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

Spiritual diary of sheltering in place: The lifeline of “easier does not mean easy”

Lynne Baab • Thursday April 16 2020

Spiritual diary of sheltering in place: The lifeline of “easier does not mean easy”

I have had a rough last week. I think I know what precipitated it – an article about lots of individuals in Queens, New York, how they are suffering from illness, lost jobs, not enough to eat, and fear.

When Dave and I started our sheltering in place six weeks ago, about ten people had died here in Seattle, and many more were ill. But nowhere in the United States were hospitals overwhelmed. No one had yet lost their jobs. Nowhere were bodies stacking up. The stock market hadn’t yet crashed, and the economic predictions were still rosy. In those first couple...

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

Lynne Baab • Friday April 10 2020

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

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

Spiritual diary of sheltering in place: the lifeline of memories

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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Spiritual diary of sheltering in place: The lifeline of accepting my place as a clay jar

Lynne Baab • Saturday April 4 2020

Spiritual diary of sheltering in place: The lifeline of accepting my place as a clay jar

I am continuing to write about what I’m learning from being at home almost all the time. I’ve changed a phase in the title of this series of posts from “self-isolation” to “sheltering in place.” “Isolation” is not really the right word because I still feel very connected to many of the people I care about through phone calls, zoom sessions, email and social media. Praise God for the technology to stay connected. I pray that God will give us all the initiative to reach out to people so we are not isolated.

The other night I had a vivid dream with...

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