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.

From end to beginning

Luz Maria and I wish all of you a blessed Christmas/Epiphany season and a prosperous New Year!

As always, our December was taken up with preparations for the day designated as that of our Lord’s birth. This time the big twist was that the fourth Sunday of Advent, which is typically the last Sunday before Christmas Eve, fell on December 24. There are a number of ways a congregation might deal with this unusual circumstance. The full-scale treatment would be fourth Sunday of Advent service in the morning, Christmas Eve in the evening, midnight mass at, um, midnight, and perhaps two Christmas services the following morning.

Well, we did not do that. Rather, our morning service on December 24 was last of Advent, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day rolled into one. In contrast to the United States (at least, the United States as I remember it), church attendance here hits rock bottom during Christmas and Easter. Nearly everyone thinks of the two weeks from December 24 to January 6 (Epiphany) as vacation time and either a) takes off for the mountains or the beaches; or b) spends the time visiting family and friends. (The same thing is true of Holy Week.) So we scheduled our Christmas celebration before everyone would be traveling out of town. We pray that this might change and someday we will have to answer the demand for multiple Christmas services! We do have a vacation Bible school planned for the week of Epiphany, when many will have returned.

Christmas dinner.

Hallaca.

Our morning service was followed by Christmas dinner, complete with hallacas, pan de jamón (bread filled with ham and olives) and chicken salad. This is the traditional Venezuelan Christmas meal and the hallaca is the centerpiece. What is the hallaca? It consists of corn dough stuffed with beef, pork, and/or chicken and other ingredients such as raisins and olives (there are regional variations). Hallacas are folded in plantain leaves, tied with strings, and boiled. The unwrapped hallaca looks something like a tamale, but do not say that to a Venezuelan unless you want an argument. As for me, tamales were a favorite food before I came to Venezuela and now I like both tamales and hallacas. Bearing in mind the dispersion of Venezuelans throughout the world, it was big news when the New York Times, for the first time ever, published a recipe for hallacas.

Nativity scene.

Hallacas also were on the menu for our preschool Christmas party on December 11 (because the schools close for holiday break on December 15). There also was an opening devotion for the children and their families, traditional dance by the children, Christmas cards made by the children for their parents, and the display of a Nativity scene made from recycled material by Luz Maria’s daughter, Angi Sarai Santana. Venezuelan nativity scenes are very elaborate and often include an entire landscape surrounding the stable. This one was a towering sculpture that won a prize in a competition at the university where Angi is working toward a master’s degree in early childhood education.

Making hallacas.

More hallacas in Ciudad Guayana

On December 14, we shared a Christmas devotion and dinner, complete with hallacas, with the people of the Lutheran mission in Core 8, a poor neighborhood located within the metropolitan area of Ciudad Guayana on the eastern end of the country. It was the first time that I visited Core 8 since my first tour of Venezuela in 2003. Because of its economic condition, the mission has for years been unable to support a full-time pastor. But the people remain faithful. We were able to meet face to face Ignacio Vera y his wife, Emperatriz, the in-laws of Eliezer Mendoza, director of the Juan de Frias Theological Institute and pastor of Cristo es Amor (Christ is Love) Lutheran Church in Barquisimeto (three hours north of Barinas). Emperatriz is a graduate of the deaconess program sponsored the Juan de Frias Institute and Concordia El Reformador Seminary in the Dominican Republic. So also are Rubys Cortina and Laura Cedeño, other women of Core 8.

Deaconess students.

Luz Maria with students.

For that is why we were in Ciudad Guayana: To help Pastor Eliezer lead a seminar for women currently enrolled in the deaconess program. The seminar on the Divine Service was held at La Ascensión (Ascension) Lutheran Church. One of the oldest congregations in the Lutheran Church of Venezuela, it grew from the evangelistic work of Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod missionaries in 1964 and its current sanctuary was dedicated in 1972. Luz Maria was a member of La Ascensión when she lived in Ciudad Guayana in the 1990s. Next door to the church sits a large mosque, one of four in Ciudad Guayana, and we often had to continue our activities over daily Muslim calls to prayer. About 15 students attended the seminar, representing congregations in the cities of Ciudad Guayana, Maturin, Caracas and Maracay.

Luz Maria and I traveled to Ciudad Guyana by air, our first flight since 2019. The airline industry in Venezuela is a state of modest and tentative recovery, and ticket promotions make it more economical as well as more secure to cross the country by plane, rather than bus or car. The security advantage was demonstrated for us as, by the grace of God, we avoided the disastrous explosion of a tanker truck on the main highway into Caracas which claimed about 16 lives and damaged 17 vehicles. We are grateful to Marivick Lopez, another graduate of the deaconess program, and her husband, Oscar, both members of La Ascensión, for their hospitality during our stay in Ciudad Guayana.

With Carlos Schumann.

Course in ecclesiology.

On the church and its music

We did travel by car during the final week of November to attend a seminar for Lutheran Church of Venezuela pastors on ecclesiology (the doctrine of the church and its ministry). The course was taught by Carlos Schumann on behalf of Luther Academy. Pastor Schumann, originally of Argentina and later Chile, serves as the director of Luther Academy conferences for LCMS missions and partner churches in Latin America and the Caribbean region. The following week, we completed an online course in church music, especially related to the new Spanish hymnal, Himnario Luterano. This course was led by Gustavo Arturo Maita, who grew up as a member of Cristo Rey (Christ the King) Lutheran Church in Maturin, Venezuela. In 1996, he became the first child in Venezuela to receive a Christian education scholarship from LeadaChild, which has been one of our mission’s sponsoring organizations since 2006. Now Arturo Maita is the pastor of Príncipe de Paz (Prince of Peace) Lutheran Church in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico.

Prayer for the day of the Circumcision of Jesus

Lord God, heavenly Father, forgive us the sins of past, and breathe into us the Spirit of Your Son that we may serve You in the new year. On this day You placed Your Son under the Law to fulfill all righteousness for us. On this day our Lord was given His name according to Your Word. May we be known by His name. In Him, our Alpha and Omega, we find the courage to begin again. In Him this year and all things are made new because we are forgiven. For His sake, help to live as Your obedient children. Amen.

(Lutheran Book of Prayer, Concordia Publishing House, 1970.)

A milestone in distance learning

On Trinity Sunday, May 30, 2021, Omar Martinez and I represented the Lutheran Church of Venezuela in a graduation ceremony via Zoom videoconferencing with six other seminary students from Mexico, Guatemala, Bolivia, Peru and Spain.

The other seminarians had completed their coursework while in residence at Concordia Seminary El Reformador in Palmar Arriba, the Dominican Republic, in preparation for ordination. Because the ceremony was postponed from last year, some of them were ordained and installed as pastors before the “virtual” graduation. For example, Elvis Carrera has been serving as the pastor of the congregation in Lima, Peru, where Luz Maria’s daughter, Yepci, and her family attend.

Omar, who is pastor of Cordero de Dios (Lamb of God) and I were both ordained years ago. We pursued our continuing education an on-line program, Formación Pastoral Hispanoamérica (FPH), offered by the Dominican seminary in cooperation with Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, Indiana. It was a milestone for Omar and me, and also for the concept of distance learning.

FPH is an international extension of the Fort Wayne seminary’s Specific Ministry Pastor–Español/English program. This program follows the basic structure, guidelines and restrictions of the regular SMP program as a means to provide ordained men to serve in mission situations where a candidate with traditional residential seminary training is not available or cannot be supported, but it is focused on preparing Spanish speakers for Word and Sacrament ministry.

By divine order, there is one office of the public ministry and, according to Article XIV of the Augsburg Confession, “no one should publicly teach in the Church or administer the Sacraments unless he be regularly called (rite vocatus)”. But the Scriptures do not specify any particular mode, pattern, or length of pastoral preparation. What makes someone a pastor is examination and certification, then call and ordination, in an orderly process.

“For those who serve well as deacons gain a good standing for themselves and also great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus.” 1 Timothy 3:13. In the New Testament church, pastors were recruited from the ranks of deacons, who were laymen entrusted with the work of the church apart from preaching and administration of the sacraments. As we read in Acts, Philip, one of the original deacons (Acts 6:5) was later sent to preach and baptize in Samaria (Acts 8).

“This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order, and appoint elders in every town as I directed you.” Titus 1:5

The word translated “elder” is πρεσβύτερος (presbuteros), which is the root of the English word, “priest”. It is used interchangeably in the New Testament with ποιμήν (poimén or pastor) and ἐπίσκοπος (episkopos or bishop), all referring to the one office of the public ministry. As Luther writes in his “Treatise on the Power and Primacy of the Pope”: “60. The Gospel assigns to those who preside over churches the command to teach the Gospel to remit sins, to administer the Sacraments and besides jurisdiction, namely, the command to excommunicate those whose crimes are known, and again to absolve those who repent. 61 And by the confession of all, even of the adversaries, it is clear that this power by divine right is common to all who preside over churches, whether they are called pastors, or elders, or bishops.”

Paul had visited the island of Crete after his first Roman imprisonment, and, together with Titus, extended the preaching of the Gospel throughout its length and breadth. When Paul’s presence was demanded elsewhere, he left Titus behind as his representative, to see that a decent order of worship and of conducting the business of the congregations be introduced everywhere. This included, among others, that all the congregations should choose pastors under his direction and with his help.

The New Testament model of raising up local elders, already proven for spiritual maturity and leadership (1 Timothy 3) , is actually much closer to today’s non-residential programs than the sending of potential candidates off to a centralized location for pastoral formation and academic education. The value of a residential seminary program, of course, in consistent doctrinal training for all pastoral candidates and formation of character as well as intellectual growth under the almost daily observation of experienced instructors.

But the costs and other requirements of residential seminary education long have been an obstacle to church planting in Latin America, where many families do not have the resources to send young men away from home for four years, especially if the seminary is located in a distant country. Even before the Internet became available to the public, Presbyterian missionaries to Guatemala in the 1960s developed the concept of theological education by extension (TEE). Under this model, theological educators travelled to regional centers where they provided intensive instructions for men already recognized for their leadership qualities within local communities. In between visits, students were provided with structured self-study materials. The goal was to work toward ordination without the need for abandoning jobs and families. This approach was widely adopted in the 1970s by missionaries in Latin American countries where the establishment of seminaries proved difficult.

In Venezuela during this decade, Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod missionaries organized the Juan de Frias Theological Institute to proved guided instruction not only for pastoral candidates, but also lay leaders and continuing education for ordained pastors. It was training through the Juan de Frias Theological Institute that led to my ordination by the Lutheran Church of Venezuela in 2008.

I had signed up for two years in Venezuela as a LCMS World Missions volunteer missionary in 2002. When I married Luz Maria, I came to share her vision of a church and school in La Caramuca. I began taking Juan de Frias courses with the aim of improving my ability to teach Bible classes in Spanish. More and more of the young people attending our weekday and Sunday evangelistic activities at the mission began asking if they could be baptized and receive the Lord’s Supper, yet there was no national pastor who was willing to serve our rural mission on a regular basis.

So I took advantage of an invitation in 2006 to participate in the Juan de Frias Institute’s renewed campaign to ordain more pastors. This involved setting up a kind of “mini-seminary” in Caracas where students who had already been studying for the ministry lived together in a house and dedicated their time to prayer, Bible study and classes, followed by a year of vicarage before ordination. I was part of this in 2007, except that I went home on the weekends. This meant a six- to seven-hour bus ride back to La Caramuca on Friday night, and ride to Caracas on Sunday night. But it was a great time. We had visiting professors from Concordia Seminary, St. Louis; Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne; and Concordia Seminary of Buenos Aires, Argentina, the world’s largest Spanish-speaking seminary. After a year of vicarage in La Caramuca in 2008, I was ordained at El Salvador Lutheran Church in Caracas, along with two Venezuelans, Sergio Maita and Eduardo Flores.

But opportunities for the continuing education so necessary for a pastor soon became few and far between. Travel within, as well as to and from, Venezuela became more uncertain and risky. Little by little, there were no more weekly, or even monthly trips to Caracas; no traveling Juan de Frias Institute workshops; and no visiting professors. And this was before COVID-19.

Concordia El Reformador Seminary was established as a regional center for residential and distance learning for people in Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean islands and South America. Its first students graduated on May 24, 2019. At the same time, more than 30 men in 12 Latin American countries continue their theological education on-line through the FPH program. That fact that this year’s graduation ceremony done by videoconference because of the pandemic shows that distance learning plays a more important role than ever.

Even more videoconferencing

The week before the virtual graduation, Luz Maria and I participated in a virtual symposium on “Life and sexuality: pastoral care and the public voice of the church”, hosted by Concordia Seminary El Reformador.

• May 25: Pastoral Care in Cases of Sexual Sin (Rev. David Warner, former LCMS missionary to Spain and now pastor of two congregations near Custer, South Dakota).

• May 26: Sexuality and Society from a Biblical Perspective (Rev. Dr. David Preus, professor at Concordia Seminary El Reformador)

  

• 
  May 27: The public voice of the Church on sexuality, life and death (Rev. Dr. Clóvis Jair Prunzel, professor at Concordia Seminary, São Leopoldo, Brazil).

• 
  May 28: What is life and death, from the perspective of the Word of God and the Catechism of Martin Luther (Rev. Dr. John Pless, professor at Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, Indiana).

We participated on May 10 to 19 in an online workshop on confessional biblical interpretation with the Rev. Dr. Roberto Bustamante of Concordia Seminary El Reformador, Brian Gauthier from Concordia University of Nebraska, Pastor Roberto Weber from the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Argentina and 60 pastors and seminarians from all over Latin America.

On Thursday, May 13, and Friday, May 14, we participated in the LeadaChild Symposium 2021 by Zoom videoconference. LeadaChild is a Lutheran mission agency dedicated to sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ to children through Christian education in five regions of the world, Guatemala, Central America and Haiti, South America, West Africa and Asia, and also supports an after school program. in Bethlehem. LeadaChild's method is to provide scholarships, school enrollment, and supplies for children so that they can attend Lutheran schools and after-school programs. Also to provide professional development for leaders and teachers, with an emphasis on effective ways to share the gospel and teach Bible truths to children. LeadaChild began supporting educational projects in Venezuela in 1991 and has supported our mission since 2006. The theme of the symposium was changes in education around the world due to COVID-19. We reviewed new software and strategies for online Christian education.

And, every week, Luz Maria mentors 40 women enrolled in the deaconess training coordinated by Danelle Putnam of Concordia Seminary El Reformador and Eliezer Mendoza, director of the Juan de Frias Theological Institute.

COVID-19 claims a life in our community

We received word that Global Lutheran Outreach and the Confessional Lutheran Church of Chile are planning another shipment of non-prescription medicines to Venezuela. We give thanks to God for this. Pray for us as the COVID-19 virus has arrived in La Caramuca and adds to the health risks that already threaten our people. This past week COVID-19 claimed the live of Rafael Méndez, a prominent member of the community and proprietor of a general store and butcher shop near the town plaza. We remembered his family in prayer on Sunday and also others among us that suffer from the virus.

“You will not fear the terror of the night,nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness, nor the destruction that wastes at noonday.” Psalm 91:5-6

Almighty God, Who forgives all our iniquities and heals all our diseases, Who has proclaimed Your name to be the Lord that heals us and has sent Your well-beloved Son to bear our sicknesses, look in mercy upon Your servants, pardon and forgive us our transgressions, and of Your lovingkindness remove the plague with which You have visited us. This we ask according to Your will, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

 

Gifts of healing on Pentecost

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

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

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

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

School supplies from LeadaChild

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

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

Completing coursework

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

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

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

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

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

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

Our days are numbered

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

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

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

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

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