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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By basing our assurance on the promises of God, which we not only hope for in the future but live in now, the Christian can finally rest in the comfort that they are both saved and not responsible for their own salvation.
In Christ, God promises to forgive sin and bring about new life: Life after being canceled.
God not only unites us to himself by the death and resurrection of his Son; he unites us, the church, together and to himself under Christ as his children.
That is the good news that ifies all hand wringing and wipes away every tear from every eye.
In our attempts to flee from our fears and escape death, we will become imprisoned by them.
Love is to be the interpreter of law. Where there is no love, these things are meaningless, and law begins to do harm.
We cannot control the resistance of people to God’s Word, but we can trust in God’s power and promise to work through His Word.
Using common everyday events, Carnell sought to clarify that there are three standards of duty that we demand others to respect to protect our dignity.
Jesus did not come to be first. He came to be faithful, faithful to His Father’s mission for you.
He would not go back on his word, for his word is the word of the Father and the Spirit, and they all say “come.”
If your congregation promotes and supports “family values,” you should be prepared to take this text head-on.
Before you object that what we need is change - not salvation - let me remind you that our shouts for change are evidence of our need for a savior.