In Jesus, God acted first, even when we were dead in our trespasses and sins (Eph. 2:5).
Yahweh who is pierced and mourned in prophecy is Jesus who is pierced and mourned in fulfillment.
There is indeed a responsibility for the church to share the gospel in the world, but never at the expense of the church’s charity and mercy for those neighbors who are nearby.

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On second thought: Keep Lent, but sacrifice your concept of it.
The Psalm now is this: as Christ suffered and then was exalted, so we are also in him.
Devoid of the gospel of Jesus’s death and resurrection, sufferers are left to frantically run the halls of self-salvation, turning this way and that but never getting anywhere.
The great lie of addiction is that suffering must be fled, must be numbed, must be drowned out by any means necessary.
Repentance is not limited to a season.
God is a judge, but unlike you, God is just!
Despite the mathematical incongruity, the church confesses that Christ is one hundred percent human and one hundred percent divine.
In grace, God chooses to love his people.
This is an excerpt from Ditching the Checklist: Assurance of Salvation for Evangelicals (and Other Sinners) by Mark Mattes (1517 Publishing, 2025), pgs. 5-7.
In the liturgy, Christ is present, self-giving, and ever-addressing his people.
There is no one — not now, not ever — who cannot be included in the family of God through the efficacy of Christ’s saving power.
Wisdom lurks in the outer places. Rich gratitude sprouts from the impoverished and forgotten.