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

Worshipping God the Creator: some thoughts from midlife interviews

Lynne Baab • Thursday June 23 2016

Worshipping God the Creator: some thoughts from midlife interviews

I wrote last week about Psalm 103 and 104. When read together, they give a picture of the God of relationship who redeems and heals human beings and calls them into relationship with him, the same God who created and sustains the physical universe. I am concerned that this balanced view of God has been missing from Christian life in the twentieth century. We are good at acknowledging God as our redeemer, the righteous one who communicates to us through the Bible and calls us into relationship through his son, Jesus. Yet we have neglected to see God’s handiwork in nature...

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Worshipping God the Creator: The Bible and Creation

Lynne Baab • Friday June 17 2016

Worshipping God the Creator: The Bible and Creation

I’ve written the past two weeks about the way that Creation calls us to worship and praise God (here and here). We are called to praise God, as is the whole creation. “Praise him, sun and moon, praise him all you shining stars! . . . Let them praise the name of the Lord, for he commanded and they were created” (Ps 148:3-5).

Psalm 104 is the most extensive piece of Biblical literature that focuses on God as creator and sustainer of the universe. John Stott calls it “perhaps the earliest essay in ecology in the literature of the world.” [1] It...

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

Lynne Baab • Thursday June 9 2016

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

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...

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Worshipping God the Creator: the first post of a series

Lynne Baab • Tuesday May 31 2016

Worshipping God the Creator: the first post of a series

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...

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Featured books

Friendship, Listening, and Empathy: A Prayer Guide Friendship, Listening, and Empathy: A Prayer Guide Lynne draws on her Ph.D. studies in communication to bring insight about listening and empathy so that we can pray more deeply. Each of the 28 short chapters is illustrated with a beautiful watercolor by Dave Baab. Buy online » Sabbath Keeping: Finding Freedom in the Rhythms of Rest Sabbath Keeping: Finding Freedom in the Rhythms of Rest Sabbath Keeping is Lynne's most popular book, available in paperback, audiobook, and for Kindle. Grounded in her 18 months living in Israel, it is practical, biblical, and reflective about why rest matters so much today. Buy online »

Featured articles

Meeting God in Grief and Gratitude

Lynne Baab • Wednesday January 22 2025

By Lynne M. Baab, author of Two Hands: Grief and Gratitude in the Christian Life

Nurturing a contemplative stance for navigating challenging times

Lynne Baab • Friday August 11 2023

By Lynne M. Baab

Yes, Jesus Told Us to Pray in Secret. But He Also Prayed with His Friends.

Lynne Baab • Saturday October 9 2021

By Lynne M. Baab. Originally published in Christianity Today, July 8, 2021