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 Garden of Eden proved to be the first battlefield between God and his submissive people.
True freedom, Luther discovered, is found in Jesus crucified who sets us free.
Christians are Christians not because of anything that they have done but because of everything Christ has done for them.
There was another criminal next to Christ the day he died. He was aware of who Jesus was, and why he was there.
Professional historians frequently assert that "miracles" are not a proper subject for historical investigation.
This old preacher, Zechariah, didn't abolish holiness. He spread it out. He pushed it beyond the boundaries of the temple.
The essential Christian claim is that God came to earth in Christ and died for men to take care of their problem of sin and evil.
It is often the case that when dealing Divine, we find ourselves befuddled. For as relatable and surprisingly vulnerable God is as the man Jesus, he seems, at times, to retain a certain aloofness, a type of distance.
The flower of youth, as lovely as it is, cannot withstand the hot winds of time. There is a beauty, however, that remains.
Before long I was deeply involved in the trilogy (the reader is invariably "drawn into" the story in a unique way, and for a good reason as we shall see).
It’s time to call bull on a theology the dominates Christianity.
The word which typifies my understanding of what makes male friendships so central to the concept of masculinity is philia.