Friendship, Listening, and Empathy: A Prayer GuideDraw Near: A Lenten Devotional Two Hands: Grief and Gratitude in the Christian LifeSabbath Keeping: Finding Freedom in the Rhythms of Rest Fasting: Spiritual Freedom Beyond our AppetitesA Renewed SpiritualityNurturing Hope: Christian Pastoral Care in the Twenty-First CenturyThe Power of ListeningJoy Together: Spiritual Practices for Your CongregationPrayers of the New TestamentPrayers of the Old TestamentPersonality Type in CongregationsSabbathA Garden of Living Water: Stories of Self-Discovery and Spiritual GrowthDead Sea: A NovelDeadly Murmurs: A NovelDeath in Dunedin: A NovelBeating Burnout in CongregationsReaching Out in a Networked WorldEmbracing MidlifeFriendingAdvent Devotional

Partners in experiencing God’s grace

Lynne Baab • Tuesday November 10 2020

Partners in experiencing God’s grace

Forty-five years ago this month, a fellow named Dave invited me over for dinner. We had met in August at a birthday party, then in September we were assigned to the same small group at a ten-day InterVarsity Christian Fellowship conference. In October, we found ourselves in the same fellowship group at church and in a small group together. By November, we were walking on the Burke-Gilman trail in Seattle, talking about the parallels in our families of origin, and Dave invited me to dinner at his apartment. He slapped some pork chops and canned cream of mushroom soup into a...

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God's grace in Ephesians 2

Lynne Baab • Thursday October 29 2020

God's grace in Ephesians 2

I had an interesting conversation with a friend about two months into the pandemic. She was working very hard at her job (from home), and she was eating really well and getting in her 10,000 steps every day. She said that deep inside, a voice was telling her that if she did everything well enough, God would release her from the demands of sheltering in place.

I wonder if any of you have felt somewhat like my friend – now in the pandemic or at other times of your life. “If I just do things right, then God will approve of me...

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Psalm 96: A call to prayer for the nations

Lynne Baab • Wednesday October 21 2020

Psalm 96: A call to prayer for the nations

Back in the 1990s, I used to teach for a program called Perspectives on the World Christian Movement. I was assigned one of the 15 lessons, and I travelled to different churches around the Northwest to teach my lesson. When I would tell friends the title of my lesson – “the biblical basis of mission in the Old Testament” – they would often say, “What? There’s mission in the Old Testament?”

To help my students get beyond that perspective, I would begin the class session by reading them Psalm 96, asking them to count the references to the whole world. They came...

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Matthew 27: The question of Judas

Lynne Baab • Wednesday October 14 2020

Matthew 27: The question of Judas

Will Judas be in heaven? That question stimulated some creative and challenging thinking on the part of theologian Ray Anderson, my favorite Fuller Seminary professor.

Take a look at this not-very-cheerful incident from Matthew 27:1-5:

“When morning came, all the chief priests and the elders of the people conferred together against Jesus in order to bring about his death. They bound him, led him away, and handed him over to Pilate the governor. When Judas, his betrayer, saw that Jesus was condemned, he repented and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders. He said, ‘I have sinned by...

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