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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We begin in ignorance and we end in ignorance. But, in the midst of our ignorance, Jesus is walking with us.
The receiving and/or possessing of a gift, even one from God, is far different than putting it to use.
This story of despair met with the hope of the gospel is rightly told by many during the holiday season.
As Simeon sang, you might lead your hearers in a song of defiant and hopeful confidence to close out a year characterized by death and despair.
The Lamb of God is stripped of His garment and sheds His blood on a cross to clothe us in robes of righteousness and garments of salvation—like a bridegroom who adorns himself and his bride.
Hannah’s story is the story of God’s great reversal.
Advent is not a call to prepare to engage in a transaction with God.
The well-meaning advice “time heals all wounds” is offensively false when we confront the overwhelming evidence that the constants in our lives are death, taxes, and suffering.
Not only is Jesus the New David, He is also the New Temple—the House and Kingdom! This is the throne that is everlasting.
At the center of this gospel reading is a conversation. It was of the memorable variety. It involved a peasant girl from a small town and a mighty messenger from God.
This is Christmas. It is Jesus becoming all sin from generation to generation.
It turns out the family trait of not being able to wait runs deep and wide in the family of God. We do foolish things while we wait for promises to be fulfilled.