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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I love the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector. So much is communicated in those few verses.
We would rather be God ourselves. But, being God is always beyond our grasp.
Suddenly Psalm 1 is opened to you and to me and to all people as Jesus walks with us, stands with us, sits with us, and gives us His words and gifts of life!
For many, “Yesterday" by The Beatles is a poignant and powerful song. It is one of, if not the most, covered songs by the Beatles.
Infamy allows us the opportunity to hone one of our favorite skills: to shrink a 343-page life story down to a single paragraph that narrates what happened on one day, at a certain hour, and in a certain location. We can whittle an entire biography down to a single Tweet.
We live because Christ did not remain in the grave but rose to life.
Something happens around the table that changes those who are given a seat at the table.
Maundy Thursday is only the beginning of the long, grievous road Jesus must take before “it is finished” three days later.
All family trees and genealogies reveal awkward knots and twists. But through the root of Jesse, and the line of Israel, came Jesus to offer us a new name.
In the midst of our suffering, grief, and distress, David gives us words to confess.
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.” We hear those words on the lips of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount. But, too often we misunderstand what he’s saying.
To keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited.