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.

All Articles

No one twisted Jesus’s arm to make him enter Mary’s womb. No one tricked him into being born into a world strung out on the meth of sin. He came in with his eyes wide open.
One of the most famous things Jesus ever said was “Follow me.” He said it over and over. So much that it was recorded more than twenty times in the New Testament.
I’m going to begin at the beginning. But which one? Birth? Kindergarten? My first drink? The first time I had sex?
“Putting hope in the cross of Christ means putting hope outside of anything – mentally, physically or even spiritually – you do.”
The moral high ground isn’t anything to find comfort in. God gives us something better—Jesus.
Even “our faith” is a gift from God’s fatherly hand. Our performance, desire, and perseverance do not factor into God’s will for us.
The words “gift of righteousness” will bring about two completely polar opposite feelings: One of Dread. One of Relief.
Jesus loves His church. He cleans her up. He takes her as His own. And He leads her.
Our little congregation is part of a much larger church—the body of Christ, both here on earth as well as in heaven. And that church worships 24/7, never ceasing in its adoration of Jesus our Savior.
“Christ is pretty ok doing all the redeeming that needs doing Himself—and He has redeemed you, and redeemed me.
There’s a lot of family drama from Thanksgiving through New Years.
The folly of sinful man attempting to bridge such an infinite gap to God Who is holy becomes obvious.