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Praying about the flow of time: Why I like the idea of “Ordinary Time”

Lynne Baab • Thursday August 15 2024

When I was 9 through 11, my dad was stationed at the Air Force base in Wiesbaden, Germany. We attended a charming 1865 Anglican church in downtown Wiesbaden. The kids stayed in church for about half the service.

We usually arrived five to ten minutes before the service started, and I enjoyed listening to the organ prelude. The reader board at the front of the church always drew my attention. It listed the three hymns we would sing in the service. At the top of the board was the name of that particular Sunday of the church year: Advent 3 (third Sunday...

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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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First post in a new series: Praying about the flow of time

Lynne Baab • Tuesday July 30 2024

My beloved husband Dave calls me “time lady.” I usually know how much time various activities will require and how early we should leave to arrive at events on time. I worked for an astronomy professor for two years of college, so I also like the larger flow of time: the movement of the earth around the sun, the moon around the earth, equinoxes, solstices, and eclipses. We had the privilege of living in Dunedin, New Zealand for almost 11 years. For the first couple of years, I was disoriented by the position of the sun and moon in the sky...

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Praying about Jesus’s miracles: Jesus withers a fig tree

Lynne Baab • Thursday July 18 2024

One interesting way to study the Gospels is to note the sequencing of stories. Looking at the events in Mark 11 helps me find meaning in an otherwise baffling miracle. Why would Jesus cause a fig tree to wither? I love trees! I assume Jesus loves them, too, because he made them.

Mark 11 opens with the events of Palm Sunday: the colt never before ridden, the leafy branches strewn on the road, and the songs of “Hosannah.” Jesus visits the temple and returns to Bethany with the twelve (Mark 11:1-11). The next day, Jesus and the disciples again walk the two...

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