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Praying about the flow of time: Prayers to the Holy Spirit for Pentecost

Lynne Baab • Tuesday June 3 2025

I need comfort this week. When describing the Holy Spirit in the Upper Room, Jesus uses a Greek word that doesn’t have an easy English translation but which can mean “comforter.” In anticipation of Pentecost this Sunday, I want to consider this Greek word, parakletos. It literally means “one who comes alongside,” as in a law court. John 14:16 is the first use of that word in the Bible, and here are Jesus’s words:

“And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever.” In this translation, the NRSVue, a little footnote after Advocate...

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Praying about the flow of time: World Environment Day

Lynne Baab • Tuesday May 27 2025

Researchers asked 16 students to look at two different gardens in Kyoto, Japan. One of them, Murin-an, is meticulously designed and maintained, and the second garden has similar elements but is more casual and less well cared for. The researchers recorded the students’ eye movements and heart rates and asked them about their moods. Here are the results:

“We found that the Murin-an garden was more effective in decreasing pulse rate and improving mood. Also, in the Murin-an garden the participants’ gaze ranged more broadly across the visual field and moved more rapidly. Contrary to our expectations, in neither garden did pulse...

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Praying about the flow of time: The unity of the Bible in the road to Emmaus conversation

Lynne Baab • Wednesday May 21 2025

When I was 11, my family lived in Wiesbaden, Germany. My dad was an Air Force pilot stationed there. We attended an Anglican church, and 11 was the age for confirmation. My parents asked me if I wanted to be confirmed — no pressure, they said — and I examined my heart. I had a sense of God’s bigness and power, communicated by the communion liturgy, and I loved Psalm 23. Yes, I thought, God is my shepherd, and I want to affirm that through confirmation.

Between the age of 12 and 15, Sunday school was deadly boring, the communion service no...

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Praying about the flow of time: Bread in Emmaus

Lynne Baab • Thursday May 15 2025

When Cleopas and another disciple meet Jesus on the road to Emmaus on the day that Jesus was resurrected, the two disciples don’t recognize him. They invite him into their home for a meal. Here’s one of the key moments of the story:

“When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him, and he vanished from their sight” (Luke 24:30, 31, see Luke 24:13-35 for the whole story).

Jesus was made known to the two disciples when he blessed and broke the bread. This...

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