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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We pray for God to deliver us from ourselves. To forgive us, for Jesus’s sake, when we do evil.
Week after week, I read through this women’s Bible study for the sake of my friends.
Christianity is not a solo endeavor. Not a private relationship between Jesus and me.
The sociologist John Robinson is known by his colleagues as "Father Time." He has dedicated his career to researching how people use their most valuable resource, time.
The angriest people I meet are former Christians.
The fact is no one dies with dignity.
Put to death by God's Word of Law, we are then raised to new life by God's Word of Gospel.
Quid pro quo, you scratch my back and I will scratch yours. It tends to be the way we humans operate.
Jesus is many things. He’s an example. He’s a teacher. He’s a great thinker and philosopher. But He’s also so much more, and He’s one thing above all else: He is Jesus, Savior.
The creation is one of God’s good gifts and being cut off from nature and wild places, as we often are in the modern world, is probably not so good for us.
He reminds them how his love is truly marvelous and unconditional, but then, he looks them in the eyes, and says they ought to do better because of his love.
This had been a lonely year, though. She could keep herself busy for a while with friends and she could distract herself for a few weekends by leaving town, but something was definitely missing.