He pitches His tent among us

Vacation Bible school.

On January 22, we celebrated the Transfiguration of our Lord, witnessed by the apostles Peter, James and John (Matthew 17:1-9; Mark 9:2-13; Lucas 9:28-26). This last manifestation of the divine nature in Christ before His suffering, death and resurrection concludes the Christmas/Epiphany season.

The Tabernacle.

St. John recalls the Transfiguration in this way: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). This verse also proclaims the Incarnation. So it provided the theme for the vacation Bible school with which we ended the 12 days of Christmas and began the Epiphany season from January 4 to 7.

In the Greek text, the word translated as “dwelt” is eskenosen, which literally means He “pitched a tent” among us. This provided the theme for the vacation Bible school with which we began the Epiphany season from January 4 to 7. God pitched a tent among the people of Israel during their journey to the Promised Land. This was the Tabernacle, the portable sanctuary constructed by Moses according to God’s specifications as a place of worship. The English word tabernacle derives from the Latin tabernāculum, meaning "tent" or "hut". It was in the Tabernacle that God manifested His presence and communicated His will to His chosen people of the Old Testament. Later on, King Solomon would build a permanent structure , or temple, based on the Tabernacle’s design, in Jerusalem.

Ark of the Covenant.

Luz Maria and her daughter, Angi Sarai, built a model of the Tabernacle which showed in detail the outer court, the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies. In the outer court stood the altar of sacrifice for burnt offerings and a basin of water used by the priests for ritual washings. Only priests entered the Holy Place, where there was the table on which the bread of the Presence was placed, the altar of incense and the seven-branched candelabra (menorah). Within the Holy Place, but separated from it by a curtain as the Holy Place was separated from the outer court, was the Holy of Holies where the Ark of the Covenant was kept. The high priest would enter the Holy of Holies only once a year, to offer sacrifices on the Day of Atonement. Luz Maria and Sarai made models of all these things to show the children.

The menorah.

In our vacation Bible school, we emphasized that even as the Tabernacle was replaced by the Temple of Jerusalem, the Temple was replaced by Jesus Himself as God walked among men in the tabernacle of His body. Jesus would say, “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up” in reference to His body (John 2:19-21). And, after describing the earthly Tabernacle, the writer of Hebrews says, “But Christ came as the High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal salvation” (Hebrews 9:11-12). The Temple of Jerusalem would be destroyed in 70 A.D., and never rebuilt, but even before that, on the day of His crucifixion, the veil of the Holy of Holies would be torn in two (Matthew 27:51; Mark 15:38), signifying that all clothed in Christ’s righteousness through baptism may enter into God’s presence without fear.

Solomon's Temple.

Now New Testament believers have the promise that Jesus still dwells among us, wherever two or three are gathered in His name (Matthew 18:20). But we dedicate physical locations and hours to the gathering of God’s people to hear the preaching of the Word and receive the sacraments. And even as elements of Old Testament worship prefigured those of the New Testament (the bronze basin for the baptismal fount, and the bread of the presence for the visible elements of bread and wine in the Lord’s Supper), our worship shows continuity with the Old Testament in the singing of psalms; the centrality of the altar or Lord’s table; and vestments for those who act as stewards of God’s mysteries.

Epiphany Sunday.

Seventh anniversary of our temple

Alfredo and Gladys Rivas.

Also on Sunday, January 7, we celebrated the seventh anniversary of the dedication of our “templo” or permanent sanctuary. For 13 years before that, we worshiped in a roofed patio with no walls. Every Sunday the altar and chairs were set up and taken down. It was our tabernacle. During that time there were 16 baptisms and 22 confirmations and reaffirmations of faith. Since January 2017, I have baptized 14 and received 16 communicant members through confirmation or reaffirmation of faith. In other words, comparable numbers of baptisms, confirmations and reaffirmations of faith in about half the number of years, praise be to God.

Members from Corpus Christi Lutheran Church, our sister congregation in the city of Barinas, attended our dedication service in 2017. Most of the same people returned for our seventh anniversary service, plus Alfredo Rivas, who designed and cut our stained glass, and his wife, Gladys, the sister of Ludy de Tarazona of Corpus Christi. Two who were not able to visit us on January 8, Virginia Jímenez and Roamird Castillo, attended the following Sunday.

Septuagesima or Carnival?

Carnaval princess.

With the Epiphany season behind us, we move into a time that sometimes is called Septuagesima after the first of three Sundays between the Transfiguration and Ash Wednesday. Septuagesima is Latin for “seventieth”. The following Sundays are called Sexagesima (sixtieth), and Quinquagesima (fiftieth). In very round numbers, this means 70, 60 and 50 days before Easter. The first Sunday in Lent was once known as Cuadragesima (fortieth) for the 40 days of Lent, and this is the basis for Cuaresma, the Spanish word for Lent. These pre-Lenten Sundays, mentioned as early as 541 A.D., are supposed to be a time of transition from the joyous festivities of Christmas and Epiphany to the darker, more somber mood of Lent.

However, in medieval times, Lenten fasting was required, and the rules were very strict. So, as something of a practical matter, people got into the habit of conspicuous consumption during the pre-Lenten period: Throwing big parties to use up those foods which could not be eaten during Lent, and which could not even be kept in homes during the fast – meat, butter, cheese, milk, eggs, fats, and bacon – as well as other rich foods and pastries. Later on, the revelry came to include parades and masquerade balls. This came to be known as Carnival (or Carnaval in Spanish) from the Latin “Carnem levare” which means withdrawal or removal of meat. The tradition continues in Latin American countries, although in Venezuela, the celebration of Carnaval is officially limited to the Monday and Tuesday before Ash Wednesday (which, as it happens, falls on February 14, Valentine’s Day, this year).

We will hold a masquerade party for our preschool children as we have every year, but we will also use the selected readings for the pre-Lenten Sundays to emphasize the three solas of the Reformation. The readings for Septuagesima Sunday teach salvation through grace alone (Exodus 17:1-7; 1 Corinthians 9:24-10:5; Matthew 20:1-16); for Sexagesima, sola Scriptura (Isaiah 55:10-13; Hebrews 4:9-14; Luke 8:4-15); and for Quinquagesima, faith alone (1 Samuel 16:1-13; 1 Corinthians 13:1-13; Luke 8:31-43).

Our 2023 Carnaval parade float.

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.