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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Jesus is very difficult to bring down. That’s the power of it.
Luther’s famous treatise contains great consolation for Christians struggling with grace, suffering, and hope.
The addict’s condition speaks a hard truth: that we are all beggars before God, every one of us bent toward the grave.
I realized that no matter where I call "home," I won't be able to shake the feeling of homesickness.
It is impossible to live our lives in a way that would convince God of our value because he already knows our value. He is the one who gave it to us.
Instead of a “how-to” manual, the Bible is a “what-you-didn’t-do” story.
The one who delights in the law of the Lord learns to fear his own good works and trust God outside of them.
It is your privilege—we may even say “right”—to call upon this Father and to call him Father.
I have to believe that grace - God’s grace - will be waiting on the other side.
Five promises were seemingly all those apostles, staring into the sky, had to go on. Five promises that were more than enough.
God has a hall ready for us, for us and for so many more
A pastor shares his own experience of loneliness and hope