A Renewed SpiritualityNurturing Hope: Christian Pastoral Care in the Twenty-First CenturyThe Power of ListeningJoy Together: Spiritual Practices for Your CongregationSabbath Keeping FastingPrayers of the Old TestamentPrayers of the New TestamentSabbathFriendingA Garden of Living Water: Stories of Self-Discovery and Spiritual GrowthDeath in Dunedin: A NovelDead Sea: A NovelDeadly Murmurs: A NovelPersonality Type in CongregationsBeating Burnout in CongregationsReaching Out in a Networked WorldEmbracing MidlifeAdvent DevotionalDraw Near: Lenten Devotional by Lynne Baab, illustrated by Dave Baab

Psalm 84 and Deuteronomy 32: Water

Lynne Baab • Wednesday September 16 2020

Psalm 84 and Deuteronomy 32: Water

Today I want to bring you water. Cool, clear, refreshing water. Water that cleanses and heals and energizes. I want to bring it to you as an individual and to your family. I want to bring it to our hurting city, country, and world. I want to bring it to the West Coast where fire rages and smoke seeps into homes.

Of course, I can’t really bring water to anyone. But God can. And God might use me – or you – to bring it.

The Bible is full of passages about water. I want to follow up on last week’s post about...

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Psalm 84: The sweetness

Lynne Baab • Tuesday September 8 2020

Psalm 84: The sweetness

I need some sweetness right now. The past six months have been unbelievably intense for me, as for you, I’m sure. The pandemic has evoked so many roiling emotions, with grief sweeping through me in powerful waves as I learned about each new crisis: severe overload for health care workers, widespread job loss, economic disruption, disproportionate effect of the virus on people of color, loneliness, mental health issues, and on and on. My grief reached its nadir with the deaths of precious people who should never have died – Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd.

Now, six months after the pandemic...

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Reflections on six months of sheltering in place

Lynne Baab • Wednesday September 2 2020

Reflections on six months of sheltering in place

On March 2, an epidemiologist friend contacted my husband Dave and me to say that we needed to start staying at home because of this new virus and Dave’s chronic lung disease. I spent a three days out and about doing a few last things, so the exact six month anniversary varies between Dave and me.

I stayed home almost completely for 4 months except for bicycle rides. In the past two months, since masks have been required in Washington State, I’ve been to the grocery store about six times and the big-box home improvement store about four times. We’ve sat outside...

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Creativity: Exaggeration and a few closing thoughts

Lynne Baab • Thursday August 27 2020

Creativity: Exaggeration and a few closing thoughts

My family has accused me many times of exaggerating things when I tell stories. My perspective is that I might exaggerate emotions but seldom the actual facts, and that I stand in a firm tradition. Jesus used hyberbole constantly in his stories in order to intensify the impact. Looking only at the Sermon on the Mount, here are three examples: If someone hits you, give them the other cheek? (Matthew 5:39) Never pray in public? (Matthew 6:6) Never plan or make provision for the future? (Matthew 6:25, 26) Jesus uses hyperbole to make point.

I was delighted when I found a few...

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Featured books

The Power of Listening The Power of Listening In this inspiring and practical book, Lynne Baab weaves together wisdom from her years as a pastor, scholar of communication, and daily follower of Jesus, with interviews of people around the world who are committed to listening to God and neighbor. Buy online » Joy Together: Spiritual Practices for Your Congregation Joy Together: Spiritual Practices for Your Congregation Although interest in spiritual practices has grown in recent years, most of the books available address individuals who wish to try Christian disciplines such as fasting or fixed-hour prayer.

This book, by contrast, offers guidance and examples to Christian leaders as they seek ways to involve their congregations or small groups in spiritual practices. Buy online »

Featured articles

New: Listening for God: The Joy of Spiritual Practices

Lynne Baab • Sunday August 9 2020

(Originally published inHorizons: The Magazine of Presbyterian Women. May/June 2019, 11-14.

New: Christians and Food Waste: Slowing Down and Savoring God’s Gifts

Lynne Baab • Sunday August 9 2020

(Originally published in Presbyterians Today, July/August 2019, 8.)

New: Developing a Missional Approach: Being Sent into the World as Jesus was Sent

Lynne Baab • Sunday August 9 2020

Originally published in Tui Motu InterIslands, Independent Catholic Magazine, New Zealand, September 2017, 26, 27.