Home & Blog | Lynne Baab

Worshipping God the Creator: the Creation invites us to join in praise

Lynne Baab • Thursday June 9 2016

I wrote last week about how the Creation calls us to praise the One who made it. This has been a theme in Christian singing for centuries. In this post I will give you the words to two hymns that speak of Creation’s praise of God and our invitation to join in.

In 1912 Frances W. Wile wrote a winter hymn, appropriate for us in New Zealand right now, but perhaps not as timely for my Northern Hemisphere readers. The words are wonderful whatever season it is:

All beautiful the march of days, as seasons come and go; The Hand that shaped the rose...

Read full article »

Worshipping God the Creator: the first post of a series

Lynne Baab • Tuesday May 31 2016

A few years ago, I was talking with a friend from childhood. I asked her about her sense of faith, and she said that she was basically a druid. I asked her what she meant, and she replied that she experiences God in nature. For her, nature enables her to experience a sense of transcendence, and nature is her church. Any worship she experiences is in nature.

I said to her, “I can really relate to that. I often experience God in nature.”

She replied, “Wait a minute. You’re a Christian. How can you say that?”

I answered, “God created everything. When I look...

Read full article »

Praise to the Trinity in four movements

Lynne Baab • Thursday May 26 2016

Last Sunday was Trinity Sunday. Here are my words of praise as I reflect back on my life.

1. Late elementary school. My parents take me to church every Sunday but we never, never talk about God at home. Prayers and hymns at church leave me with the idea that God is a bit mysterious in his holiness, and that humans can rest in this mystery and enjoy God’s otherness. The notion of the Trinity enhances this sense of mystery. I love the analogies of water in three forms (steam, liquid and ice) and the three leaves of one shamrock. How can...

Read full article »

Thoughts for Pentecost: the significance of the Holy Spirit today

Lynne Baab • Tuesday May 17 2016

I was so angry. And it was such an odd thing to get angry about.

The setting was the Friday after Pentecost about a dozen years ago. The church staff was debriefing about the various events that had occurred as a part of our Pentecost celebration. The senior minister asked us for feedback about every aspect of the day, and I told him how upset I was that he had chosen to continue his sermon series in one of the Gospels rather than preach about the Holy Spirit.

Here’s my memory of what I said: “Pentecost is a really important day because the...

Read full article »

<< Newer | Older >>