In this series we are reprinting Spokesman articles by early leaders in the CLC. Pastor Emeritus James Albrecht is the curator of the series. Rev. Martin Galstad (1909-1999) was a leader in the formation of the CLC. He served as pastor at Faith Lutheran Church in New Ulm, Minnesota, and following this spent five years as a professor at Immanuel Lutheran College. He then accepted a call from Immanuel of Winter Haven Florida, where he served for twelve years. This article is from the Lutheran Spokesman of September 1968. Scripture quotations are from the King James Version.
Minds become dull, both from too much and from too little, “overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness, and cares of this life.” (Luke 21:34) The devil wins either way, so Solomon prayed for neither poverty nor riches. The danger is dullness of the senses, despair of happiness, and often the wish to die. All of which makes a sad situation, a state of stupor.
You may be tired of hearing that much of it stems from affluence; tired or not, that’s the way it is. Nor is it new; it is among the oldest of afflictions. Eat or drink too much, and you hate the sight of the table. Indulge too much, and you are ready to give away half your kingdom, may indeed have already done so, including self-respect. There follows a trail of sin, all because you have had too much, and you are in simple stupor.
We say you have the simple kind of stupor because it is the normal kind, not only the suspension of sensibility, but apathy in general. One woman didn’t want to see a famous tourist attraction because she had seen it before, and she couldn’t be thrilled but once. She was like the woman who said when first she saw the Pacific, “I thought it was bigger.” Feeling is finally gone, only a new thrill can bring response, and that perhaps for but a moment. People get that way.
Yet there is a super stupor, super because it is imposed, and more common in the many who purposely adopt it. It is the posture of rejection. Don’t get involved. It isn’t worth it. Stupor, indeed, that is worn like a mask, put on for a certain pretense.
Our comment is intended for an allegory, for a second level of meaning in addition to the one we have described. Serious as it is to reject involvement in the processes of daily life, it is far worse to withdraw from that strife of life to which our God invites us so much more abundantly. We refer to the many passages which encourage us to fight the good fight of faith, to persevere in spite of afflictions and trials, to carry on though we be the very gazing stock of unbelievers and blasphemers.
For there is numbness and stupor on the spiritual front also. There is the simple kind that seems always to come, the lukewarmness of Laodicea that can speak neither for nor against.
There are the cowards who can no longer say, “Thus saith the Lord,” cowards that lead the list of those to be damned, those who are the fearful, afraid to confess, who would rather not get involved. The rest of the heap is reported in Revelation 21:8, but those afraid of the fight lead the list. To be non-involved is bad enough; to pretend non-interest is worse. The one state is simple, normal to the non-alive; the other is super, added on, adopted from the spirit of the times, the chosen attitude of those who know better.
We see the studied pose in officials who hold back from duty but wear their position impressively; in clergy that affect an importance but cannot say no to anything; in Establishment that makes an impression, but makes nothing so important as favor. The whole lot are hell-bent for election; they are drugged with desire to be “loved.” “Anything goes” becomes their way of life, and the Rayburn rule takes over: “If you want to get along, go along.”
Meantime the mills are grinding. “Because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour,” it is wise to “be sober, be vigilant.” Be alert! lest “that day come upon you unawares,” (1 Peter 5:8) like the click of a trap and the snap of a trumpet blast.
Thank God when He stings you awake, when His jolt brings you back to the Main Chance, through Word that is light, the light that is life unto men. From stupor deliver us, Lord!
1909-1999