# Der Lutheraner_St. Louis Missouri_1949 06 21_S214
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

214

Mission and pastoral work in Paris is uncommonly difficult, partly because by and large the French stand completely indifferent toward the Word of God, partly also because the members live scattered everywhere in this great metropolis. Pastor Kreiß must give the instruction of children and young people in the individual families. A Sunday school cannot be established.

But in spite of these difficulties our work goes forward here in Paris too. Some time ago Pastor Kreiß translated Luther's Small Catechism, together with the explanation that has become familiar among us, into French, and recently he has been publishing a four-page periodical under the title Le Luthérien François. In the number lying before me there is Pastor Kreiß' translation of part of Luther's glorious Easter sermon of the year 1525.

The congregation in Paris is an outpost of sound Lutheranism such as our Church represents and spreads. In this congregation God's Word and Luther's doctrine ring out every Sunday in all their clarity. But there is much, much work to be done in a city as large as Paris. It would be a great blessing if help could be placed at Pastor Kreiß' side, so that he would have time and opportunity to render into French some of our Lutheran treasures, such as orders of service, prayers, hymns, and the like.

Pastor Kreiß' wife also deserves a word of recognition. An Alsatian by birth, she has grown into the difficult conditions in Paris and stands faithfully at her husband's side. Four lively, bright children and an aunt who was a Lutheran deaconess for some 25 years spread sunshine in our Lutheran parsonage in Paris. Our visit there and the insight we gained into Lutheranism in Paris will remain unforgettable to us. May God abundantly bless in the future also the work begun in Paris twenty years ago.
Paul M. Bretscher

What a Jew Noticed

A missionary among the Jews reports: "Some days ago a Jewish gentleman, the head of an electrical engineering office, came to me and asked whether I would not give him lessons in religion. Quite surprised and highly delighted, I asked him how he had come upon this idea, and he related:

"For twenty years I have observed the Christians and have found that they are not a hair better than the Jews. There is no difference at all between Christians and Jews, I thought, except at most that the Christians hate and despise the Jews. For years I have been the head of an office. Yesterday morning I give my telephone operator an assignment; it was nothing wicked — a little business lie, such as are common practice everywhere — when the lady refused and said that it was against her conscience. At first I am astonished, then I become angry and threaten her with dismissal. She remains firm: she is a Christian and cannot act against her conscience. In the greatest rage I call in another lady, incidentally also a 'Christian,' and she carries out the assignment at once. In the evening, as I sat alone in my study and lived through the matter once more in my mind, it gave me no rest. I seized cane and hat and hurried to the street where that telephone operator lived. I found her together with her mother. She believed that I had come to inform her of her dismissal. She greeted me in a friendly way and remained standing upright before me. For a moment I was almost embarrassed; then I said: 'Miss, I must ask you something. You said today that as a Christian you could not act against your conscience; tell me, is Christ really a power in life?' With shining eyes she answered: 'Oh no, not a power in my life, but the power of my life!' We spoke together briefly, then I asked her for the address where I could learn more about this Christianity of power. And now I am here and ask you to give me religious instruction."

Do You Also Read Your Father's Letter?

Many a worthy reader who sets eyes on this will perhaps say to me in spirit: "How can you ask so foolishly: Do you also read your father's letter? Of course I read the letter my father has written me; that is surely quite self-evident; of all the letters I receive I read my father's letter first of all; then I take time to let what my dear father tells me out of the rich treasure of his heart work upon me; for, you see, I know my father means well by me; he has no ulterior motives when he writes me something; he has only the one chief purpose: to help me, to further my progress. And quite especially when I am staying in a strange land, where there are false people who get to know me, my situation, my needs, my work, and other things that concern me mostly only in order to exploit them for themselves, but otherwise take no interest in me — there, in a strange land, when a letter comes from my father, it is to me as if a piece of home were coming: sounds of home, air of home, love of home — then my heart grows lighter and my mind clearer."

See, so you answer me when I ask you: "Do you also read your father's letter?" And that is certainly a fine answer, which testifies that you love and honor your earthly father, and I tell you, whoever thinks as you do will be preserved from many a folly and brought to many a good thought, and his father will bless him, and that will help much, very much; for the blessing of the father surely still builds houses for the children today.

But allow me to repeat my question once more, quite earnestly, since I am firmly convinced that this question is very important and necessary nowadays: Do you also read your Father's letter? See, my friend, I mean a quite special letter, on which not merely your temporal but also your eternal welfare depends in a unique way, and this letter has been written by your heavenly Father for His children on earth, and especially for you and your soul. You know, do you not, that you may call yourself His child? It is written, is it not: "Ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ," Gal. 3:26, 27. If you are God's child, then He is also surely and truly your Father. But if