Precious in His sight is the death of His saints

“Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of His saints. O LORD, I am truly Your servant, the son of Your maidservant, You have loosed my bonds. I will offer to You the sacrifice of thanksgiving and will call upon the name of the LORD” Psalm 116:15-17.

My mother, Jeanette Anne Hemmingson Ernst, died April 30, 2026, during Eastertide like my father did on May 9, 2000. I chose Psalm 116 for memorial services on May 3, the fifth Sunday of Easter, at our mission in La Caramuca and at Corpus Christi Lutheran Church in Barinas. The sermon text was 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17.

“But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus."

During the Easter season, we celebrate our Lord’s victory over sin, death and the power of the devil by His atoning death on the cross and resurrection on the third day, as He promised. We rejoice that as we have been baptized with water and the Word, as He was, we will share in His resurrection (Romans 6:3-8; 1 Corinthians 15:20-26). This is the great gift that we receive from Christian parents when we are baptized as infants. But not only do we have the promise of resurrection for ourselves, but also the consolation that our parents will be among the great multitude gathered around the throne of Christ, our Paschal Lamb, they that “shall neither hunger anymore, nor thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them anymore, nor any heat...and God will wipe every tear from their eyes” (Revelation 7:16-17). They already are among that “great cloud of witnesses” whose testimony inspires us and they will be with us in the true rapture, which which occur after (not before) the great tribulation when the Lord returns for the once and final time.

The promise is for you and your children

I returned to the theme of Christian families for the opening devotion of a special meeting on May 5 with Luz Maria's afterschool students and their mothers. The occasion was in anticipation of Mother's Day, Sunday, May 10, and to celebrate Luz Maria's birthday. I read from Acts 2:37-47. First, I emphasized the real manifestation of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost was not so much the speaking in tongues and the preaching of Peter and the baptism of 3,000 souls. Then I focused on verse 39: "This promise is for you and your children," citing examples of how entire households, including children, were baptized (Acts 16:14-15; 22:22-34). Nevertheless, although parents have the privilege and responsibility to bring infants and children forward for baptism, there also is the reponsibility to bring children up in the teaching and admonition of the Lord. This is the basis of Christian education: Not simply the formal instruction, but also the formation of living faith through the power of the Holy Spirit which has become active in their lives through baptism.

After the opening devotion, Luz Maria review with the students and their mothers what the children had learned so far and how it was helping them in their public school classes. Then the children sang a lengthy Venezuelan birthday song to Luz Maria before she cut into two cakes, one donated by her daughter, Sarai, and the other by her brother, Robert Henriquez. It is customary in Venezuela to not only a Spanish version of the brief "Happy Birthday to you" as in the United States, but also to sing one or more longer melodies. These may go on as long as five minutes, or, at least, so it seems. That evening, after a videoconference with women enrolled in the diaconess training program of Concordia Seminary "El Reformador" and Amy Rast, associate director of deaconess formation at Concordia Theoogical Seminary, Fort Wayne, Indiana, the Venezuelan women sang another long birthday song to Luz Maria.

On April 13, we celebrated the sixteenth birthday of Anyi Garrido, Luz Maria's granddaughter. Anyi assists Luz Maria with the afterschool tutoring program. She has the highest academic profile of any student in her high school and is taking an extracurricular course in graphic design. 

On April 12, the second Sunday of Easter, Ana Andreina Cabello Gomez, a member of "Fuente de Vida" (Fountain of Life) Lutheran Church in Puerto Ordaz and her sister, Milade, of the city of Guanare, brought an offering of packaged foodstuffs. Puerto Ordaz is in eastern Venezuela, while Guanare is about an hour and a half drive to the north of us. 

 As a mentor of Venezuelan women in the deaconess training program, Luz Maria was invited to hear annual program reports from Concordia Seminary "El Reformador" online April 24. We were pleased to learn the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod-sponsored seminary in the Dominican Republic is continuing in partnership with one of our sponsoring mission societies, LeadaChild of Olathe, Kansas.