Two 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 DevotionalDraw Near: Lenten Devotional by Lynne Baab, illustrated by Dave Baab

Receptivity and Offering: The good versus the perfect

Lynne Baab • Friday January 7 2022

Receptivity and Offering: The good versus the perfect

In 2022, I am offering to God my willingness to purse good rather than perfect. I am asking God to help me receive love and acceptance so I can embrace the messiness of the journey of good.

These thoughts were precipitated by a podcast I listened to recently by Rob Bell, an author, speaker and former pastor of a rapidly growing church in Michigan. (If you want to listen to the podcast, the material on good versus perfect begins at 9 minutes 20 seconds.)

Bell begins the podcast by talking about the creation story in Genesis 1, noting that the rhythm of each...

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Quotations I love: Try softer

Lynne Baab • Wednesday May 12 2021

Quotations I love: Try softer

“If trying harder doesn't work, try softer.” —Lily Tomlin

“Trying softer isn't about knowing or doing the right thing; it's about being gentle with ourselves in the face of pain that is keeping us stuck. Because no matter how hard we try, we can't hate or shame ourselves into change. Only love can move us toward true growth. This is the love given to us by a gentle, kind, compassionate, good God — and  the love we are invited to give ourselves too.” —Aundi Kolber, Try Softer

Our son Mike, a journalist, has done quite a bit of research and writing on the impact of stigma...

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Quotations I love: Memory

Lynne Baab • Thursday April 15 2021

Quotations I love: Memory

“Memory is many things. . . . It is a call to resolve in us what simply will not go away.” —Joan Chittister (born 1936), American Benedictine nun, theologian, author, and speaker

For most of my adult life, I would have read Joan Chittister’s words a certain way. For me, what wouldn't go away in my memories was pain, and I would have said we must face into pain from our past in in the company of others. I would have said that the unresolved memories in us that keep coming up should be dealt with in inner healing prayer, therapy/counseling/coaching, and in...

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Three passages on God’s new things

Lynne Baab • Thursday November 19 2020

Three passages on God’s new things

If you normally get an email when I post on this blog, and you didn't get it this week, please resubscribe below. We have shifted my subscriber list to mail chimp, and there have been some complications.

In the first couple of weeks of the pandemic, while learning how to shelter in place, I felt so off balance I could hardly pray. Then, as we settled into more of a routine, I was able to begin to pray again. My prayers focused on many things, including the future. What new things might God bring to us in this pandemic, and what new...

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Featured books

Two Hands: Grief and Gratitude in the Christian Life Two Hands: Grief and Gratitude in the Christian Life A book for people grieving because of the pandemic, health challenges, family conflict, or other losses, while also seeing so many things to be thankful for. A book for small groups – each of the seven chapters has discussion questions at the end. A book for Advent and Lent. This book draws on a vivid word picture of holding grief in one hand and gratitude in the other, and allowing ourselves to be stretched large by both.
 Buy online » Joy Together: Spiritual Practices for Your Congregation Joy Together: Spiritual Practices for Your Congregation Although interest in spiritual practices has grown in recent years, most of the books available address individuals who wish to try Christian disciplines such as fasting or fixed-hour prayer.

This book, by contrast, offers guidance and examples to Christian leaders as they seek ways to involve their congregations or small groups in spiritual practices. Buy online »

Featured articles

New: 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

Listening for God: The Joy of Spiritual Practices

Lynne Baab • Sunday August 9 2020

Originally published in Horizons: The Magazine of Presbyterian Women. May/June 2019, 11-14.

AWARD WINNER - To be a Neighbour Must Include Listening

Lynne Baab • Friday February 5 2016

This article won a 2017 award from the Australian Religious Press Association for the best social justice article. Social justice didn't cross my mind as I wrote the article. I was just thi...