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Good morning. Twenty years ago today some pioneering surgery was carried out in the UK. The world’s first ever battery operated heart was fitted at Papworth Hospital in Cambridgeshire. Arthur Cornhill had only been given a few months to live. In a four-hour operation.. surgeons at Papworth fitted him with a ‘bionic’ heart pump made of titanium and plastic.

Down the centuries.. the heart has become one of our most powerful metaphors. It represents our hopes and dreams.. our likes and loves.. our values and priorities. I say ‘hand on heart’ when I want to convince you I’m telling the truth. If I’m helping somebody make decisions I’ll ask them what their heart’s telling them. A broken heart means an end to something that seemed to promise love and fulfillment. When Tony Bennett left his heart in San Francisco we know what that meant: something deep about emotions and identity.

Our love affair with the heart actually goes back thousands of years. In the Bible.. the heart represents our intellect.. our feelings and our values. Our innermost selves.

The Bible writers encourage us to set our hearts on things that aren’t trivial or transient.Ìý God is close to the brokenhearted. We’re told God wants to remove our hearts of stone and give us new hearts. And in 4th century north Africa.. St Augustine wrote of our hearts being forever restless till they find their rest in God.
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Heavenly Father.. at the beginning of this new day.. examine my heart. If it’s been broken.. I pray for healing. If it’s become hard.. I pray for softening. If it’s restless I pray
I will find my rest in you.Ìý Amen