30-Second Sermon Summary
Jesus does not separate faith from visible love. In Isaiah, 1 John, and Matthew 25, God calls people to show up for the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the sick, and the imprisoned. Grace always comes first; we do not earn God’s love by serving others. But grace changes us. Faith turns our eyes outward, and love becomes the first fruit of that grace. Even small acts of love can become part of something beautiful God is building through the whole community. Love shows up.
To view the livestream from June 28, 2026 click here: June 28, 2026 – Love Shows Up
Weekly Spiritual Practice
Choose one concrete act of love this week: bring a meal, make a call, offer a ride, sit with someone lonely, or serve someone pushed to the margins.
Love Shows Up: Faith in Action Sermon Reflection
It is easy to say the right words. It is easy to post the right phrase, pray the right prayer, or name the right belief. Jesus does not dismiss words, prayers, or beliefs. But in Matthew 25, Jesus presses the question deeper. When I was hungry, did you feed me? When I was thirsty, did you give me something to drink? When I was a stranger, did you welcome me? When I was sick or in prison, did you show up?
That question sits at the heart of this week’s core value: Love Shows Up. It is not love as a vague feeling. It is not love as a church slogan. It is love that becomes visible. It is love that gets in the room, sits at the table, packs the bag, makes the call, offers the ride, and notices the person others have learned to ignore. Love will always show up.
This is not a new idea that suddenly appears in the words of Jesus. Pastor Hartman reminded us that the prophets kept calling God’s people back to the same truth. Isaiah speaks of worship that loosens the bonds of injustice, shares bread with the hungry, and brings the homeless poor into the house. True worship is not only what happens inside the sanctuary. True worship is also how God’s people care for those who are hurting outside the sanctuary doors.
First John says it with simple force: “Let us love not in word or speech, but in truth and action.” That verse does not ask us to stop speaking love. It asks us not to stop there. Love has to take on shape. It has to be seen. Love has to become a way of life. Love shows up in ordinary and extraordinary ways.
As Lutherans, we also need to say this clearly: we do not serve others to earn grace. Grace always comes first. God does not wait for us to become useful, impressive, or holy enough before acting in love. In Christ, God shows up for us first. God shows up in a manger, in a ministry among the poor and forgotten, on the cross, and in the empty tomb. We are loved before we deserve it. We are claimed before we know how to respond.
But grace does not leave us unchanged. Faith changes us. It turns our eyes outward. It helps us see the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the sick, the imprisoned, the lonely, and those pushed to the edges of society. Love is not the price of grace. Love is the fruit of grace. It grows because God has already planted something holy in us.
Pastor Hartman used Charlie Brown as a picture of faithful showing up. Charlie Brown knows Lucy will probably move the football. History has taught him what is likely to happen. Still, he runs toward it with everything he has. In a song from a new Snoopy special, Charlie Brown says that showing up is half the battle, “but it’s the half I own.” We cannot control every outcome. There is no guarantee that every effort will work. We cannot make every critic understand. But we can show up.
That matters for New Spirit. We see it in Blessings in a Backpack, crisis food boxes, Second Saturday Blessings, quilts, hats, coffee and conversation, phone calls, rides, and the quiet care members offer one another. Some of these acts may look small by themselves. But small things are not meaningless things.
Each week the congregation has been placing small stones into the shared art project. One stone alone may not look like much. The first few pieces may not reveal the whole picture. But together, each piece begins to form something larger. That is how love works in a community. One meal, one call, one prayer, one ride, one act of mercy, one welcome, one moment of courage. Over time, God forms something beautiful through the people willing to offer their piece.
There will always be critics. There will always be someone who says the church is too accepting, too affirming, too focused on the wrong people, or not doing things the right way. But the credit does not belong to those who stand back and criticize. It belongs to the people in the arena, the people with dust and sweat on their faces, the people who stumble and try again, the people who keep showing up because the love of Christ has taken hold of them.
Love does not always win the argument. It does not always change the world overnight. Love does not always get noticed. But love shows up. That is what God does. That is what God has done for us. Grace comes first. Faith changes us. And love shows up.
This week, do not wait for a grand opportunity. Choose one concrete act of love. Bring a meal. Make a call. Offer a ride. Sit with someone who feels alone. Serve someone who has been pushed to the margins. Add your small stone to what God is building. Love shows up, and by the grace of God, so will we.
