Friendship, Listening, and Empathy: A Prayer GuideDraw Near: A Lenten Devotional Two Hands: Grief and Gratitude in the Christian LifeSabbath Keeping: Finding Freedom in the Rhythms of Rest Fasting: Spiritual Freedom Beyond our AppetitesA Renewed SpiritualityNurturing Hope: Christian Pastoral Care in the Twenty-First CenturyThe Power of ListeningJoy Together: Spiritual Practices for Your CongregationPrayers of the New TestamentPrayers of the Old TestamentPersonality Type in CongregationsSabbathA Garden of Living Water: Stories of Self-Discovery and Spiritual GrowthDead Sea: A NovelDeadly Murmurs: A NovelDeath in Dunedin: A NovelBeating Burnout in CongregationsReaching Out in a Networked WorldEmbracing MidlifeFriendingAdvent Devotional

Praying about the flow of time: Praying about AND — again

Lynne Baab • Thursday July 3 2025

Praying about the flow of time: Praying about AND — again

Last week, I wrote that one of my goals is to help people think critically and pray wisely about the human brain’s love of dichotomies and hierarchies. We often mention two things and link them with BUT, indicating that one of them has priority over the other. Linking them with AND places them side by side with equal emphasis.

After I wrote that post, my friend Rich Morey, a therapist and psychologist, replied:

“AND seems to play an outsized role in my life.  I am often struck by how seemingly opposites often present in unison: grief and gratitude, sadness and joy, the sweet and the bitter. ...

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Praying about the flow of time: Praying about AND

Lynne Baab • Wednesday June 25 2025

Praying about the flow of time: Praying about AND

The human brain loves dichotomies: this NOT that. One of my goals in my writing is to affirm that the truth often lies in this AND that. Grace AND truth. Righteousness AND peace (Psalm 85:10).  Grief AND gratitude. Our brains really want to nurture dichotomies, so we need the help of the Holy Spirit to hold two opposite things in tension. Of course, we access that help through prayer.

An amusing and thought-provoking illustration of this AND that comes from the endings to the four Gospels. We might look to Jesus's last words to his disciples to get an idea of how...

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Praying about the flow of time: Praising God for the sun, light, and seasons

Lynne Baab • Thursday June 19 2025

Praying about the flow of time: Praising God for the sun, light, and seasons

Today, I want to praise God for the way the Earth is tipped. If you draw a line from the North to the South Pole and extend that line beyond the Earth, the line is not perpendicular to the path of the Earth around the sun. This website has a motion graphic  that illustrates what I’m saying. Scroll down to below the video.

Because of the tipping of the Earth, we have seasons. On Friday this week, at 7:42 p.m. here on the West Coast of the United States, the Northern Hemisphere will be at its closest to the sun. The days are...

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Praying about the flow of time: Praising the Three in One

Lynne Baab • Tuesday June 10 2025

Praying about the flow of time: Praising the Three in One

In the 1990s, I had quite a bit of contact with Unitarian Universalists. My first exposure to UU folks came through the interviews for my 1997 and 1998 books, which were published by The Alban Institute. That publisher marketed to leaders of Christian and Unitarian congregations, so I needed to get opinions and quotations from members of UU churches in addition to my interviews with Christians from various denominations. Those books are Personality Type in Congregations and Embracing Midlife: Congregations as Support Systems.

I also met UU church members through my involvement with the Association for Psychological Type. When I found myself...

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