SOMETHING MORE IMPORTANT

SOMETHING MORE IMPORTANT
than dividing a church or a nation into conservatives and liberals.

St. John Lutheran Church – Easton Township, Kansas

SOMETHING MORE IMPORTANT 
than dividing a church or a nation into conservatives and liberals.
 
 
AND BEHOLD, there was a man with a withered hand. And they asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?” so they might accuse him. He said to them, “What man of you, if he has one sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not lay hold of it and lift it out? Of how much more value is a man than a sheep! So, it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.” Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand,” And the man stretched it out and it was restored, whole like the other. But the Pharisees went out and took counsel against him, how to destroy him. ~ Matthew 12:10-14
 
SOMETHING MORE IMPORTANT! On Sunday morning, June 28th, I woke up to the sounds of birds singing in the trees; the brightness of the morning sun already found its way across the foot of my bed. It was a restful night — no fans, no Air-condition; only the cool breeze of a summer night 800 miles north of Houston. I woke knowing this was to be a very special day.
 
There was still hay in the field that had been cut the day before. It needed to be baled and put into the barn. We were at Edna's folks, and I'm sure her father of 75 years thought about the hay that morning and in his own way — wished that it was all baled and stored safely away for the winter. Even so, if the thought ever passed his mind, it was soon forgotten that day —because something more important was about to happen. On the day's agenda was a forthcoming celebration; fifty years of married life.
 
Edna' s brother and wife arrived at the farm shortly after 7:30 a.m. All of us were in the process of dressing for Morning Worship. Church service began at 8:30. By the time everyone was ready (which was about 8:15) Edna's dad was pacing the floor. I was helping him. He was not used to waiting, I could tell he was impatient, but he didn't say anything. After all, this was a special day —something' more important.
 
Soon we were in the cars, —driving north over a hill or two until we reached one of the main arteries running east and west. We turned right, and half a mile took us to St. John Lutheran Church where Edna and I were married; and where Dad and Mom Meinert were united in a service of holy matrimony one–half century ago. As a large family, we took up one whole pew. Everyone knew why we were there because in every small rural setting, everyone knows about everyone else. The celebration of worship seemed so appropriate in setting the climate for the day ahead.
 
Young and old, rich, and poor relatives and friends gathered that afternoon in the parish hall across the road. They came to celebrate –– to offer congratulations and add their blessings. The best man and the maid of honor –– the two people who stood up with them 50 years ago were present. The fields were silent that afternoon; untouched by man or machinery. There was something more important taking place.
 
It is wonderful that every now and then we can stop moving in this busy world of ours and join with others in a great event or celebration.
 
It reminds us that we too are but mortal creatures and while we belong to the infinite, we are still finite in nature. Sometimes death interrupts our lives —the death of someone we love. Sometimes sickness interrupts our lives or an emergency operation or a routine tonsillectomy. 
 
The other night I scheduled two appointments and a meeting at 8 O’clock. At approximately 5:40 PM, the telephone rang; our oldest daughter needed help. She was running a high fever; complications from her tonsillectomy of two weeks ago. We discovered later that she had a severe inner ear infection. I had to cancel my appointment because of something more important.
 
Take the story of one of the senior pastors in a large Methodist Church in Houston; I was talking to him only last Monday. He was sharing some of his problems with three other ministers, including myself. A letter went out from his study at the end of May asking his people to continue their church pledge through December of this year. The Conference decided to go on a fiscal year beginning January 1st. If you recall, I talked about this last fall, so we got the jump on a lot of other churches, the wisdom of a fool.
 
He went ahead to tell us that he received a letter from one layperson canceling his pledge because the church was too liberal. The very next day he received a letter from another layperson canceling his pledge because the church was too conservative. In a moment of deep frustration, he cried out, “What am I to do!” The question may seem trivial to you but to this pastor, it was very important. It concerned him ultimately; “What am I to do?”
 
I wished that I could have given him the answer, but I don't have the answer. Oh, I have an answer but not, the answer. My answer would be to him and to you and to myself that there is something more important.
 
There is something more important than dividing a church or a nation into conservatives and liberals. The two words have really come to bother me for I think they are over used, and we are obsessed with them. I do not think that a Christian can be one or the other. We must be both. We must conserve and liberate at the same time. We can never severe our ties from that part of history, which belongs to us.
 
The teachings of the Bible —the rule and guide of faith —our faith, is just as relevant now as it was two thousand years ago. Just because we live in a new day and must continually interpret the importance of God's word for our day does not mean that we throw the baby out with the bath water. You simply do not cut off the past to get to the problems of the future or even to the problems of this day —here and now.
 
There is a danger in a closed mind. We must always look in both directions. Therefore, we conserve and liberate at the same time.
 
Something More Important! Jesus was both conservative and liberal. He was open to the future, but he did not destroy the past. He came not to destroy the law and the prophets but to fulfill them.
 
Again, and again, he referred to the teachings as found in the law and the prophets. They served as the very basis of his sermon —even his Sermon on the Mount. And yet at the same time he offered something new.
 
“A new commandment I give you; that you love one another even as I have loved you.”
 
You have heard that it was said of old, but I say of you...
 
Jesus conserved and liberated at the same time. He did not destroy the past, but he always moved out in such a way as to give life to others and to set them free.
 
Something More Important! Let us enlarge our Text this morning and examine the contents, which appears in the early part of the 12th chapter of Matthew, the Pharisees, caught up in their own way of life and thinking, were threatened by Jesus. – 1. (reference footnote below). 
 
They were very legalistic in their interpretation of the Law and the Prophets, which can still be seen today between different Christian denominations and people within the church and how we judge one another. We must remember and consider that Jesus was adding a new light and thought to an established interpretation and authority. His teachings were a compassionate and radical transformation that embraced all people, especially the poor and marginalized people of his time.

The Pharisees of Jesus's time, did not know how to cope with his message of compassion, hope, and acceptance, so they moved out to dismiss and discount his teachings. Eventually they were successful and caught their game. Humanity can be successful in dismissing other human beings; but it is something else to be so free, and at peace with yourself that you can give this same feeling of freedom and peace to others.
 
Something More Important! Speaking to the parents and members of a graduating class of Pasadena Independent School District a week ago Friday night, I asked them to imagine that they were at a Rock Festival or in a high school auditorium or sitting in a chair viewing their television. I then asked them to listen to the following words as sung by a Rock group known as Traffic.

 
“Crying' to Be Heard” — Written by Dave Mason
Traffic – Studio Album Released October 1968 – “Cryin' To Be Heard” — Recorded Olympic Studios, London, Record Plant, NYC, January–May 1968 
Mason – lead vocal, Winwood – bass, Hammond – organ, harpsichord, backing vocal; Wood – soprano saxophone; Capaldi – drums, backing vocal.

 
Somebody's cryin' to be heard
And there's also someone who hears every word
 
Sail across the ocean with your back against the wind
Listening to nothing save the calling of a bird
And when the rain begins to fall, don't you start to curse
It may be just the tears of someone that you never heard
 
Somebody's cryin' to be heard
And there's also someone who hears every word
 
Reflected in the water is a face that you don't know
And isn't it surprising when you findin' out it's your own?
And so, you try to find out whether it is friend or foe
And what it is it wants from you and what it wants to know?
 
Somebody's cryin' to be heard
And there's also someone who hears every word
 
Well, you're wrapped up in your little world and no one can get in
You sit and think of everything then, then you wonder where you've been
You put the blame on someone that you've hardly ever known
And then you realize too late the blame was all your own
 
Somebody's cryin' to be heard
And there's also someone who hears every word
 
Sail across the ocean with your back against the wind
Listening to nothing save the calling of a bird
And when the rain begins to fall, don't you start to curse
It may be just the tears of someone that you never heard
 
Somebody's cryin' to be heard
And there's also someone who hears every word
 
 
Songwriter ~ MASON, DAVE
 
 
There is – Something More Important, than blaming others —than dividing a church or a nation into conservatives or liberals. Something more important: "A new commandment I give you, that you love one another even as I have loved you." – John 13:34
  
Sermon delivered at Asbury United Methodist Church, Pasadena, Texas on August 9, 1970.

Robert P. Starbuck received his BA in philosophy from Baker University, in Baldwin City, Kansas; his M.Div. from St. Paul's School of Theology in Kansas City, Missouri; and his Ph.D. in Marriage and Family Counseling from Texas Women's University Institute of Health Sciences – Texas Medical Center/Houston, Texas. He served as an ordained United Methodist Minister in both the UMC Great Plains - Kansas and UMC Texas Conferences.  

He also served as a non-commissioned officer (NCO) TEC-4 Combat Medical Technician in WWII and during the occupation of Germany after the surrender of German forces.  Upon his return to America in 1946 he attended the University of Kansas in Lawerence for two years. From there he served on medical teams at both the Dwight D. Eisenhower VA Medical Center, and prison hospital at the United States Penitentiary Leavenworth, Federal Bureau of Prisons, Department of Justice.  In 1958 answered a higher calling and became a pastor of the United Methodist Church, and went on to complete his undergraduate and graduate degrees. 

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On the front cover of In My Father’s House Are Many Mansions, is an impressionistic art image of St. John Lutheran Church near the town of Easton, Kansas. A special acknowledgement and thanksgiving must be given to the church as a Christian community of faith and believers. And as family too, since our family's connection to the community goes back several generations.

This is where my mother, Edna K. Meinert–Starbuck was baptized and confirmed, and married in 1948. It is where her parents in 1920, and her grandparents in 1883 were married too. St. John Lutheran Church was originally founded in 1880 by German Lutheran immigrants to America.

My mother’s great grandfather Heinrich Friedrich Weilhelm (Henry) Meinert served as one of the original trustees. St. John Lutheran Church is a place where extended family still gathers on Sunday mornings and special occasions to worship.  They are an intimate and vital part of the community in the twenty-first century.

The cover image was created from an original photograph taken by Kelly Mailen, on a winter's day when it snowed. Kelly’s family has a long history with the church, and is the granddaughter of Austin and LaVerne“Kruse” Potter. She now lives with her husband Russell, in Auburn, Alabama, and works for Auburn University and with the Alabama Cooperative Extension System.

 
 
 

1. It must be noted that like most human faiths, Judaism evolved and progressed over time; transforming, and becoming what we know today as Rabbinic Judaism. The Pharisees described in the New Testament were a movement and a school of thought in the Holy Land during the Second Temple. After its destruction in 70 CE, the Pharisaic tradition became the foundational, liturgical, and ritualistic basis for Rabbinic Judaism. Today, there are different Jewish denominations, as there are Christian denominations. Both faiths have evolved deeply over the last 2,000 years of human history, and it is important for us to understand and to value these differences in time and place. Christians must always guard against and prevent the rise of anti-Semitism and hate in any form. The Judeo-Christian values shared in common by both faiths today, are a reflection of how each one has matured and grown across the course of human history.  Both faiths, were instrumental in the founding of America. There is archival evidence that Alexander Hamilton was born and raised in the Jewish faith before coming to America, in a new book by Oklahoma University Law Professor, Andrew Porwancher, titled; The Jewish World of Alexander Hamilton, forthcoming from Princeton University Press in 2021.

 
 

 
 

On the left is Robert P. Starbuck, servings as a non-commissioned officer (NCO) TEC-4 Combat Medical Technician in WWII.