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Praying about the flow of time: An unusual option for Lent

Lynne Baab • Tuesday March 11 2025

I’m listening carefully to someone I find a bit challenging. As I try to listen well, I’m bringing to mind various listening skills I’ve learned over the years. The person describes something from their life that I find both interesting and confusing. I try to pick up something from their description that I can follow up on. I decide to ask an open-ended question that will enable them to go in whatever direction they choose. They continue to talk, and I try to give them eye contact. I use those small sounds that help people know we’re listening: “hmm,” “yeah,” and...

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

Lynne Baab • Tuesday November 12 2024

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: “Listen to Jesus”

Lynne Baab • Tuesday August 6 2024

Who doesn’t love a lighthouse? Such a powerful symbol of so many significant themes: safety and security, a light in the darkness, a warning of dangerous rocks, and a guide to find our way home. August 7 is National Lighthouse Day. I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to use one of my husband Dave’s many lighthouse paintings. I wanted to write a whole post on the power of the image of Christ as the lighthouse for our lives.

But I wanted to write about the Feast of the Transfiguration, August 6, even more. When I started planning this new series on the...

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Friendship, loneliness, and prayer: Praying for guidance for ending conversations

Lynne Baab • Wednesday March 20 2024

Imagine you’re at a gathering with a lot of people, perhaps coffee hour at church, a wedding reception, or an office party. You’ve chatted with several people, and you are now feeling tired and ready to go home. You look for the person you came with, and they’re in a conversation. You move toward them to check to see if they’re ready to leave.

A few steps before you get there, you are intercepted by someone who enjoys lengthy conversations. In the past, you have tried to listen lovingly and supportively to them. Still, you often find the one-sided conversations challenging. You’re...

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