A Word from Nic - Love in Action

In Matthew 12:1-15, Jesus challenged the Pharisees to reconsider what honoring the Sabbath looks like. “Mercy, and not sacrifice,” he explained. The worship of God is purest not in songs or prayers but in acts of love. These acts are what prayer, study, worship, and hymns encourage. Like the Apostle Paul said, “Love is the fulfilling of the law” (Rom. 13:10).

So let us take a moment to appreciate the worship of God through love that is happening in our church:

The other day, I was in our Food Pantry with Saralyn, and a woman came in whom I had never met but whom Saralyn knew. She is a repeat visitor to the Pantry.

“He passed away last week. Had you heard?” she said as she walked up to us.

“I’m so sorry,” Saralyn replied.

What I gathered from the brief, soft exchange that followed was that this woman had been caring for her terminally ill husband for some time in their home and, neither of them being able to work, had come to rely on our Food Pantry for basic necessities.

Now, having just lost her husband and still figuring out where her life is going next, our Pantry is a place where she finds both physical and spiritual support—food to eat and ears willing to listen.

This serves as a good reminder that worship shouldn’t just happen on Sunday. As the prophet Isaiah said, “Is not this the fast that I have chosen? To loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke? Is it not to give your bread to the hungry, and that you bring the poor that are cast out to your house? When you see the naked, that you cover them?” (Isa. 58:6-7)