord for these blessings and opportunities to serve Him, and also all of you whose financial contributions made the construction possible.

So let us pray this portion of a prayer attributed to St. John Chrysostom, a fourth-century bishop and preacher, and which has been incorporated into English hymnals, such as the Lutheran Service Book, and “Cantad al Señor” the Spanish worship supplement that we use here, as a version of the Kyrie:

In peace let us pray to the Lord; Lord, have mercy.

For the peace from above and for our salvation let us pray to the Lord; Lord, have mercy.

For the peace of the whole world, for the well-being of the Church of God, and for the unity of all let us pray to the Lord; Lord, have mercy.

For this holy house and for all who offer here their worship and praise let us pray to the Lord; Lord, have mercy.

Help, save, comfort, and defend us, gracious Lord. Amen.

We begin not quite at the beginning

In the chapel.

This year marks the second anniversary of the inauguration of the current learning space for our preschool. We opened the first full week of the new school year with the service of morning prayer in the chapel on Monday, September 24. I preached on St. Paul's words to Timothy from 2 Timothy 3:14-17.

 "But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it 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. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work."

The emphasis was, of course, on the divine inspiration of the Scriptures, but also on the importance of learning from them early, preferably within the family circle as well as the church and school, for the formation of faith and character. We have nearly 40 children enrolled in the preschool now.

Rainbow around the sun.

The book of Genesis provided the first extended weekly Bible lesson for the preschool children, but not the first chapter. Rather, because of the heavy rainfall that we have received and severe flooding in many parts of Venezuela (most recently, Vargas state), I began with the great flood and God's promise to Noah, sealed by the rainbow, that water would never again cover the face of the entire earth.

The following week, the children learned how God created the heavens and the earth, but with John 1:1-3 as the text. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made." For the same Jesus who would be born among us to suffer and die on the cross, was present with the Father and the Holy Spirit at the creation of all things.

Later I expanded on this theme with the Sunday youth group in our discussion of the role of prophecy and its relation to the promise of a Savior. This promise first appears in Genesis 3:15, after Satan has led Adam and Eve into disobedience. Through the seed of Eve (not the seed of Adam, for He would be born of a virgin) would come victory over the devil, sin and death.

Arch Books and afterschool tutoring.

Luz Maria is using Arch Books about the miracles of Jesus to help her afterschool students learn to read. She now tutors 20 students with learning problems with help from some young ladies from our youth group. Twenty students is about as many as she can handle, and there is a waiting list of 20 more who want her tutoring.

Please continue to pray for us and all of Venezuela, as our mission shines the light of God in a dark place.