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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If Jesus shows up and you are a sinner, ‘tis more blessed to receive than to give
God is not calling us to “grow up.” He is calling us to dependence.
It is terribly easy to set up our theology as a buffer against the real coming of the Lord and its consequences.
Weak faith in a strong Christ is still saving faith.
We don’t start with behavior and work toward Christ. We start with Christ and everything works out from there.
The good news is that with our God there is always more: more than we deserve, dare, ask, or expect, more than we can see, hear, feel, or think.
The reason that God’s commandments are not burdensome is that Jesus has fulfilled them.
Righteousness before God is possessed only by grace and that through the currency of faith.
The love mentioned in 1 John 4:15-21 fourteen times (!) is a love that needs no apology but is determined at all times to sacrifice for the other.
We need to hear the gospel because it is good news that is not from you, or about you, or because of you.
“There,” the Queen said, “That’s so much better than talking, isn’t it?”
Faith is like a horse with blinders because it only beholds God’s promise. It is obsessed with what God has already said.