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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Regardless of background or beliefs, every American I talk to seems on edge, as if the sky were about to fall. But the sky is not falling.
Sometimes, we get prayer dementia. We can’t remember what we were going to pray for, we can’t put the words together, and, frustrated, there is nothing we can do but sigh and groan.
Regularly reading and hearing God’s Word helps us to keep a song in our hearts.
What if the dissonance in this calendrical coincidence can be harmonized into a deeper melody?
God never delights in seeing his children struggle or suffer. But God does desire that we trust him no matter what the circumstances might look like.
A “good death” and “good life” are not accomplished through personal striving but are grasped by faith in the promises of God.
God gives his church a story that helps to make sense of this life.
It would serve us well to embrace the beauty of our diversity within the unity of the body of Christ.
It is the love of God that reveals Him as the promise-making, promise-keeping God.
When the waters of anxiety and depression rise, there is One who understands.
A pastor shares his own experience of loneliness and hope
God gives good gifts to underserving workers. God gives good gifts to all of them.