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 spend a lot of time talking to people in coffee shops. Some share my Christian faith, some are exploring and questioning faith and others have left the church, having had a crisis of faith.
During my recent trip to visit my daughter and her family, my son-in-law got me hooked on Leah Remini’s A&E show, Scientology and the Aftermath.
This emphasis in Luther also applied to his understanding of the sacraments, and particularly comes out in his writings on the Lord’s Supper in his Large Catechism.
Desiderius Erasmus and many humanists had for a while held out hope for Luther’s call for reform and many of the reformers were themselves, to some degree, humanists.
The sight of indulgences being bought and sold is just not something I witness on a regular basis.
Ultimately, however, we find in the Heidelberg Disputation the root and core of Luther’s theology, which he would build and expound upon throughout his life.
This short series has attempted to show that many, if not all, of the attempts that have been made to reveal or identify tensions or error in Melanchthon’s theology.
As long as we hold tight to a life that was never ours to possess in the first place, so long as we refuse to lay down our life so others can live, Jesus can't do a thing for us.
In 1534, Melanchthon was invited to France to defend the Lutheran position to King Francis, who seemed to favor the Reformation.
Henry found Melanchthon to be a more moderate voice and was eager to discuss theological matters with the young, increasingly famous and respected academic.
Throughout his life, Melanchthon was embroiled in quite a few internal as well as external controversies.
At the same time, in the late 1520s and early 1530s, Melanchthon’s theology became utterly reliant on the idea that justification is a purely forensic act whereby the unjust sinner is declared just on account of Christ (propter Christum).