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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God’s headline for his church prioritizes the person of Jesus and his purpose to demonstrate God’s power by dying and rising again for our salvation.
God does not give us an undebatable answer to suffering. Instead, God suffers, too.
Five promises were seemingly all those apostles, staring into the sky, had to go on. Five promises that were more than enough.
You are the baptized, for in Christ we are all wet. The demographic dividers are washed away.
He shows up when we are at our worst to usher us back to his side, lead us to repentance, rescue us, and reclaim us as his own.
Sometimes, we get prayer dementia. We can’t remember what we were going to pray for, we can’t put the words together, and, frustrated, there is nothing we can do but sigh and groan.
A “good death” and “good life” are not accomplished through personal striving but are grasped by faith in the promises of God.
Jesus will lead us through the deep waters onto the dry land of that celestial shore, where he will wipe away every tear from our eyes.
Jesus reveals to them again who He is. And that life can only be given when we feed on Christ.
Do our petitions move God?
What’s the big deal about Jesus’ name?
God has a hall ready for us, for us and for so many more