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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I am often haunted by my past. I am daily haunted by what I should be doing.
Jesus’ forgiveness will not collapse. Jesus’ forgiveness will take us places our legs can’t take us.
Here is a lament I’ve written especially for victims of hurricanes. May it be for you, for your family, or for your church, a way to put into prayer the anguish of your souls.
They say girls in our society should have nothing to worry about. They should have the opportunity for education and choices far beyond generations before.
Have you ever received a gift for which you were less than thrilled, but you had to pretend you really liked it so as not to offend the giver?
I visited a senior man at his home the other day. I'll refer to him as “Jim.”
The Christian sees himself or herself as one just as guilty as the rest of the world. But we see ourselves not just as what’s wrong with the world, but in the One by whom the world has been redeemed.
Would you go to the church on the corner knowing that the pastor is an ex-con?
Jesus cuts right to the chase when it comes to the evil one. He calls the devil “a liar and the father of lies,”
Can there be joy in obedience? That depends on if obedience if a free choice or the result of threats.
Jesus opened our ears and mouth when He baptizes us. Jesus put His fingers into our ears, speaks to us, and washes our sins away.
This is the sixth installment in our special series on Luther’s Heidelberg Disputation. Translation of Theses 11 and 12 by Caleb Keith.