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.

All Articles

There is no life when one is separated from the Promised Land because that will be the place where God will send His Messiah.
Somedays we are simply looking for a mark, a rock at the foot of a tree, something to direct us forward, a few words to let us know we are going in the right direction.
Faith isn’t something that needs to be done. It’s something to be enjoyed because faith is a gift bestowed by God’s word through the hearing of the Gospel.
We confess the ascension of Christ every Sunday in the words of the both the Apostles’ and the Nicene Creed.
In Christ, we live beneath an open heaven having the definitive proof in the cross of Christ that God is outrageously for us, not against us.
Israel is all the people who believe in the LORD and gather at His throne. It is no longer a national distinction, it is one of faith.
This Psalm identifies who the people of the Covenant are, and who they are not, and orientates them in relationship to the LORD God.
The One who has defeated sin, death, and the Devil himself is now living in Heaven and praying for you.
God always keeps his promises even if/when we don’t. God is always faithful even if/when we aren’t.
Jesus will suffer, die, and rise again for them. By this love, they are forgiven. By this love, they are made His friends: Friends of God.
Yes, Christ has come and delivered us, but He will come again in glory to judge the world in righteousness and the people with equity.
Absolution is the word God speaks to cause his sin-dead creation to live.