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

Lynne Baab • Saturday April 4 2020

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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Spiritual diary of self-isolation: the lifeline of God’s constancy

Lynne Baab • Wednesday April 1 2020

In this strange, unsettled, constantly-changing time, Psalm 130 gives us a beautiful reminder of God’s constancy and God’s invitation for us to bring everything in us into God’s presence.

Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord. Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications! (verses 1 and 2)

I don’t know about you, but my rate of crying out to God has dramatically increased in the past month. It is right and good to do that. We are not the first people to be bewildered and scared about what’s going on. We must not criticize ourselves for...

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Spiritual diary of self-isolation: Responding to terror by listening to Jesus voice

Lynne Baab • Sunday March 29 2020

For the past three weeks, I’ve been writing devotionals for my church every Friday, using the daily lectionary. Here’s the one that was sent out yesterday.

To the church in exile,

God’s peace to you. Today I’m going to start by describing the opposite of peace – terror.

The word “terrified” means to feel extreme fear. For me, anxiety is a kind of background murmur – not pleasant at all – and I have felt it far too often in the past month. Extreme fear is worse. It shouts loudly and impacts my whole body. I feel terror in my stomach, my chest and...

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