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Spiritual diary of sheltering in place: the lifeline of “Good” in “Good Friday”

Lynne Baab • Friday April 10 2020

You are probably quite familiar with two verses from Lamentations: “The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness” (Lamentations 3:22-23). Those words come almost exactly in the middle of the book, a high point between descriptions of deep sadness. Lamentations, often attributed to Jeremiah, describes the emptiness and pain of Jerusalem after its people were carried into exile in Babylon in 586 B.C.

For Good Friday I want to highlight several verses that come before and after those well-known verses. I think you will be amazed at...

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Spiritual diary of sheltering in place: the lifeline of memories

Lynne Baab • Tuesday April 7 2020

I was one week pregnant with my older son – of course I didn’t know I was pregnant – when Dave and I took a bus from our home in Tel Aviv, Israel, up to Jerusalem to walk with other pilgrims down the Mount of Olives on a sunny Palm Sunday.

Hundreds of people gathered at Bethany, east of Jerusalem, to walk the mile or so downhill to the Garden of Gesthemane, which lies just outside the walls of Jerusalem. We heard songs and chatter in countless languages. Many pilgrims carried palm branches. It was a holy walk on a holy day.

As...

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Three Psalms for Holy Week

Lynne Baab • Tuesday April 11 2017

A handful of psalms are quoted in the Gospels. Here are reflection questions about three psalms that have strong connections with Jesus’ journey to the cross.

Psalm 69 Answer me, O Lord, for your steadfast love is good; according to your abundant mercy, turn to me.

Psalm 69 is one of the most often cited psalms in the Gospels, and two of those quotations occur in Holy Week: John 15:25 and John 19:28. The mood of the entire psalm, with the pleas for deliverance and deep sorrow, evokes the events of Holy Week that take Jesus to the cross. As you pray this psalm,...

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“Holy curiosity” as a way to think about effective listening

Lynne Baab • Friday March 6 2015

Albert Einstein coined the term “holy curiosity” in the 1940s to describe the freedom of inquiry he considered to be important in science education. People of faith have adopted this phrase because it evokes so much about effective Christian ministry. In order to meet needs, we must be curious about what they are. In order to give aid or help, we need to be curious about the ways to do it most effectively and in forms that empower the recipient. Our curiosity needs to have a holy quality about it, centered in God’s gentle and insightful love.

Curiosity can take two forms....

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