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 the Holy Spirit is at work in the office of the holy ministry, the man is ridden by the Spirit and so his only concern is for preaching the Gospel, baptizing, absolving, and feeding sinners in the Name of Christ Jesus.
He’s the Grandpa who goes on and on about how delicious these mud pies are that we present to him. He laughs, honestly and sincerely, at our stupid jokes.
Christ is the answer to both the Who and the how of our extra nos salvation.
We sinners share a common problem when it comes to Jesus’ parables. We read them with an eye to our own righteousness.
The Christian Church is one of the last refuges in modern American society where people who have perpetrated or suffered trauma and violence can gather together to receive the truth about themselves.
We were created by our heavenly Father to receive all things from Him as free gift.
Just when we think we had it all under control, Christ breaks into the midst of our futile efforts to save ourselves.
The idea is that Jesus has called His church to make disciples, and since the church doesn’t look much like the One they are following, the people need to be changed.
Ultimately, however, we find in the Heidelberg Disputation the root and core of Luther’s theology, which he would build and expound upon throughout his life.
She heard it before, but looking around she struggles to see how it matters.
For every child in a mother’s womb, the whole host of heaven and earth, indeed God himself, intercedes.
“My Old Man” is the story of a single father, a grossly flawed character, told through the eyes of his son who can’t help but love him.