Christ for all the nations

Our Sunday school lesson for the second Sunday in Lent was based on the Gospel of John, chapter 4: The story of Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well. In fact, there are many lessons to be learned from this single story, including:

• The Gospel is to be preached to every nation and tribe, including racial/ethnic groups that have had centuries of conflict with your own, as in the case of the Jews and Samaritans;
• The Jews, not the Samaritans, had the full revelation of God's will and followed the moral and ceremonial laws that God had dictated to their forefathers, it was not the keeping of these God-given laws that made them right with God (for all failed to obey God's Law perfectly);
• Rather, it was faith in the promise of God's Messiah that saved Abraham and other Old Testament believers from God's wrath (Romans 4:1-5, 13-17).
• The Samaritans,too, kne w of the promised Messiah, although they accepted only part of God's inspired Word and mixed it with their own human traditions. Jesus revealed Himself to the Samaritan woman as the Messiah anticipated by both Jews and Samaritans.
• The crossing of political, cultural and religious boundaries with the Gospel can be a difficult, even physically demanding task, which is why God ordained an office of the public ministry, men dedicated to preaching the Word and administering the sacraments wherever the Lord might call them;
• Once the seed is planted, however, the church may grow rapidly through ordinary people, like the Samaritan woman, witnessing to their neighbors;
• It was by the touching of the Samaritan woman's conscience with God's Law that Jesus penetrated her defenses and brought her the Gospel.

We focused on the last point with the children, emphasizing that God knows all of our faults, but given true repentance and a contrite heart, there is no sin that can keep us from reconciliation with God, for He does not will our destruction, but rather our redemption. Given the nature of the Samaritan woman's sin (she had been married and divorced five time and was living with a man to whom she was not married) Luz María saw a opportunity to talk with them about issues that they would face once they passed puberty – such as HIV/AIDS infection.

Thanks to a 2001 decision by the Supreme Court of Venezuela, every citizen infected with the HIV virus is guaranteed free treatment withantiretroviral drugs, the first ruling of its kind in Latin America.

The cost of this treatment is substantial, about 1,000 U.S. dollars per month. Venezuela imports generic antiretroviral medications from Cuba and India in order to meet the country’s demand. However, because of budget problems and poor planning, not all people living with HIV/AIDS in Venezuela have had access to the treatment. It is believed that hundreds of infected individuals have fled Venezuela for the United States and Canada in search of better treatment.

In addition, Venezuela experienced a dramatic increase in the number of adults (15 to 49 years of age) reported to be infected with the HIV virus from around 62,000 in 2003 to 110,000 in 2004. This 77 percent increase raised Venezuela's ranking among the 100 nations with the highest incidence of HIV/AIDS from 53^rd to 49^th place. Even more disturbing is the increased number of women infected with the HIV virus. In the early 1990s, women accounted for one out of every 18 people in Venezuela infected with HIV, but today they account for 31,000 of the 110,000 infected with HIV/AIDS, about one out of four. In 2005, deaths attributed to HIV infection totaled 6,100 (technically no one dies of HIV/AIDS; rather the virus destroys the immune system, allowing other infections (that the body would normally be able to resist) to claim a life).

The number of HIV-infected Venezuelans has remained stable at around 110,000 for the last four years, according to estimates by the United Nations AIDS Program. Currently, Venezuelans infected with the HIV virus represent 0.7 percent of the country's population of more than 27.5 million. In comparison, the percentage of U.S. citizens infected with the HIV/AIDS virus is about 0.6 percent of the total U.S. population.

According to a World Bank report, at the end of 2007 there were around 1.6 million people living with HIV in Latin America - more than in the United States, Canada, Japan and the United Kingdom combined. More than half of Latin Americans living with HIV reside in the region’s four largest countries: Brazil, Colombia, Mexico and Argentina.

Brazil is home to 600,000 people living with HIV – more than any other Latin American country – but due to the large size of its population, this equates to a relatively low HIV prevalence of 0.5
percent. The most severe epidemics are found in smaller countries such as Honduras and Belize, where the percentages of the HIV-infected are 1.5 percent and 2.5 percent respectively.

Of course, we did not hit the children with all these facts and figures. Instead, we emphasized that the possibility of HIV/AIDS infection was one reason why sex outside of marriage could have serious consequences for their lives and the lives of others. God designed marriage as a lifelong commitment between one man and one woman, and when people try to step outside that design, all kinds of problems result.

Also, Luz María emphasized, one should not make such a commitment based on qualities that may fade with time, but rather seek the kind of person who can maintain a lifelong relationship – and help strengthen you in your relationship with God.

Eduardo Flores continues to add a lot to our program, especially in the area of music. He has been teaching new songs to the Sunday school, preschool and the congregation in Barinas. Eduardo has a deep appreciation of the rich heritage of Christian liturgy and music. Click on the audio player to hear him singing and playing guitar for an arrangement of Luther's hymn, “Lord, Keep Us Steadfast In Thy Word.”

During the third week of Lent, Corpus Christi Lutheran Church celebrated its 13^th anniversary at its present location. At a special prayer vigil, 7 p.m. to midnight that Friday, Eduardo, Luz María and I led a three-part study on the history and heritage of the church.

I began with a look at the early church and how the first Christians, all Jews by birth or adult converts to Judaism, considered the Gospel of Christ to be the fulfillment, not the negation of Old Testament teaching. Thus they continued the highly liturgical worship to which they were accustomed in the Temple of Jerusalem and in the synagogues. Like the believers of the Old
Testament and the first-century church, our worship today includes the singing of the Psalms, the reading of the Holy Scriptures and public prayers. However, we do not offer sacrifices for the
propitiation of sins as they did in the Old Testament, for Christ has made the one sacrifice which covers all sins for all time on the Cross. Nevertheless, Christ is present in His body and blood in the sacrament of Holy Communion, and God speaks to us through the preaching of His Word. Our songs, prayers and offerings are sacrifices of thanksgiving for His presence among us.

Eduardo talked about the church during the Reformation and how during times of conflict and persecution, the church actually thrives more than during times of peace and plenty. He also spoke of how Martin Luther as a German belonged to a different culture, but had a side that a Latin American could understand in his love of music and children, and in his personal struggle to know God's love.

Luz María focused on the church today and its responsibility to continue its mission. The Great Commission in Matthew 28:19-20 emphasizes baptism and discipling, “teaching them all that I have commanded you.” If the church adopts “evangelism” techniques that bring in more members at the expense of sounddoctrine and instruction, it is not really being true to the mission of proclaiming the Gospel to all nations.

God's blessings to all during this Lenten season as we anticipate the joy of Easter Sunday.

Children are a blessing

"Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord,the fruit of the womb a reward."Psalm 127:3

Edymar Mariangel Brito, the first child of Edgar and Mariel Brito was born October 16, 2007, and baptized at Corpus Christi Lutheran Church in Barinas, October 28, 2007.

It was my privilege to hold the basin of water while Edgar baptized his daughter. I wore a white alb and around my neck the pewter cross that the members of my home Bible study group at Michael's Lutheran Church gave me before I left for Venezuela. I did not do much but stand there, but I was dressed for the part.

The parents very much wanted this baby. Mariel had been pregnant twice before, but had suffered a miscarriage both times.

I thought of the rejoicing over Edymar's birth October 23 when a Reuters article appeared in the international press. It quoted Alberto Stella, a United Nations official, as blaming the Roman Catholic Church's stand on birth control for the spread of HIV/AIDS throughout Latin America.

According to the Reuters article, some 1.7 million people across Latin America are infected with the HIV virus. There were perhaps 410,000 new cases in 2006.

Stella told Reuters that condom use "has been demonized" (presumably by the Roman Catholic Church) and that "evidence shows" that abstinance-based sex education "isn't working".

Where to begin? First of all, to make generalizations about a Latin American country like Venezuela based on the assumption that "everyone there is Catholic" is profoundly misguided. As in most parts of the world, the "official" religion does not always play an important role in most people's day-to-day decisions.

Let me be blunt about this: You can walk into almost any pharmacy and many supermarkets in Venezuela and pick up condoms right off the rack. No questions are asked, and actually, it probably would not be that hard to slip out of the store without paying for the product. No one here is having "unprotected sex" because the Roman Catholic or any other church is preventing the distribution and sale of condoms.

Abortion still is illegal in Venezuela except in cases where birthing the baby definitely would endanger the life of the mother. Illegal abortions are performed, but the threat of a two-year prison term does appear to discourage the practice.

Luz María grew up with four brothers and two sisters (one brother died at 21 years of age, the rest survive). Back at that time it was not unusual for there to be as many as 10 children in a household. Now the norm is about four to six children per family, much as it was in the Midwestern United States when I was a boy.

In other words, the decline in the birth rate over the last two generations in Venezuela is consistent with the gradual adoption of non-abortifacient birth control without abortion as a backup plan, as was the case throughout the United States from the end of the post-World War II "baby boom" until 1973, when the Supreme Court legalized abortion on demand.

Which brings me to the second point, that opposition to abortion is not an exclusively Roman Catholic position. Actually, neither is opposition to birth control. Until the middle of the 20th Century, there was no difference between Catholic and Protestant teaching in regard to birth control. The great Anglican author and scholar, C.S. Lewis, considered birth control a sin and made that a plot point in his novel, "That Hideous Strength".

I have copy of "If God Be For Us", a collections of essays by Dr. Walter Maier, the original "Lutheran Hour" speaker. In one essay he inveighs against the evil of contraception. Also, there is an academic study by Alan Graebner, available for purchase on-line, using the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod as a case study of how and why one Protestant denomination changed its stand on birth control.

There is much room for discussion here, but I want to move on to my next point: Today conservative Protestants and Roman Catholics differ on the extent to which "family planning" methods should be used by married couples. There is no disagreement on abortion and the immorality of sexual relations outside of marriage.

It is sexual promiscuity that kills, not abstinence. There is indeed an increase in the incidence of HIV/AIDS in Venezuela and other Latin American countries, but this has more to do with the breakdown of family relationships and increased opportunities for casual sex due to rapid urbanization more than a shortage of condoms. Then there is the fact that world's two greatest multinational evangelistic organizations, the entertainment and advertising industries, are quite active in Venezuela, peddling dreams of sexual pleasure without responsibility.

The question is not whether solutions which emphasize abstinence from sex outside of marriage will work, but rather whether any other approach will. Why are allegedly educated people blind to this?

Well, as I learned many years ago in the bio-ethics course I took in college, there are three presuppositional models that tend to color people's thinking about world population growth, hunger and poverty. Let's examine them in light of these Scriptural principles:

1. God ordained marriage for companionship, procreation and a safeguard against sexual temptation.
2. Children are a blessing from God.
3. God is the true Author of life.
4. All human life has value in God's eyes.

Pro-natalism: This is the idea that a high level of population growth is necessary for a human society to survive and prosper. With birth rates below the level of replacement in the United States and Europe, this point of view is gaining more respect. The recent movie, "Children of Men", based on a bestselling novel of the same name, is set in a near-future world in which all women everywhere have become infertile with disastrous results. Pro-natalism would seem to be consistent with the Bible's positive attitude toward procreation, but pro-natalist policies can exist without the recognition of God as the creator of life and the inherent sanctity of human life. The Nazis, for example, were pro-natalists, but also favored sterilization and killing of the "unfit" and undesirable.

Marxism: This point of view need not be defined strictly in terms of adherence to the doctrines of Marx, but more broadly as the idea that hunger and poverty are mainly the result of an unjust distribution of the world's resources, goods and services. There is not so much a need to control birth rates in developing countries as there is to control consumption of material goods in industrialized nations. This philosophy has become more and more popular in Latin America, especially in light of failed attempts to implement free-market reforms. The development of "liberation theology" has given Marxists a quasi-Christian vocabulary. Although the Scriptures speak against injustice, including the economic kind, and the responsibility of those blessed with more material wealth to share with the less fortunate, this is seen as a voluntary movement resulting from the restoration of a right relationship with God. The Bible affirms the right of private property and the responsibility to work for a living, while the Old Testament history of Israel portrays a government's desire for higher and higher taxes as a cause for civil war.

Neo-Malthusianism: Neo-Malthusians base their thinking on writings of Thomas Malthus, an 18th-Century economist who was the first think about the big-picture effects of unrestrained population growth. However, the "neo" (Greek for "new") in neo-Malthusianism is due to the fact that neo-Malthusians are rather embarrassed to claim Thomas Malthus as their own. In addition to being an economics professor, Malthus was a quite conservative Anglican priest who considered birth control and homosexuality to be vices, and opposed most government welfare programs as encouraging the poor not to work and to bear children out of wedlock. His solution to the potential problem of population growth surpassing the available food supply was "moral restraint". By that he meant avoiding sexual activity outside of marriage and postponing marriage until one had acquired an education.

Malthus published his views on population and economics in 1798. Less than 30 years later, Sir Frances Place in 1822 published a book using some of Malthus' arguments to advocate birth control. This was the true beginning of neo-Malthusianism, a point of view that has become dominant in the United States and Europe. Neo-Malthusianist ideas have become internalized as the reflexive opinions that "there are too many people in the world" and "reproductive choice (prevention of pregnancy) is a health issue". Sometimes neo-Malthusians attempt a Biblical justification of their ideology in terms of an argument for stewardship of natural resources.

In confronting all these thought-systems which can blind people to the truths of God's creation and revelation, it is important to remember the Scriptural principles above, and that the light of Christ's Gospel is what can truly motivate people to love God and their neighbor as themselves.

Pilgrimage to Paradise

During Holy Week 2009, we accompanied 12 preadolescents, from six to 13 years of age, to El Paraiso Lutheran Church in Barquisimeto for a three-day retreat. We left Wednesday morning, April 8, and returned Saturday afternoon, April 11.

Five of the children were from La Caramuca and the rest were from Corpus Christi Lutheran Church in Barinas. With the children from Barquisimeto, there was a total attendance of 37 preadolescents. In addition there were six adolescents and 19 adults, including representatives from La Caramuca and Barinas.

Barquisimeto lies north of the city of Barinas, a journey of about three hours. Thanks to donations from our supporters in the United States, we were able to rent a bus.

The capital of Lara state, Barquisimeto is the fourth-largest city in Venezuela with a population of more than 800,000 people. It is home to a professional baseball team, the Lara Cardinals, and professional basketball and soccer teams, both known as the Lara Guaros. (The term guaro refers to a species of bird similar to a parrot. It also is used as a slang term for a person born in Lara and some surrounding areas). The large public soccer stadium in Barquisimeto was built specifically for several matches in the Copa America, an international soccer tournament that Venezuela hosted for the first time in 2007.

Barquisimeto is known as the location of several universities, a flourishing musical and cultural life and for the manufacture of musical instruments.

The city also is home to two Lutheran Church of Venezuela congregations, Cristo es Amor (Christ is Love) and El Paraiso, plus two new Lutheran mission stations. None of these congregations are served by their own pastor. Rather a national missionary, a young man named Miguelangel Perez, has been assigned to serve them all. This year he has the help of two vicars, Isaac Machado and Angel Eliezer Mendoza. All four groups in Barquisimeto were represented at the retreat.

"El Paraiso" means "Paradise", but the name of the church has no Biblical significance. Rather, the church was named for El Paraiso de Cabudare, the "urbanizacion" or suburb, where it is located. Nevertheless, it is an apt name because the church grounds are landscaped and immaculately maintained, with stately trees and a collection of rare and beautiful flowering plants (rare and beautiful even for Venezuela). These all are well cared for by an older fellow who lives on the grounds.

There is a freestanding worship sanctuary, a large parish hall with kitchen, showers and guest bedrooms (where we all stayed), and a separate office building. This is quite an elaborate setup compared to what we are used to in Barinas.

There were devotions every morning, and throughout the day Bible studies and games for the children. Everything was aimed at explaining the events of Holy Week, starting with Jesus' entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, His suffering and death on the Cross, and ultimately the hope of the Resurrection on Easter Sunday.

Of course, on Thursday and Friday evenings there were Maundy Thursday and Good Friday worship services. In Venezuela Maundy Thursday is simply called "Jueves Santo" or "Holy Thursday". "Maundy" is a peculiarly English word of uncertain origin. One popular explanation is that it derives by way of Old French and Middle English from the the first word of the Latin translation of John 13:34, "Mandatum novum do vobis ut diligatis invicem sicut dilexi vos". This passage is part of Jesus' words to his disciples after washing their feet after the Thursday Passover meal, "A new commandment I give to you, that you love another as I have loved you".

However, other scholars say that the archaic English word "maund" originated with the Latin "mendicare" (to beg), and the name Maundy Thursday developed from a medieval custom whereby the English royalty handed out alms to the poor on this day. "Maund" also is the root of "maunder", a word sometimes still used in modern English. It means either a) to talk in a rambling, foolish, or meaningless way; or b)to move, go, or act in an aimless, confused manner (after the manner of a beggar or homeless person)".

At any rate, the Thursday service was a communion service and Isaac Machado preached a sermon, based on Mark 14:12-25, about the significance of the sacrament. It perhaps was a little long and involved for the younger listeners, but he made all the right points, especially in regard to closed communion.

Closed communion means the practice of restricting participation in the sacrament to those who have confessed and received absolution for their sins, and who have confessed a common belief about the nature of the sacrament. This is based on a reading of Scripture passages such as 1 Corinthians 11:27-29:

"Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord's body."

Thus it is an act of Christian love and responsibility to prevent those living in sin, including the sin of false belief, to participate in that would bring further judgment upon them.

St. Paul also writes in 1 Corinthians 11:26, "For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes". For Lutherans, this means that those who commune at the same altar are thereby declaring publicly that they are united in the doctrine of the Apostles (Acts 2:42, 1 Corinthians 10:17).

So in Lutheran churches participation in the sacrament normally is limited to confirmed members of a Lutheran congregation, or, in other words, those who have publicly confessed the belief that in the Lord's Supper we receive the true body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, under the bread and wine, that along with the bodily eating and drinking we receive forgiveness of sins, life and salvation.

But the practice of closed communion was not invented by Lutherans and limited to Lutherans. Justin Martyr wrote this about early church practice in the second century A.D.:

"And this food is called among us Eukaristia [the Eucharist], of which no one is allowed to partake but the man who believes that the things which we teach are true, and who has been washed with the washing that is for the remission of sins, and unto regeneration, and who is so living as Christ has enjoined."

Some form of closed communion remains the rule in the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox churches, and conservative Presbyterian, Baptist and even Mennonite churches around the world. Nevetheless, since the 18th Century, many Protestant denominations have absorbed the rationalistic idea that no belief, if sincerely held, can be considered a sin. More recently, the worldwide neo-Pentecostalist movement has mounted a renewed attack on the teaching that the Holy Spirit works through visible, exterior means.

Thus the widespread practice of "open communion", in which anyone, even those who have not received Christian baptism, may participate in the Lord's Supper. This is particularly true in Venezuela where "Protestantism" and "Pentecostalism" have come to mean almost the same thing. (Of course there are "charismatic" Catholics in Venezuela, too, but most people who become involved in this type of error wind up leaving the Catholic Church.)

Our Holy Thursday service concluded with the stripping of paraments from the altar in anticipation of the Good Friday "Tenebrae" service.

Seven candles were placed on the bare altar and Miguelangel, Angel Eliezer and I took turns reading the seven last words of Christ from the Cross. We extinguished one candle after the reading of each lesson.

Miguelangel let me be the "officiant" at the Good Friday service, which meant a couple of things. First, I got to wear the black vestments (coal-black alb and a black stole with silver-gray trim). It was quite a striking variation on the regular theme and I felt bad that the church only had one set of the vestments. Miguelangel and Angel Eliezer simply wore their black clerical-collar shirts with black trousers and shoes. It would have been quite a statement if we all three at least had worn black albs. I continually am impressed by how the ancient liturgical practices of the church teach the basic truths of the Bible in both visible and audible ways (much better than PowerPoint presentations).

The second thing was that I read the seventh lesson and, after the seventh candle had been solemnly carried out of the church, slammed the Bible shut as the church was plunged into total darkness. After some time, the seventh candle, representing the promise of Christ's victory, was returned to the altar where it remained burning for the rest of the night.

Angel Eliezer preached the Good Friday sermon on John 19:28-37. He had asked my advice on it, as he was struggling with how to explain why Christ had to die on the Cross for our sins. He was working with the idea of penal substitution, that Christ suffered and died for our sins so that the demands of God's justice might be met while making it possible for us to receive God's mercy. But he was not sure if he could make the congregation, especially the younger members, understand the legal concept of why things that happened so many centuries in the past would have a profound impact on their lives today.

I suggested using a medical metaphor, speaking of sin as a disease transmitted from generation to generation, and invariably fatal if left untreated. Christ offered Himself as a sacrifice so that His pure blood might cleanse our tainted blood. This might make sense to the children as during the week they had studied the Passover tradition and the importance of blood sacrifice in ancient Judaism. Angel Eliezer liked this suggestion and decided he would use the specific example of HIV/AIDS, since it is a big social problem in Venezuela and everyone would understand the analogy. HIV/AIDS is transmitted through the blood, often from generation to generation, poisons relationships between people, destroys trust, and is always fatal if not treated with expensive medicine. I had not thought of that, although we have talked to the children in La Caramuca about HIV/AIDS.

After the Good Friday service, the electric lights throughout the church's compound were shut off for about a half hour. As we sat in the darkness, some of the adults whispered the most difficult questions about divine truth and justice that they received from unbelieving friends and neighbors. Such as:

• If God is all-powerful,all-knowing and good, why does He allow evil to exist?
• If God made Adam and Eve so that they were capable of sinning, did not God make a flawed creation?
• With all the different religions and philosophies in the world, how can one be sure what is the truth?

The difficulties arise because, in fact, there are some things only God can know and only God can judge. Who deserves to live and who deserves to die? Actually, according to Scripture we all deserve to die and only by God's grace do we still draw breath. Yet the Bible also assures us that God formed us all in our mothers' womb (Isaiah 44:24) and because all human life is precious in God's sight, Christ died for all that all might have eternal life (John 3:16).

But what is the worse fate, to die at 18 in a terrible car accident with so much unrealized potential? Or to live to middle age and see so many youthful dreams turn out to be either false hopes or if realized, not really what you envisioned? Or to live to nearly 100 and, even you are fortunate enough to stay reasonably healthy and financially secure, see the world of your childhood fade completely into memory?

God only knows. But God promises that as long as we are still here on this earth He has a purpose for our lives (Jeremiah 29:11), that all things work for the good of them that trust Him (Romans 8:28) and that if we trust God, we will never be tested beyond our endurance (1 Corinthians 10:13).

How could an all-powerful, all-knowing God have made a world in which our choices have consequences for ourselves and others? Could He not have made a world in which we could put our hands on a hot stove and not be burned? Or throw ourselves off a cliff and not break our bones? Did not Satan once ask that of Jesus?

We have only the reply that Job received: Let God be God and trust that His will is holy and good. Aside from these Biblical assurances, what hope do we have? Even if we deny God, we still are left with a world full of pain and suffering and no expectation of ultimate justice or redemption.

But in Christ, all Biblical promises are made good, and in Christ we may see that in this world of suffering, God Himself suffered more than we will ever be called on to suffer. And, since the teaching of the Bible all point to Christ on the cross, in God's Word we may find certainty amid the babel of religions and philosophies, all of which boil to down to finding salvation or enlightenment in ourselves rather than saving work of Christ (Ephesians 4:14).

I thought of these things as I prepared my Easter Sunday sermon on John 20:1-18. This is the glorious Easter story as told by John, but it also illustrates that all the evidence in the world does not compel faith. For the synoptic Gospels record that Jesus told His disciples three times that He would die on the Cross and rise on the third day: once after the confession of Peter (Matthew 16:21; Mark 8:31; Lucas 9:22), again after the Transfiguration (Matthew 17:22; MarK 9:31; Luke 9:44-45); and a third time (Matthew 20:18-19; Mark 10:33; Luke 18:31-33).

Despite this, what was Mary Magdalene's reaction upon seeing the open tomb of Jesus? She ran back to the other disciples and said, "They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we (she and the other women) do not know where they have laid Him". Then Peter and John went to the tomb and examined the discarded (yet neatly arranged) linens that had covered the dead man's body. But they still did not completely understand what had happened.

After Peter and John left, Mary Magdalene had a vision of two angels in the tomb, then encountered the risen Christ Himself. But she still asked Jesus, standing right in front of her, where they had taken her Lord's body. Only when the Lord spoke did she recognize Him. But if they had paid more attention to His words in the first place, they could have spared themselves much fear and doubt.

Our faith is based on evidence, not wishful thinking. Palestine is a real place on the map, not an imaginary country. Jerusalem is a real city that still exists today, as do the towns of Bethlehem and Nazareth. Pontius Pilate, Caesar Augustus, Tiberias, King Herod and his sons, and Quirenius the governor of Syria were real historical figures. There is much testimony outside of the New Testament to indicate that something extraordinary happened in Palestine 2,000 years ago. At the very least, the Roman and Jewish authorities had an extraordinarily hard time explaining an empty tomb.

Yet it is not the evidence interpreted by human reason that leads to savng faith, but rather the Holy Spirit working through Word and sacrament. May God bless you with the certainty of this faith.

Meat offered to idols

“Conscience, I say, not your own, but that of the other. For why is my liberty judged by another man’s conscience? But if I partake with thanks, why am I evil spoken of for the food over which I give thanks? Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” 1 Corinthians 10:29-31

For the first time in 11 years, I received a complaint about posting photos on Facebook of our Carnaval party for the preschool children. We have celebrated Carnaval with them for 16 years, with the approval of their parents and guardians, but I have only had a Facebook account since 2008. The boys dress up as Spider Man or Batman, the girls as Disney princesses (or pirates) and we used our parade around the neighborhood as an opportunity to pass out tracts from Cristo Para Todas Las Naciones (the Spanish Lutheran Hour) before CPTLN shut down operations in Venezuela. “But Christians do not celebrate Carnaval,” this person insisted. “It has pagan origins.”

A bit of background: In many countries, especially culturally Roman Catholic countries like Venezuela, the two to five days before Ash Wednesday is a time for masquerades, parades, parties and pranks. If that sounds something like Halloween, well, it is, and for some people it raises some of the same issues.

The word in English is carnival and it has the same origin as Carnaval, but the traveling shows known as carnivals are a somewhat different topic. People in the United States may be most familiar with pre-Lenten partying in the form of Mardi Gras in New Orleans, “mardi gras” being French for “Fat Tuesday”, the day before Ash Wednesday.

“Carnem levare” is the Latin root, and it means to take away the flesh or take away the meat. In medieval Europe, it became mandatory to abstain from foods derived from the bodies of land-based mammals and fowl during Lent, although the severity of the rules varied according to time and place. To remove some of the temptation, and, as a practical matter, because certain animal-based foods like eggs and butter would not keep for 40 days, it became customary to consume all remaining meat and dairy products in the house over several days of non-stop feasting.

The association of “carnivale” with masquerades and parades began in Italy, and soon spread to France and Spain, and from those countries to the New World. As with Halloween, which began with Christian observance of All Saints Day, but coincides with the approximate dates of ancient fall harvest festivals, some customs of pre-Christian origin may have been incorporated into festivities that usually coincide with the coming of spring.

Now the issue for Christians today is not so much the origins of Halloween or Carnaval, but what these events have come to mean as secular celebrations. In my childhood, Halloween was the occasion for pumpkin carving contests, bobbing for apples and going door to door in costume to receive candy. Some older youth were more into “tricks” than “treats” and sometimes crossed the line into vandalism, but that was the extent of the trouble with Halloween. For Luz Maria, who grew up in western Venezuela, “Carnaval” meant masquerade parties for children, parades and water balloon fights in the streets for the rowdier types.

Nowadays, many in the USA really think Halloween is a pagan festival and are tempted into actual witchcraft and occultism. Likewise, in many countries, Carnaval has become an excuse for sexual immorality and abuse of drugs and alcohol. Particularly in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Carnaval has grown into an international event that throws a spotlight on Brazil’s social problems, such as sex trafficking and an extremely high occurrence of HIV/AIDS. Especially this year in Venezuela, in the midst of shortages of food and medicine, high crime rates and political tension, there are some who question why there should be something like Carnaval, frivolous at best and a invitation to wretched excess at wo

rst.

But should we for these reasons deny children a time for make-believe and simple games? The first Christians lived in a world full of pagan ritual and symbolism. They were commanded to avoid idolatry, but did becoming a Christian mean cutting all ties with unbelieving family and friends, indeed with your whole culture? Furthermore, the mission of the church was to reach out to these same unbelieving family and friends to bring them into God’s kingdom.

The Apostle Paul deals with this issue in 1 Corinthians, especially chapters 8 and 10, when he speaks of “meat offered to idols”. The city of Corinth, like all urban centers in the first-century Mediterranean world, was full of pagan temples and shrines. Based on archeology and other sources outside of the Bible, we know that animal sacrifice was a key feature of all pre-Christian religion, including ancient Judaism. The meat from animals sacrificed on pagan altars would be consumed in feasts in honor of the god or goddess, since every temple had an attached dining hall. Any meat left over would be given to the priests of the temple and their families. Also, when the dining halls were not in use for the religious festivals, they would be rented out for weddings, celebrations of victory in battle and what we might call award ceremonies. Sacrificial meat would be served at these functions. Finally, if there was still some meat left over, it would be taken to the vendor’s stalls in the public markets to be sold to the public.

Eidólothutos, the word translated “meat offered to idols” first appears in Acts 15:29. It was a Jewish term (Gentiles referred to such meat with the term, hierothutos), and the passage in Acts represents the preoccupation of Jewish Christians with sharing meals with Gentile converts. The Jerusalem church council advised Gentile Christians to avoid serving meat that had been offered to idols, along with any other meat not prepared according to kosher rules out of love for their Jewish brethren (not because they were bound by the ritual purity laws of the Old Testament).

In 1 Corinthians, the emphasis is on encounters outside the community of faith. St. Paul warns that Christians absolutely should not participate in pagan religious rituals. In chapter 10:21, he says, “You cannot drink from the cup of the Lord and from the cup of demons.” Although the gods of pagan mythology, like Zeus, Apollo or Hermes, did not exist as such, nevertheless the temptation to idolatrous worship was the work of demons. Today there can be no “interfaith” worship, even with those who claim to worship just one god (Jews or Muslims).

But there were those in the church at Corinth who believed themselves to be of superior understanding and “strong” in the faith. Because they did not believe the pagan gods had any power over them and that all meat was just meat, there was nothing wrong with attending feasts at pagan temples that were not specifically for religious purposes.

Paul rebukes their spiritual pride and tells them that, even though it was quite true that the pagan gods had no power over them, that meat offered to idols was just meat, and that simply entering a pagan temple did not tempt them to idolatry, they should be concerned for the “weak” who could be tempted by such things. They should not even give the appearance of condoning pagan worship or allowing that pagan gods had some kind of authority.

However, Paul affirms the principle of Christian liberty against those, who out of a different kind of self-righteousness, would go to the other extreme. Meat sold in the public markets was not labeled according to origin, therefore there was no problem with purchasing it, even though it was likely some had been sacrificed to idols (1 Corinthians 10:25). Likewise, if invited to a meal in the home of an unbeliever, with the opportunity of sharing the Gospel, the Christian should eat what is set on the table and not make a fuss about where the meat came from. However, if someone else were to identify the meat as having been sacrificed in a pagan temple, the Christian should politely refuse it, rather than dismiss the scruples of weaker brethren before unbelievers.

One form of legalism is to insist on observance of ceremonies that God has not commanded as necessary to salvation or Christian living. Another is to insist that all abstain from practices that are not contrary to God’s will. We should resist efforts to force such views on us. As with meat offered to idols, we may enjoy customs that may have non-Christian origins, as long as no one is really tempted to sin by them and they provide the opportunity to share God’s Word with those who have not heard it.

Postscript on the capybara

I cannot talk about the Lenten fast in Venezuela without mentioning the capybara or “el chigüire” as it is known here. Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris is world’s largest species of rodent. It has a heavy, barrel-shaped body and short head, with reddish-brown fur on the upper part of its body that turns yellowish-brown underneath. Adults grow to 106 to 134 cm (3.48 to 4.40 feet) in length, stand 50 to 62 cm (20 to 24 inches) tall at the withers, and typically weigh 35 to 66 kg (77 to 146 lbs.). In the 16th Century, the Pope responded to a petition from Venezuelan priests to declare the semi-aquatic rodent an exception to the rule against eating red meat. Since then, eating chigüire during Lent has been a Venezuelan tradition, much like turkey dinner for Thanksgiving in the United States.

Ash Wednesday and apagones

Our Ash Wednesday service on March 6, 2019, was bookended by power outages or apagones in Spanish. On late Monday afternoon, our power went down for 21 hours. I do not know if this was just a local blackout, because it didn’t make the news, but the next one sure did. On Thursday, March 7, the entire electrical grid went down across Venezuela for 60 hours, leaving most of the country without electricity, telephone, television, radio, Internet or water (because no power for the pumps). The lights came back on at 5 a.m. Sunday for 5 hours, then went out again. It was the same Monday: Five hours of electricity early in the morning, then a blackout for the rest of the day. Finally, at 2:45 p.m. Tuesday, March 12, full power was restored.

This is apparently what happened: There was a major breakdown at the Guri Dam hydroelectric plant. When it was built in the 1960s, the Guri plant was the largest generation facility of its kind in the world. Today it is the third-largest, at I7,426 meters in length and 162 meters in height. It impounds the Guri Reservoir, which has a surface area of 4,250 square kilometers (1,641 square miles) . The Guri hydroelectric power plant is situated 100 kilometers upstream of the Caroni River in Necuima Canyon i. With an installed capacity of 10,200 megawatts, it has for years provided 75 to 80 percent of Venezuela’s electrical demand.

Electricity generated by the smaller Matagua hydroelectric plant and a thermoelectric plants allowed the government to implement the draconian energy rationing program of five hours of electricity per day.

In La Caramuca, we lost contact with the outside world, except for intermittent cellphone signals. But we were able to pump water from our well with a portable gasoline generator. We have not used the generator for some time, because even gasoline is strictly rationed now. Also the generator is over 10 years old, has been overhauled several times and no longer has the capacity to do everything we would like it to do. But it earned its keep this past week. No more than ever, we would like to install a battery backup system, perhaps with solar panels on the roof, and a satellite link to the Internet.