Friendship, Listening, and Empathy: A Prayer GuideDraw Near: A Lenten Devotional Two Hands: Grief and Gratitude in the Christian LifeAdvent DevotionalSabbath Keeping FastingA 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 MidlifeFriending

Praying about the flow of time: The feast of Epiphany and having epiphanies

Lynne Baab • Thursday January 2 2025

Praying about the flow of time: The feast of Epiphany and having epiphanies

I think I was in my thirties when I first heard the phrase “aha moment.” It described something I had experienced now and then, those wonderful flashes of clarity and sudden insight when I understand something deeply for the first time or profoundly change my perspective. I’d known about the Season of Epiphany since my childhood in Episcopal and Anglican churches, but I had never questioned the meaning of the word “epiphany.” It turns out that “aha moment” and “epiphany” are synonyms. Another synonym for these words is “lightbulb moment.”

Epiphany is a day, January 6, the Twelfth Day of Christmas. The...

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Praying about Jesus’s miracles: Jesus withers a fig tree

Lynne Baab • Thursday July 18 2024

Praying about Jesus’s miracles: Jesus withers a fig tree

One interesting way to study the Gospels is to note the sequencing of stories. Looking at the events in Mark 11 helps me find meaning in an otherwise baffling miracle. Why would Jesus cause a fig tree to wither? I love trees! I assume Jesus loves them, too, because he made them. 

Mark 11 opens with the events of Palm Sunday: the colt never before ridden, the leafy branches strewn on the road, and the songs of “Hosannah.” Jesus visits the temple and returns to Bethany with the twelve (Mark 11:1-11). The next day, Jesus and the disciples again walk the two...

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Praying about Jesus’s miracles: The second miraculous catch of fish

Lynne Baab • Tuesday July 9 2024

Praying about Jesus’s miracles: The second miraculous catch of fish

In Matthew's and Mark’s versions of the day of Jesus’s resurrection, the women at the tomb are told to pass a message on to the other disciples. Jesus wants the disciples to go to Galilee and meet him there. In Matthew, the disciples receive the Great Commission in Galilee. In John, one of the events in Galilee after the resurrection involves a large catch of fish (John 21:4-11).

In the early morning, the disciples are fishing close to the shore and see a man they do not recognize on the shore. He tells them to cast the net to the right side of...

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Praying about Jesus’s miracles: The first miraculous catch of fish

Lynne Baab • Tuesday July 2 2024

Praying about Jesus’s miracles: The first miraculous catch of fish

One of my favorite prayers is “Lord, you know.” Sometimes, I’m troubled about something and confused about what to ask God for. Other times, I’m tired and can’t organize my thoughts, but I feel deep concern about something. Sometimes, I feel blue, and I don’t know how to pray for my mood.

I tend to pray “Lord, you know” about my personal life and the needs of friends and families. The miraculous catch of fish widens the options for when and where to pray that helpful prayer.

Luke 4 describes the beginning of Jesus’s ministry. After Jesus fasts in the wilderness and is...

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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