Monthly NEWSLETTER
         THE HEART OF THE MATTER       
​   This month we come to the very heart of the Church Year: Holy Week — the suffering and Passion of our Lord. What the prophet foretold we now see fulfilled in Jesus, the Servant who was “stricken, smitten, and afflicted” — not merely by human cruelty, but smitten by God for our sins. “The chastisement that brought us peace was upon Him” (Isaiah 53:5).
   Good Friday is the true Day of Atonement. It is the moment Simeon foresaw when Jesus was only an infant, warning Mary that a sword would pierce her own soul, too (Luke 2:35). At the cross, that prophecy came to pass.
   Getting to the heart of the matter, we all suffer from a cardiac condition. Scripture diagnoses us with hearts of stone — brittle, cold, and broken by sin. Jesus gives the New Testament second opinion: “Out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander” (Matthew 15:19). The symptoms are not neutral. They are terminal.
   That is the bad news.
   The Good News is that Jesus is the Great Physician. We cannot repair our own hearts any more than we can perform surgery on ourselves ( I know!). But “by His stripes we are healed.” He bore every sin flowing from our diseased hearts. All our guilt was laid upon Him.
   And in exchange — according to His riches in grace — all His righteousness is credited to us by faith. In Holy Baptism, our Lord sprinkled us clean, gave us a new heart, and set us on a new path guided by the Spirit. That is where eternal life begins.
​   So at the end of our Lenten journey, we learn again what Scripture has declared all along: “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit” (Psalm 34:18).

— Pastor Mike

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