Galatians 2: 10. Only they would have us remember the poor, which very thing I was eager to do.
Next to the proclamation of the Gospel it is the task of a good pastor to be mindful of the poor. For wherever the church is, there must be poor people. Most of the time they are the only true disciples of the Gospel, as Christ says (Matt. 11:5): “The poor have the Gospel preached to them.”
For both human beings and the devil persecute the church and bring poverty upon many, who are then forsaken and to whom no one wants to give anything. In addition, no one provides for the preservation of the Gospel, and no one now will take any care for the support of ministers and the construction of schools. For the construction and establishment of false forms of worship and superstition, by contrast, no price was too high; but everyone contributed generously. That was how so many monasteries, cathedrals, and episcopal sees were erected under the papacy, where wickedness itself ruled, and how endowments were provided to support them.
But nowadays an entire city thinks that it is too much to support one or two ministers of the Gospel, even though formerly, when wickedness ruled, it easily supported various monasteries and endless numbers of priests who read Mass, to say nothing of “terminaries” and “stationaries.” In other words, everywhere true religion is in need, and Christ complains that He is hungry, thirsty, without shelter, naked, and sick (Matt. 25:35). On the other hand, false religion and wickedness flourish and abound with all sorts of possessions. Therefore a true bishop must be concerned also about the poor, and Paul here admits that he was.
Martin Luther
AE 26:105
The Joy of Family
Gritsch provides a marvelous little comment on the joyous side of the family and home life of Martin Luther:
“Luther enjoyed good food and wine, often breaking out in song after a meal and inciting his guests to sing along – occasionally interrupted by noisy children and accompanied by the howling dog Klutz.” Gritsch, The Wit and Wisdom of Martin Luther, p. 100.
Complete with howling dog, it reminds me (and I’m sure you too) of the tho
usands of hours spent with family and friends around the kitchen table. My grandparents had a great oak table. I remember grandma asking the “boys” (my uncles) to help put in the extra “leaves” as all the “kids” were arriving. It seemed to expand limitlessly, just like the potato salad. We’d eat, then we’d tell stories, laugh and giggle, play jokes on each other, and play cards and cribbage into the night.
The little story, which follows, has become a mainstay of joy and humor about our kitchen table.
“This is the worst week of my liiiifffeee!” And it really had been. My older son had broken his hand just a few days previously (that story is recounted in “Christ Have Mercy: How to Put Your Faith in Action,” CPH 2008). Soon after, another incident added insult to injury, literally.
Our family loves to stop at antique “malls.” Each one of us has one or two things we like to collect. I love old Bluegrass LPs (an extension of my habit of banjo playing). Kathy collects
embroidered hankies. At the time of this incident the boys were still into toy weapons.
Well, there was this Daisy BB gun. “Dad, can we get this?” Ahhh, nostalgia. “Boys, I had one just like it when I was a kid.” It was the cowboy style lever action. A flood of positive memories blossomed in my mind. “Hmmm? Only eight bucks? Sure! It will be good for you boys to learn some responsibility… Now when I was a kid we played cowboys and Indians. In fact, I shot the neighbor kid in the leg once. Ha! You should have seen Jed Winquist howling heavenward, eyes tightly shut in pain, and hopping on
one foot. I’ll never forget that. Hilarious…”
Then I caught my self, “But don’t you EVER think of shooting another person. This BB Gun is VERY dangerous and you could put an eye out in a split second. Understand?”
We three cowboys moseyed up to the counter. My wife approached (a few hankies in hand). I obfuscated, holding the gun against my opposite leg. “Nice hankies honey.”
“Mom! Look as this cool gun! It really shoots! Dad said we could get it and we’re gonna buy some BBs on the way home!”
“I don’t know, that could be kind of dangerous. Matt do you think the boys are
ready for that?”
The response I give in such circumstances, and almost always live to regret it is, “Ah…. (right hand held head high, palm facing the wife, waving dismissively downward) don’t sweat it. It’ll be JUST fine. Why, when I was a kid I had one just like it. It’ll be good for ‘em…”
My wife pursed her lips and gave that slight up and down head nod that looks like “yes,” but really means “no.” It’s a double affirmative, which is finally a negative. “Ya… right.” It also automatically lodges a preliminary, clear, though unspoken “I told you so.”
We got home and the boys immediately headed for the back porch, the older cowboy with gun in hand, the younger toting the ammunition. The doily sheriff blocked door.
“Matt, aren’t you going to go out and supervise them?” My response, “Ah…. (right hand held head high, palm facing wife, etc), they’ll be fine. Don’t worry about it. When I was a kid, etc., etc. I told them NOT to shoot toward the neighbors and, if they shoot the neighbor’s window THEY’LL be paying for it.” The sheriff pursed her lips, shook her head “yes” (meaning “no” or “ya, right”) and relented, “I told you so,” now doubly lodged.
I settled into my easy chair. Not ten minutes… not TEN minutes later, the little one came running back into the house! “MATTHEW SHOT OUT THE GLASS!” “What?!!!!” I jumped out of my chair and headed for the driveway toward a laud bawl. There was the marksman, gun in hand. “This is the worst week of my liiiifffeee!” The little one led me to the back of my Toyota van. The ENTIRE rear window was shattered, half the glass fallen out. The gun had jammed. As he tried to get it to fire again my son pointed the barrel safely downward at the driveway. After a few attempts, it fired a BB. The shot ricocheted off the asphalt and struck the window of the van. That $8 dollar gun cost me $300 in lest than ten minutes.
As I stood surveying at the carnage, my wife came out for a look. She looked at me. She looked at the van. She looked back at me and said, “Ah… (right hand held head high, palm facing away with dismissive swiping motion) they’ll be fine…”
I walked into the house and the younger boy was on the phone with grandma who just happened to call right then. I heard this much of the conversation, “No, mom’s not mad at Matthew at all. She’s mad at dad for letting us play with the gun.”
To this day the whole family laughs about the incident. Each one chimes in with his or her part in the story. The blame gets laid on dad and we howl with laughter together with extended family or friends. It’s pure joy, at dad’s well-deserved expense.
St. Paul provides the prescription for joy in the family.
Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other, as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all else put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony… Wives submit to your husbands as is fitting in the Lord. Husbands love your wives, and do not be harsh with them. Children obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged.”(Colossians 3:12-14; 18-21)
It is precisely in the family, because of sheer proximity, that we sin against others most, we make the most visible mistakes. If we take ourselves too seriously, our lives can be the most unbearable. The gospel of free forgiveness in Christ frees us to expect mistakes, and to find the humor in them after the fact. For me the greatest joy comes when I’m forced to laugh at myself with my family and friends (and sometimes even a dog or two) guffawing and howling just as loudly.
Matt H
nations? …What greater, more important, more pertinent message could the Church have issued to the world, to nations old and new, and to its own members, than the message concerning the eternal Son of God, “begotten of His Father before all .worlds, God of God, Light of Light, Very God of Very God… Who for us men and our salvation came down from heaven and was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary and was made man . . .”! This confession made by Christians in a dying world became the confession of the new nations and the confession of all coming generations of the Church. Is this not something much greater than any “relevant” and “practical” pronouncement made in the manner of modern church conventions can possibly be? 
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