The Word is not the Bible as a written book because "the gospel is really not that which is contained in books and composed in letters, but rather an oral preaching and a living word, a voice which resounds throughout the whole world and is publicly proclaimed." This Word must be heard. This Word must be pondered.
"Not through thought, wisdom and will does the faith of Christ arise in us, but through an incomprehensible and hidden operation of the Spirit, which is given by faith in Christ only at the hearing of the Word and without any other word of ours. ... noone learns much from reading and thinking. There is a much higher school where one learns God's Word. One must go into the winderness. Then Christ comes and one becomes able to judge the world."
[the shepherds had a mean job looking after their flocks by night, but after seeing Christ they returned]
"surely that must be wrong. We should correct the passage to read, 'they went and shaved their heads, fasted, told their rosaries, and put on cowls.' Instead we read, 'the shepherds returned.' Where to? To their sheep. The sheep would have been in a sorry state if they had not."
"Printing is God's latest and best work to spread the true religion throughout the world"
But see Tolstoy on printing.
"If you say 'Hey Birdie, why are you so gay? You have no cook, no cellar,' he will answer, 'I do not sow, I do not reap, I do not gather into barns. But I have a cook, and his name is heavenly father. Fool, shame on you. You do not sing. You work all day and cannot sleep for worry. I sing as if I had a thousand throats."
And some more (and some of the same) by Luther, on music and song
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