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Friendship, loneliness, and prayer: A “small” listening skill

Lynne Baab • Wednesday September 20 2023

Imagine a scene where you are talking to someone you don’t know well. Perhaps it’s coffee hour at church, a neighborhood event, or a work or school setting. You’ve never had an extended one-on-one conversation with this person before, but in this moment, no one interrupts you, and you find yourself talking at length. They listen so well that you find yourself talking about something you’re upset about. As the conversation draws to a close, you realize that some of the burden of frustration has been lifted. You feel heard by someone who understands.

How does your companion indicate that they are...

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First post in a new series: Friendship, loneliness, and prayer

Lynne Baab • Tuesday September 12 2023

A dozen years ago, Josh had three good friends. Josh had recently retired, and he was happy with the friendship rhythm in his new pattern of life. One of his friends arranged a tennis foursome most Friday afternoons. After playing tennis, the four men drank tea or beer and chatted for an hour. Another friend was a walker. He and Josh took a long walk two or three times a month and prayed together afterward. Josh's third friend was an amazing listener. His job involved long drives to do fairly brief tasks on the other end, and sometimes he invited Josh...

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Spiritual practices, being/doing, and prayer

Lynne Baab • Tuesday September 5 2023

“I am trying to learn from a Congolese pastor at my church who reminds us, ‘We are human beings, not human doings.’ Yes, there is a rhythm between being and doing. Thank you for the reminder that the being comes first. Inhale, then exhale.”

My friend John wrote that comment on Facebook in response to my post a few weeks ago about the purpose of Christian meditation. Oddly, the same day that I saw his words, I had a conversation with my friend Lisa who said similar words about that particular blog post. Lisa said we have to be careful in approaching...

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Spiritual practices and “life-giving, non-cerebral prayer”

Lynne Baab • Tuesday August 29 2023

After my first post on Christian meditation, where I discussed the purpose of meditation for Christians, I got an interesting email from my friend Viv. She describes herself as “an ‘active senior’ Presbyterian minister who has also served in the Baptist movement." In Viv’s email, she said she “lives in the cognitive” and is a “studious introvert whose main pathway to the sacred is thinking and sorting.” Viv wrote that she has learned that many spiritual disciplines can “lift me into God's presence in life-giving, non-cerebral prayer.” She believes that too often we look to spiritual practices to help us live in a...

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