Friendship, Listening, and Empathy: A Prayer GuideDraw Near: A Lenten Devotional Two Hands: Grief and Gratitude in the Christian LifeAdvent DevotionalSabbath Keeping FastingA 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 MidlifeFriending

Praying about the flow of time: The joy of the kingdom of God

Lynne Baab • Tuesday November 19 2024

Praying about the flow of time: The joy of the kingdom of God

Numerous praise songs call God our king. The creative Hillsong musicians have given us King of Kings, with this refrain:

“Praise the Father, praise the Son, Praise the Spirit, three in one, God of glory, Majesty, Praise forever to the King of Kings.”

A traditional hymn that evokes God as king begins like this: “Come, Thou Almighty King, help us Thy name to sing; help us to praise.” This focus on praise, visible in both the Hillsong song and the hymn, is common in praise songs and traditional hymns that name God as King.

In contrast, a popular Advent hymn, “O Come, O Come Emmanuel,” ends with a verse about...

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Praying about the flow of time: The overlap of the sacred and the ordinary

Lynne Baab • Tuesday November 12 2024

Praying about the flow of time: The overlap of the sacred and the ordinary

In 2013, I heard a speaker who changed my perspective on how congregations help people grow in faith. Nancy Ammerman is a sociologist of religion. In two talks just over a decade ago, she described her recent research, published a few months later in her book Sacred Stories, Spiritual Tribes: Finding Religion in Everyday Life. She and her team of researchers interviewed dozens of people in two major American cities, talking with them at length. The interviewees included Protestants, Roman Catholics, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, atheists, and people committed to various other forms of spirituality.

The researchers found that people with the deepest...

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Praying about the flow of time: Small actions with big benefits

Lynne Baab • Tuesday November 5 2024

Praying about the flow of time: Small actions with big benefits

A woman with school-age kids told me that after she says goodbye to her kids each morning when they leave for the school bus, she stands by the door for another minute. She places her hand on the door and prays for each child’s day at school.

A busy children’s ministries director at a church with lots of kids takes a complete day off every Thursday. She calls it her Sabbath, and one of her favorite Sabbath activities is grocery shopping. She lingers in the produce department, looking at the beauty of fruits and vegetables, handling them reverently as she places them...

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Praying about the flow of time: All Hallow’s Eve and All Saints Day

Lynne Baab • Tuesday October 29 2024

Praying about the flow of time: All Hallow’s Eve and All Saints Day

I was looking forward to researching this post. I don’t know a lot about the history of All Hallow’s Eve (which has morphed into Halloween) and All Saints Day (November 1). After reading a very long Wikipedia entry and a few other websites, I am more confused than ever. Did these two holidays originate with the Romans? Celts? Germans? Pagans? What a mishmash of traditions formed our current practice of Halloween. I did learn that Halloween is a major revenue source for many businesses—not a topic I would usually write about but perhaps something to pray about!

I do know that Christians have...

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Featured books

Friendship, Listening, and Empathy: A Prayer Guide Friendship, Listening, and Empathy: A Prayer Guide Lynne draws on her Ph.D. studies in communication to bring insight about listening and empathy so that we can pray more deeply. Each of the 28 short chapters is illustrated with a beautiful watercolor by Dave Baab. Buy online » Draw Near: A Lenten Devotional Draw Near: A Lenten Devotional Lynne has chosen one psalm for each day of Lent and offers brief reflection/discussion questions that can be used alone or in a group. Illustrated with more than 50 of Dave Baab's beautiful watercolors. Buy online »

Featured articles

Nurturing a contemplative stance for navigating challenging times

Lynne Baab • Friday August 11 2023

By Lynne M. Baab

Spiritual Practices for People in Ministry

Lynne Baab • Sunday June 26 2022

Making Space for a Continuing Conversation with the Living God

Yes, Jesus Told Us to Pray in Secret. But He Also Prayed with His Friends.

Lynne Baab • Saturday October 9 2021

By Lynne M. Baab. Originally published in Christianity Today, July 8, 2021