Welcome

Alleluia! Christ is risen!  (He is risen indeed! Alleluia!)

Thank you for visiting the website of Trinity Lutheran Church of Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario. Trinity rejoices in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, and the communion of the Holy Spirit. We invite you to rejoice with us in the gifts of forgiveness, life, and salvation, which our gracious God bestows upon us through His Word and Sacraments. Please feel free to contact us with any questions.

Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.  Jude 24-25

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The Heart of God the Father

is Christ Jesus!

The Heart of God the Father is Christ Jesus.

And the heart of Christ is mercy and compassion.

Such is the Treasure of God, 

which He freely bestows upon His creatures in gentleness and peace;

for it is always His nature to be gracious and kind.

The Father treasures His Son,

and for His sake He treasures you.

Christ Jesus treasures mercy, 

and in mercy He forgives you all your sins.

This mercy and compassion of God the Father in Christ Jesus 

are what characterize the Kingdom of God.

This is what life in His Kingdom is like, 

the way it is lived in His presence by His grace.

The grace and favour of God are a priceless treasure, indeed.

The grace and favour of God is a real prize that remains forever, which gives everlasting Life

to you.

The grace and favour of God cannot be earned or purchased, 

but only received as a gift;

a gift which is yours only through repentant faith in Christ Jesus.

Such repentance and faith come not from you but from God.

Repentance and faith are God’s good works in penitent sinners, 

by grace alone, through Christ alone.

When you live by such God-given faith—

in the sure hope and certain confidence of Christ—

then your entire life and your whole world are shaped 

by the grace and favour of God, by His mercy and compassion.

It is a matter of where you fix your focus.

Where you fix your focus is where your heart and home are.

When you fix your focus on yourself;

then your body and life in the world are hounded by relentless demands

and constant concerns, by worries and anxieties that never full go away.

The harder you try to get on top of it all, the less you are able to set your heart and mind

at ease, or to let your body rest.

And with yourself at the centre of your existence,

you neglect the Lord and your neighbour—without faith and without love.

Repent of your idolatry. Stop worshiping yourself.

Return to the Lord your God.

Be reconciled to Him by faith in Christ, your Saviour.

For Christ Jesus is the One who calls you daily to repentance,

not in wrath, but on account of His mercy and compassion for you.

He has not hardened His heart against you, nor does He cast you away from His presence.

On the contrary, His grace and favour are upon you in the Gospel—in the Good News—

of His Cross and Holy Passion and in His Resurrection from the dead.

Therefore, bow down in submission to the Lord’s Holy Word,

and so bear the fruits of repentance.

Not as though to save yourself,

but as you now live by grace in the presence of God, in His Kingdom.

It is to this that God has called you in peace, that His Life might be yours

both now and forever.

As your life is shaped by the grace and favour of God, by His mercy and compassion—

as you live unto God by faith in His mercy in Christ,

then you have true joy, even in the midst of sorrow, and you rest in the Lord’s peace

even in the midst of death.

The Lord Jesus Christ, who is all in all, is all mercy and compassion.

He is the the Son of the living God, the One who saves you by His grace. Amen.

adapted from an Ash Wednesday sermon by Rev. Rick Stuckwisch

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At Trinity each Sunday morning at 10:00, 

you are most welcome to attend the Divine Service,

where the Lord, through His Holy Word,

serves a feast of His mercy and compassion.  

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