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Advent and Christmas in the Southern Hemisphere: The Light

Lynne Baab • Thursday December 10 2020

We left the United States on the summer solstice in 2007 and arrived in New Zealand in the dead of winter. I had a five year contract as a lecturer at the University of Otago in Dunedin, renowned in New Zealand for being cold. (We ended up staying ten years, and returned to Dunedin two months ago to wait for a covid vaccine here.) The outdoor temperatures in Dunedin aren’t much different than Seattle, actually a tiny bit warmer on average in winter, but many houses are drafty.

“Drafty” is an understatement. The house we rented for the first six months was...

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Lament after Thanksgiving

Lynne Baab • Wednesday December 2 2020

Lament is a big part of my prayers these days. In my lifetime, I have never experienced so much sadness, grief and pain when I look around at our world. Maybe if I had lived in Europe during World War 2 or Rwanda during the genocide in 1994, I might have had this much to lament. But this pain is unprecedented for me, and lament prayers come easily these days.

My American friends and family members have just celebrated Thanksgiving, and I know they spent some time thinking about what they are thankful for. We have entered Advent, a season of looking...

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A conversation with Jesus about bread

Lynne Baab • Thursday November 26 2020

On this week of Thanksgiving, when so many American families are making stuffing alone rather than with extended family and friends, I want to give you some of Jesus’ thoughts on bread, and his disciples’ response. I get a kick out of the back-and-forth dialogues in the Gospels between Jesus and his followers. So often I wonder what the followers – or Jesus – were thinking when they spoke.

The story for today comes from John 6, an eventful chapter. It opens with the feeding of the five thousand. Afterwards, in the evening, Jesus withdraws to the mountain, and the disciples set...

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Three passages on God’s new things

Lynne Baab • Thursday November 19 2020

In the first couple of weeks of the pandemic, while learning how to shelter in place, I felt so off balance I could hardly pray. Then, as we settled into more of a routine, I was able to begin to pray again. My prayers focused on many things, including the future. What new things might God bring to us in this pandemic, and what new directions might God lead us into afterwards? When I write “us,” I’m thinking of Dave and me, our extended family and friends, our church community, our city, our country, and the whole world.

I have prayed for...

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