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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The Father knows our needs because he knows everything. This is a comforting thought, but only if He is gracious.
The gelded Gospel is shiny and attractive and compelling, and we can perform the procedure in any number of ways.
When we pray, we should have in mind His name and His provision and His forgiveness. In other words, we ask God to do what God promises to do.
Like Mary, they (with you) are at Jesus’ feet to learn and hear from the Lord of all Creation. It is a privileged place to be if there ever was one!
My ego just couldn't accept that I preached the Christian and him improved and not Christ and Him crucified.
When Jesus told the Parable of the Good Samaritan, He was not simply encouraging us to be good citizens. He was continuing a conversation which had begun with a serious question about salvation.
We can’t all afford to travel the world, but the more we read from outside our own context, the bigger we see the world.
When the church has gone astray, it has been the responsible (not slavish) approach to history that has helped correct the course.
I’d like to offer a short reflection on the theme of “worldliness” as it appears in his later work and how that’s connected to an item of his Lutheran heritage: the theology of the cross.
I'm having one of those days. You know, the kind where you're filled with confusion, guilt, and fear? If you don't know what I'm talking about, just stop reading now.
In life, we make decisions, from the most basic to the most lasting, lacking specific knowledge about the outcome.
Thomas was without a doubt a skeptic. And he was a skeptic without a doubt.