This is an excerpt from the introduction of Stretched: A Study for Lent and the Entire Christian Life by Christopher Richmann (1517 Publishing, 2026).
We can bring our troubles, griefs, sorrows, and sins to Jesus, who meets us smack dab in the middle of our messy mob.
Confession isn’t a detour in the liturgy. It’s the doorway.

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His forgiveness gives us the courage to watch out for our neighbor in both the present and the future, and to act with wisdom while understanding failures are still ahead.
What happens when our children are taught to read the Scriptures as evidence that God is a heavenly Santa Claus? When happens when they think God rewards or punishes them depending on whether they've been naughty or nice?
Christian freedom and Christian love go together in a most wonderful way.
History was one of dad’s favorite subjects and he shared his knowledge with infectious enthusiasm.
The Devil cultivates fear of God and promotes motivation and zeal for outward works and earthly virtue out of pure eternal self-concern.
The devil tempts us to hope in things that we can do.
Luther accepted Augustine’s view of the church as a mixed body.
God’s justification of us does not happen secretly in our spirits. God justifies you and me in His absolving Word
Good preaching does something for you. It delivers to you a Good Samaritan.
In Christ we are freed to be for our neighbor without fear of sin and damnation falling upon us.
So bondage meets freedom, and God becomes our Master through Christ.
Rather than presenting Christ’s words as a rule or a threat, Luther reveals it to be the promise of God.