Draw Near: Lenten Devotional by Lynne Baab, illustrated by Dave BaabTwo Hands: Grief and Gratitude in the Christian LifeA 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 Devotional

Nurturing friendships in a cellphone world: Hymns that describe friendship with God

Lynne Baab • Thursday January 31 2019

Nurturing friendships in a cellphone world: Hymns that describe friendship with God

I’ve been writing about human friendship as rooted in the love between the members of the Trinity and the love of God for us. I invite you to ponder the words to these hymns. In what ways do they enrich your understanding of God’s invitation into friendship with the Triune God? In what ways might they help you rest in God’s love as you seek to love others?

O worship the King all glorious above, O gratefully sing His power and His love; Our Shield and Defender, the Ancient of Days, Pavilioned in splendor, and girded with praise.

Frail children of dust, and feeble as frail, In...

Read full article »

Nurturing friendships in a cellphone world: Friendship as action

Lynne Baab • Thursday January 24 2019

Nurturing friendships in a cellphone world: Friendship as action

The story of the good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37) has profound implications for friendship. (Last week I described the significance of Jesus’ question to the Pharisee about being a neighbor.)

The challenge in friendship isn’t to figure out who is a friend. The challenge is to grow in ability to act like a friend. The actions that nurture friendships are intentional practices. These intentional acts of being a friend are rooted in the understanding that human friendship is an invitation to participate in the love that the three persons of the Trinity have for each other and the love that the triune God...

Read full article »

Nurturing friendships in a cellphone world: Who is my neighbor?

Lynne Baab • Thursday January 17 2019

Nurturing friendships in a cellphone world: Who is my neighbor?

The story in Luke 10:25-37 about the good Samaritan is one of the best-loved stories of the Bible. The story and Jesus’ words before and after he tells it provide helpful teaching about the kind of intentionality in friendship to which God calls us.

Most readers focus on the drama in the story: the man who is beaten up and robbed, the people who pass by on the other side of the road and the Samaritan who unexpectedly gives aid and demonstrates care and concern across cultural and ethnic boundaries. I love the story in itself, but I’ve always been equally interested...

Read full article »

Nurturing friendships in a cellphone world: Friendship with Christ and friendship with others

Lynne Baab • Friday January 11 2019

Nurturing friendships in a cellphone world: Friendship with Christ and friendship with others

What difference does it make for human friendships that we are invited to be friends with Christ? (I wrote last week about Jesus’ invitation to us to be his friends.)

First and foremost, if our human friendships mirror the intimacy between the three persons of the Trinity, as well as reflecting the friendship between Jesus and humans, then we aren’t inventing friendship. Instead we are entering into something that is already happening and something that was patterned into us at creation because of the fact that we are made in God’s image.

Yes, the world is broken. Yes, the image of God in...

Read full article »
<< Newer | Older >>

Featured books

Featured articles

NEW: Nurturing a contemplative stance for navigating challenging times

Lynne Baab • Friday August 11 2023

By Lynne M. Baab

NEW: Spiritual Practices for People in Ministry

Lynne Baab • Sunday June 26 2022

Making Space for a Continuing Conversation with the Living God

NEW: 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