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.
"When God has his say, have confidence that his Word and sacraments bestow precisely what he says."
Huff did not stop there, though. Towards the end of the interview, he asked Rogan, "What do you think of Jesus?"
We now are the magi: we worship Christ because of who he is, but also because of what he has done for us and what he continues to do in his gift-giving to us.
Epiphany continues the work done at Christmas, bringing light and life to a dying world desperate for hope.
The narrative of the Nativity is what Christmas is all about.
Longstanding tradition must be bolstered by something outside of ourselves that also lies outside of the traditions of men.
The Lord’s provision doesn’t rest on the strength of our gratitude.
Christ is the beating heart of Christian faith and its only object.
Instead of a “how-to” manual, the Bible is a “what-you-didn’t-do” story.
If we picture the New Testament as a divinely painted masterpiece that hangs in the middle of a museum, then all around it are other works of the period, in different corridors of the museum, in many styles, painted by diverse artists, with variations of color and technique.
God’s creatures on four legs are some of the greatest storytellers of the Scriptures.