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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The promise you will make, which brings about the presence of Christ and creates rejoicing, is the peace Jesus brought to the disciples that night behind locked doors.
In the next three weeks, Saint John will explore some of the implications of the resurrection, especially for Christians as they consider how to live in the present and what is in store for us in the future.
God has created perfectly. God is in the house and all is right with the world!
Good Friday encompasses the silence of God, even as it focuses on our salvation in the cross of Christ.
I can look at all of my failings and foolishness because I know who Christ is for me. I rest in his wisdom and life not my own.
All of my theological endeavoring will not squeeze one more ounce of grace from God.
Like the women who came despite their questions, your hearers will gather despite their uncertainties, and they will be looking for a word of honest hope.
In the resurrection Jesus transcended time, space, and death; those things which limit human existence. So, the stone was not rolled away for Jesus, but for the disciples and for us.
This is the feast, the banquet to end all banquets. The LORD God is the maker and provider of this great feast which takes place for the resurrected faithful in the courts of Heaven.
Paul wants us to see this “present evil age” is dominated by a theology of glory and “the age to come” is dominated by a theology of the cross. They are two ways of understanding and interpreting all of reality, but especially the ways and nature of God.
Jesus is not just another king in the line of David—this is the new King David! Hosanna in the highest!
Ultimately, there is only one Lord of the Universe, and he does not share power. If Jesus is Lord, Caesar is not.