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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Long ago, the people of Israel began to sing words of encouragement to each other in times of distress. In their songs, the psalms, are three Hebrew words that provide stability for us. They are more than just words—each one encapsulates the way of God with his people. They serve as helpful handholds in times of stress and upheaval. The words are these: רָפָה (be still), קָוָה (wait), and שָׁמַר (watch).
The people to whom Ezekiel is prophesying are in exile—separated from the Holy Land. To return to the land of Israel is to be resurrected to new life, to be restored.
This petition is proof that the Christian life is not a practice in perfectionism. Rather, it is a life of dying and rising, lived under the cross of Christ, in the continual forgiveness of our sins.
Jesus does not give as the world gives. With Jesus, everything is guaranteed and has been finished from the start.
The preceding pericope uses the metaphor of a “mighty man,” a “warrior” for the LORD and this is not too much of a stretch for us. However, our text begins with the metaphor of a woman in child birth.
The primary point of Joseph’s life (and every story in Scripture) is to point us to Christ. To tell us something about what God is like and how He interacts with His Creation.
The Old Testament often seems like a long lost family--and a rather weird family, at that. How can followers of the Messiah today live our heritage in the Torah, Prophets, and Writings? Here are three simple suggestions.
Ashes and dust do not need the services of spiritual EMTs; we need a Second Adam from whom we regain life itself.
Certainly, the people of Israel are being stubborn, unfaithful and untrusting but one may wonder if this issue is a deeper one. Are they afraid?
Christ has forgiven you, and all of your worship, all of your prayers, all of your offerings are accepted because they are built on the foundation of Christ’s forgiveness.
When we pray, “Thy will be done,” we are praying a cosmic, grand and mighty prayer.
The Church is called to be counter-cultural, to stand out in order that the world might see and hear the truth and be brought into the Kingdom.