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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Advent accents preaching, making known that it is the Lord who comes to bring salvation, to proclaim this in all the earth.
There is a difference between preaching about Christ and preaching Christ.
Many Christians are worried—perhaps legitimately—that the state is a short step away from turning the Law of God into hate speech and silencing the legal preaching of God’s Word.
The miracle of Pentecost is not obvious; it is the miracle of faith created through the preaching of the word of the cross.
Well, it is springtime! Just as you can always expect flowers to begin blooming, the days getting a little longer and everyone’s mood getting a little brighter, there’s something else you can always expect this time of the year.
It is the icon of the resurrection, for if anyone eats of this bread, he shall live into eternity, for this bread is the flesh of Christ for the life of the world.
What makes a meal more than food? We all have important meals in our lives; birthday meals; anniversary meals; traditional holiday meals.
In an age when families are already fractured beyond comprehension, are we seriously going to separate parents from children in the one service in which God himself is present to unite us to himself and one another?
I cannot recall how many times I sang along to this theme song, punching and kicking as a kid in the 80s. But much of my desire to join the Marine Corps had its genesis in the 80s cartoon “G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero.”
Neither did Christ’s absolution “run out” nor “reach a limit” due to Judas’ sin.
Preaching is a dangerous and difficult task. Some occupations might involve more harrowing situations and circumstances but I will continue to contend that there’s not a more perilous or vulnerable position to be in than behind the pulpit.
Heaven is as near as the Word proclaimed from the mouth of the preacher into the ear and heart of the sinner. It is as near as the bread and wine in your mouth. For, you see, Word and sacrament are where Jesus is.