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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When our sense of alienation from God is underscored and exaggerated by daily life we behave like tropical fish when their tank is cleaned.
You have suffered your son to come unto Jesus; but fathers, don’t let him die!
“It’s funny because it’s true.” —Homer Simpson. The Bible is full of ridiculous stories. Laughable stories. There, I said it. A Red Sea parting, a giant fish swallowing a man, a talking donkey, and the list goes on and on. It’s all a bit ridiculous.
It seems like the sky is falling every other day now. From politics to culture to religion to about anything else, there’s one purported cataclysm after another on the horizon.
Jesus is faithful even when we are faithless. He is our Strength, and Song, and Salvation. He's all this for us because He is God, and God is love.
The church’s worship should boldly and explicitly do two things: confess the incarnation and practice for the resurrection.
True faith, saving faith that receives the good news about the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world is a faith created in us by the Holy Spirit through the Gospel.
Your church is not healthy. If they were healthy, they wouldn’t need someone to heal them.
The angriest people I meet are former Christians.
He reminds them how his love is truly marvelous and unconditional, but then, he looks them in the eyes, and says they ought to do better because of his love.
What on God’s green earth does dynamite, a chemical explosive, have to do with the Gospel of Christ?
This had been a lonely year, though. She could keep herself busy for a while with friends and she could distract herself for a few weekends by leaving town, but something was definitely missing.