Draw Near: Lenten Devotional by Lynne Baab, illustrated by Dave BaabTwo Hands: Grief and Gratitude in the Christian LifeA Renewed SpiritualityNurturing Hope: Christian Pastoral Care in the Twenty-First CenturyThe Power of ListeningJoy Together: Spiritual Practices for Your CongregationSabbath Keeping FastingPrayers of the Old TestamentPrayers of the New TestamentSabbathFriendingA Garden of Living Water: Stories of Self-Discovery and Spiritual GrowthDeath in Dunedin: A NovelDead Sea: A NovelDeadly Murmurs: A NovelPersonality Type in CongregationsBeating Burnout in CongregationsReaching Out in a Networked WorldEmbracing MidlifeAdvent Devotional

Quotations I love: Become what you already are

Lynne Baab • Thursday February 18 2021

Quotations I love: Become what you already are

“The Christian indicative statement is not ‘This is what you ought to be.’ The Christian imperative is not ‘Now be as much like this as possible.’ Instead, the indicative is ‘You are already thus; your true life is this.’ And the imperative is ‘Enter upon your possession.’ In the familiar epigram so often used to describe the Christian position, it is a matter of ‘Become what you already are’; and that is a strikingly different approach from ‘Try to be a bit better than you are.’” —C. F. D. Moule [1]

During Lent  in my childhood, I would often give up candy. This...

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Spiritual diary of sheltering in place: the lifeline of “Good” in “Good Friday”

Lynne Baab • Friday April 10 2020

Spiritual diary of sheltering in place: the lifeline of “Good” in “Good Friday”

You are probably quite familiar with two verses from Lamentations: “The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness” (Lamentations 3:22-23). Those words come almost exactly in the middle of the book, a high point between descriptions of deep sadness. Lamentations, often attributed to Jeremiah, describes the emptiness and pain of Jerusalem after its people were carried into exile in Babylon in 586 B.C.

For Good Friday I want to highlight several verses that come before and after those well-known verses. I think you will be amazed at...

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Spiritual diary of sheltering in place: the lifeline of memories

Lynne Baab • Tuesday April 7 2020

Spiritual diary of sheltering in place: the lifeline of memories

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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Three Psalms for Holy Week

Lynne Baab • Tuesday April 11 2017

Three Psalms for Holy Week

A handful of psalms are quoted in the Gospels. Here are reflection questions about three psalms that have strong connections with Jesus’ journey to the cross.

Psalm 69 Answer me, O Lord, for your steadfast love is good; according to your abundant mercy, turn to me.

Psalm 69 is one of the most often cited psalms in the Gospels, and two of those quotations occur in Holy Week: John 15:25 and John 19:28. The mood of the entire psalm, with the pleas for deliverance and deep sorrow, evokes the events of Holy Week that take Jesus to the cross. As you pray this psalm,...

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