Lynne Baab

Featured posts

• Drawing Near to God with the Heart: first post of a series »
• Quotations I love: Henri Nouwen on being beloved »
• Worshipping God the Creator: the first post of a series »
• Sabbath Keeping a decade later: the first post of a series »
• Benedictine spirituality: the first post of a series »
• Celtic Christianity: the first post of a series »
• Holy Listening »
• A Cat with a Noble Character »
• Welcome to my website »

Tags

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Archive

• October 2026 (1)
  • Doing things badly as a component of grief
• September 2026 (6)
  • Grief 101
  • Creativity in grief
  • Grief after caregiving
  • A story of unusual grief
  • Grief as a dressing room
  • Anderson Cooper and Stephen Colbert on grief
• August 2026 (4)
  • Grieving ahead of time
  • Stages of grief
  • Surprises in grief
  • Creation and grief
• July 2026 (5)
  • Life in Christ brings freedom, parts 3 and 4
  • Liberty not license, parts 1 and 2
  • Liberty not license, parts 3 and 4
  • My grief journey thus far
  • What I've learned from people's stories about grief
• June 2026 (5)
  • Communal discernment of the heart of the Gospel, parts 3 and 4
  • Obituary David A. Baab
  • Love fulfills the law, parts 1 and 2
  • Love fulfills the law, parts 3 and 4
  • Life in Christ brings freedom, parts 1 and 2
• May 2026 (5)
  • The superiority of the Gospel, parts 1 and 2
  • The superiority of the Gospel, parts 3 and 4
  • Freed to become an heir, parts 1 and 2
  • Freed to become an heir, parts 3 and 4
  • Communal discernment of the heart of the Gospel, parts 1 and 2
• April 2026 (3)
  • Finding life and freedom, parts 3 and 4
  • Justified by faith not by laws, parts 1 and 2
  • Justified by faith not by laws, parts 3 and 4
• March 2026 (3)
  • Keeping the law inwardly, parts 1 and 2
  • Keeping the law inwardly, parts 3 and 4
  • Finding life and freedom, parts 1 and 2
• February 2026 (2)
  • Jesus extends forgiveness, parts 1 and 2
  • Jesus extends forgiveness, parts 3 and 4
• January 2026 (6)
  • Jesus eats with a Pharisee, parts 1 and 2
  • Jesus eats with a Pharisee, parts 3 and 4
  • The Sabbath, the law, and love, parts 1 and 2
  • The Sabbath, the law, and love, parts 3 and 4
  • Jesus gives God glory, parts 1 and 2
  • Jesus gives God glory, parts 3 and 4
• December 2025 (6)
  • Our way maker on the journey
  • Forgiveness on the journey
  • Our bodies on the journey
  • Walking with the lowly on the Christmas journey
  • Witnesses on the journey
  • Praying with colors on the journey
• November 2025 (4)
  • Good versus perfect on the journey
  • A guide for the journey: Pilgrim’s Progress
  • Moments that matter on the journey
  • Imposter syndrome on the journey
• October 2025 (3)
  • Hope on the journey
  • Shalom on the journey
  • Try softer on the journey
• September 2025 (5)
  • Journey on Creator’s good road
  • Journey with God the Migrant
  • Paying attention on the journey
  • My healing journey
  • Common discovery on the journey
• August 2025 (4)
  • Journey in the Bible
  • Journey and pilgrimage
  • Journey and God’s song in the house of our pilgrimage
  • Journey and wandering
• July 2025 (6)
  • Praying about the flow of time: Praying about AND — again
  • Praying about the flow of time: Praying for our ordinary lives
  • Praying about the flow of time: Wind and water
  • Praying about the flow of time: Paying attention to our stories
  • What I learned from the past year's blog posts
  • First post in a new series: Journey
• June 2025 (4)
  • Praying about the flow of time: Prayers to the Holy Spirit for Pentecost
  • Praying about the flow of time: Praising the Three in One
  • Praying about the flow of time: Praising God for the sun, light, and seasons
  • Praying about the flow of time: Praying about AND
• May 2025 (4)
  • Praying about the flow of time: Guests and hosts on the road to Emmaus
  • Praying about the flow of time: Bread in Emmaus
  • Praying about the flow of time: The unity of the Bible in the road to Emmaus conversation
  • Praying about the flow of time: World Environment Day
• April 2025 (4)
  • Praying about the flow of time: Trees, Earth Day, and Easter
  • Praying about the flow of time: Where was Jesus on Holy Saturday?
  • Praying about the flow of time: Earth Day
  • Praying about the flow of time: An Emmaus lesson about listening to our bodies
• March 2025 (5)
  • Praying about the flow of time: An unusual option for Lent
  • Praying about the flow of time: Ash Wednesday
  • Praying about the flow of time: The equinox
  • Praying about the flow of time: Why Lent matters
  • Praying about the flow of time: Freedom from the fear of death
• February 2025 (4)
  • Praying about the flow of time: Praying during Black History Month
  • Praying about the flow of time: Valentine’s Day
  • Praying about the flow of time: World Day of Social Justice
  • Praying about the flow of time: Preparing for a creative Lent
• January 2025 (5)
  • Praying about the flow of time: The feast of Epiphany and having epiphanies
  • Praying about the flow of time: Praying for the New Year with symbols
  • Praying about the flow of time: God is light
  • Praying about the flow of time: Chinese New Year
  • Praying about the flow of time: Meeting Jesus as a baby
• December 2024 (3)
  • Praying about the flow of time: Naming who Jesus is and praying in response
  • Praying about the flow of time: The incarnation and prayer
  • Praying about the flow of time: Two after-Christmas events
• November 2024 (5)
  • Praying about the flow of time: Small actions with big benefits
  • Praying about the flow of time: The overlap of the sacred and the ordinary
  • Praying about the flow of time: The joy of the kingdom of God
  • Praying about the flow of time: Advent can be confusing
  • Praying about the flow of time: Why Jesus had to come
• October 2024 (5)
  • Praying about the flow of time: Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year
  • Praying about the flow of time: A month of celebrating renewal and moral responsibility
  • Praying about the flow of time: The Feast of Tabernacles calls us to stay fluid and flexible
  • Praying about the flow of time: Daily rhythms of prayer
  • Praying about the flow of time: All Hallows Eve and All Saints Day
• September 2024 (3)
  • Praying about the flow of time: Our Lady of Sorrows
  • Praying about the flow of time: The Season of Creation
  • Praying about the flow of time: The Feast of Saint Michael and All Angels
• August 2024 (5)
  • Praying about the flow of time: “Listen to Jesus”
  • Praying about the flow of time: Why I like the idea of “Ordinary Time”
  • Praying about the flow of time: Ordinary witnesses
  • Praying about the flow of time: Labor Day
  • Praying about the flow of time: Piano month and square dancing month!
• July 2024 (3)
  • Praying about Jesus’s miracles: The second miraculous catch of fish
  • Praying about Jesus’s miracles: Jesus withers a fig tree
  • First post in a new series: Praying about the flow of time
• June 2024 (5)
  • Praying about Jesus’s healings: Jesus heals on the Sabbath
  • Praying about Jesus’s miracles: The feeding of the 5,000
  • Praying about Jesus’s miracles: The feeding of the 4000
  • Praying about Jesus’s miracles: Touching the fringe of his cloak
  • Praying about Jesus’s miracles: The first miraculous catch of fish
• May 2024 (5)
  • Praying about Jesus’s miracles: Let’s find someone to blame!
  • Praying about Jesus’s miracles: Crumbs are an abundant feast
  • Praying to see everyday miracles
  • Praying about Jesus’s miracles: The man lowered through the roof
  • Praying about Jesus’s miracles: the woman who touched his cloak
• April 2024 (4)
  • First post in a new series: Praying about Jesus’s miracles
  • Praying about Jesus’s miracles: Jesus touches and heals a man with leprosy
  • Praying about Jesus’s miracles: Jesus heals a blind man
  • Praying about Jesus’s miracles: Jesus heals a blind man twice
• March 2024 (5)
  • Friendship, loneliness, and prayer: Praying about distractions from empathy
  • Friendship, loneliness, and prayer: Praying to keep empathy flowing
  • Friendship, loneliness, and prayer: Everyday initiative
  • Friendship, loneliness, and prayer: Praying for guidance for ending conversations
  • Friendship, loneliness, and prayer: Reflecting on the series
• February 2024 (4)
  • Friendship, loneliness, and prayer: Praying for empathy . . . and sympathy?
  • Friendship, loneliness, and prayer: Praying for wisdom in using empathy
  • Friendship, loneliness, and prayer: Praying to use empathy with love
  • Friendship, loneliness, and prayer: Praying to grow in empathy
• January 2024 (2)
  • Friendship, loneliness, and prayer: When thanks aren’t enough
  • Friendship, loneliness, and prayer: Praying for our mirror neurons (and empathy)
• December 2023 (6)
  • Friendship, loneliness, and prayer: Initiating
  • Friendship, loneliness, and prayer: Praying about listening roadblocks
  • Friendship, loneliness, and prayer: Praying to love the poverty in our friends
  • Friendship, loneliness, and prayer: Praying for “holy curiosity”
  • Friendship, loneliness, and prayer: Praying for “holy listening”
  • Friendship, loneliness, and prayer: Praying to give affection extravagantly
• November 2023 (4)
  • Friendship, loneliness, and prayer: The neuroscience of loneliness
  • Friendship, Loneliness, and Prayer: When to Talk
  • Friendship, loneliness, and prayer: Praying about longing
  • Friendship, loneliness, and prayer: The most important listening skill
• October 2023 (5)
  • Friendship, loneliness and prayer: A listening skill with two purposes
  • Friendship, loneliness, and prayer: Saying “thank you” to friends
  • Friendship, loneliness, and prayer: One more way reflecting helps us
  • Friendship, loneliness, and prayer: Lessons from two periods of loneliness
  • Friendship, loneliness, and prayer: Types of reflecting, a listening skill
• September 2023 (4)
  • Spiritual practices, being/doing, and prayer
  • First post in a new series: Friendship, loneliness, and prayer
  • Friendship, loneliness, and prayer: A “small” listening skill
  • Friendship, loneliness, and prayer: Praying about “learned loneliness”
• August 2023 (4)
  • Prayer and the purpose of Christian meditation
  • Christian meditation and prayer
  • Journaling and prayer
  • Spiritual practices and “life-giving, non-cerebral prayer”
• July 2023 (5)
  • Prayer and Practicing the Presence of God
  • Prayer and Pilgrimage
  • Silence, solitude, and prayer
  • Prayer in solitude
  • Silence and prayer
• June 2023 (3)
  • Praying about the emotions of hospitality
  • Worship services, spiritual friends, and prayer
  • The Sabbath and prayer
• May 2023 (6)
  • Draw near: Praying for hope
  • First post in a new series: Spiritual practices and prayer
  • Draw near: Praying to listen to our bodies
  • Simplicity and prayer
  • Hospitality and prayer
  • Prayers of releasing/receiving/returning while walking
• April 2023 (4)
  • Draw near: Praying about friendships and loneliness
  • Draw near: Praying about friendship and freedom
  • Draw Near: Praying to love our limits
  • Draw near: Praying to act like a friend
• March 2023 (4)
  • Draw near: Praying to be present when people change
  • Draw near: Asking God for maps
  • Draw near: Praying for the ability to listen to unexpected voices
  • Draw near: Praying to accept pain as a source of growth
• February 2023 (4)
  • Draw near: Praying to recognize the good
  • Draw near: Names for God in prayer
  • Draw near: praying about being as relationship
  • Draw near: Praying about starting, stopping, and finishing
• January 2023 (4)
  • Draw near: Praying to be like water
  • Draw near: Praying about ambition
  • Draw near: Praying about what we are looking for
  • Draw near: Praying from a liminal space
• December 2022 (5)
  • Draw near: Praying in Advent
  • Draw near: Praying for joy
  • Draw near: Praying without words
  • Draw near: Looking back, looking forward, in prayer
  • Draw near: Loosening our grip
• November 2022 (1)
  • Bonus post: Dave Baab’s philosophy of watercolor sketching
• October 2022 (5)
  • Draw near: Fragrance
  • Draw near: Prayer for workers
  • Draw near: Contrasts
  • Draw Near: Praying for trust and prayer as trust
  • Draw near: Desire
• September 2022 (5)
  • Draw near: To whom do we pray?
  • Draw near: Praying to Jesus for perseverance
  • Draw near: Praying to Jesus, our priceless treasure
  • Draw near: Praying to the Holy Spirit
  • Draw near: Praying to the gracious, tender, truthful Spirit
• August 2022 (6)
  • Draw near: Confessing sin without wallowing
  • Draw near: A favorite prayer about peace, freedom, and much more
  • Drawing near with Desmond Tutu: God’s love is the foundation for prayer
  • Draw near: Worshipping God with Desmond Tutu
  • Draw near: Yearning, beseeching and beholding with Desmond Tutu
  • Draw near: Praising God with Desmond Tutu
• July 2022 (2)
  • Draw near: Tune our hearts
  • Draw near: Feeling unworthy as an obstacle to prayer
• June 2022 (6)
  • Draw near: Be the Gardener of my soul
  • Draw near: Praying for power
  • Draw near: Simple prayers for friends and family members
  • Draw near: Praying with Others
  • Draw near: O Antiphons
  • Draw near: Learning from Celtic Christian thankfulness
• May 2022 (5)
  • Receptivity and offering: Tears
  • Receptivity and offering: And-ness
  • A potpourri of quotations about receptivity and offering
  • Receptivity and offering: Our hearts
  • First post in a new series: Draw near
• April 2022 (6)
  • Receptivity and offering: Hands
  • Receptivity and offering: Dependence
  • Receptivity and offering: The journey
  • Receptivity and offering: My presence
  • Receptivity and offering: Moments
  • Receptivity and offering: Our attention
• March 2022 (5)
  • Receptivity and offering: Reframing regrets by separating thoughts from feelings
  • Receptivity and offering: Sharing regrets with others
  • Receptivity and offering: Extract a lesson from regrets
  • Receptivity and offering: Posture/stance
  • Receptivity and offering: Fatigue
• February 2022 (4)
  • Receptivity and offering: Another world walking beside ours
  • Receptivity and offering: Regret
  • Receptivity and offering: Reframing regrets
  • Receptivity and offering: Some options for reframing regrets
• January 2022 (3)
  • Receptivity and Offering: The good versus the perfect
  • Receptivity plus offering my (messy) song to God
  • Receptivity and offering: Reasonable hope
• December 2021 (5)
  • Grief and gratitude in Advent
  • Can we feel sad when we have something we longed for?
  • First post in a new series: Receptivity and offering
  • Receptivity and Offering: Preparing for Christmas
  • Receptivity and Offering: Welcoming God's transformation
• November 2021 (4)
  • Holy Spirit disruptions: Overview of the series
  • Grief and gratitude in Ezra, Nehemiah, and Gerard Manley Hopkins
  • Grief and thankfulness at the same time or back and forth?
  • The pivot between grief and gratitude
• October 2021 (5)
  • Holy Spirit disruptions: Learning from Jesus about anger
  • Holy Spirit disruptions: Other people’s decisions belong to them
  • Holy Spirit disruptions: Give less advice
  • Holy Spirit disruptions: Care not cure
  • Holy Spirit disruptions: Sin as vandalism of shalom
• September 2021 (4)
  • Holy Spirit disruptions: Unexpected friends
  • Holy Spirit disruptions: Detachment with love
  • Holy Spirit disruptions: Seeing people through the lens of Jesus’ cross
  • Holy Spirit disruptions: Free to be a little weird
• August 2021 (4)
  • Holy Spirit disruptions: Confess and admit
  • Holy Spirit disruptions: Choosing disruption through spiritual practices
  • Holy Spirit disruptions: Closed doors/stop
  • Holy Spirit disruptions: “There was another in the fire”
• July 2021 (4)
  • Holy Spirit disruptions: What if something being hard shows we’re doing it right?
  • Holy Spirit disruptions: Go/Wait
  • Holy Spirit disruptions: Wait
  • Holy Spirit disruptions: Ignite holy fire
• June 2021 (4)
  • First post in a new series: Holy Spirit disruptions
  • Holy Spirit disruptions: Embodiment
  • Holy Spirit disruptions: Pride and ego
  • Holy Spirit disruptions: We are God’s beloved
• May 2021 (4)
  • Quotations I love: John Stott on pruning
  • Quotations I love: Try softer
  • Quotations I love: A primary task of listening
  • Quotations I love: Knowing how to “tune in” and “tune out” of conversations
• April 2021 (5)
  • Quotations I love: Disenfranchised grief
  • Quotations I love: Listen to the sermon preached to you by the flowers
  • Quotations I love: Memory
  • Quotations I love: God’s image in us when we speak
  • Quotations I love: Make it beautiful
• March 2021 (4)
  • Quotations I love: sojourners and homemakers on a journey
  • Quotations I love: Thomas Merton on the present moment
  • Quotations I love: The answer is in a story
  • Quotations I love: No matter what happens . . .
• February 2021 (4)
  • Quotations I love: the consolation of imaginary things
  • Quotations I love: Eugene Peterson on anything goes in prayer
  • Quotations I love: Become what you already are
  • Quotations I love: P. D. James on pain and love
• January 2021 (4)
  • Living free from covid while people I love suffer
  • Quotations I love: Action plus character
  • Quotations I love: Bruce Springsteen on limits and possibilities
  • Quotations I love: G. K. Chesterton on doing things badly
• December 2020 (5)
  • Lament after Thanksgiving
  • Advent and Christmas in the Southern Hemisphere: The Light
  • Advent and Christmas in the Southern Hemisphere: Our bodies
  • Christmas food in the Southern Hemisphere
  • Intentionality and space at Christmas in the Southern hemisphere
• November 2020 (3)
  • Partners in experiencing God’s grace
  • Three passages on God’s new things
  • A conversation with Jesus about bread
• October 2020 (5)
  • Matthew 14: God’s peace in turbulent seas and heavy winds
  • Matthew 22: Whose image do you bear?
  • Matthew 27: The question of Judas
  • Psalm 96: A call to prayer for the nations
  • God's grace in Ephesians 2
• September 2020 (4)
  • Reflections on six months of sheltering in place
  • Psalm 84: The sweetness
  • Psalm 84 and Deuteronomy 32: Water
  • Psalm 84: Doorkeeper, sun and shield
• August 2020 (4)
  • Creativity, imagination, Jesus, and prayer for people we love
  • Creativity, imagination and Jesus’ relationships
  • Creativity in C. S. Lewis’s Perelandra
  • Creativity: Exaggeration and a few closing thoughts
• July 2020 (5)
  • Creativity and the body
  • Creativity and imagination
  • Creativity and Imagination: One author’s perspective
  • Creativity, imagination and Jesus
  • Creativity, imagination and empathy
• June 2020 (4)
  • Spiritual diary of sheltering in place: Acceptance
  • First post in a new series on creativity: Feeling creativity-impaired
  • Creativity: One key prayer
  • Creativity though hidden art
• May 2020 (4)
  • Spiritual diary of sheltering in place: The lifeline of separating thoughts from feelings
  • Spiritual diary of sheltering in place: The lifeline of welcoming prayer
  • Spiritual diary of sheltering in place: a kite string as a lifeline
  • Spiritual diary of sheltering in place: The lifeline of God’s distant future
• April 2020 (7)
  • Spiritual diary of self-isolation: the lifeline of God’s constancy
  • Spiritual diary of sheltering in place: The lifeline of accepting my place as a clay jar
  • Spiritual diary of sheltering in place: the lifeline of memories
  • Spiritual diary of sheltering in place: the lifeline of “Good” in “Good Friday”
  • Spiritual diary of sheltering in place: The lifeline of “easier does not mean easy”
  • Spiritual diary of sheltering in place: The lifeline of nature
  • Spiritual diary of sheltering in place: the lifeline of God’s voice through the Bible
• March 2020 (7)
  • Important anniversaries in 2020: The first Earth Day in 1970
  • Important anniversaries in 2020: Florence Nightingale was born in 1820
  • Spiritual diary of self-isolation: Weeks 1 and 2
  • Spiritual diary of self-isolation: God's grace as a lifeline
  • Spiritual diary of self-isolation: The lifeline of limits on thoughts
  • Spiritual diary of self-isolation: Wrestling with God for a blessing
  • Spiritual diary of self-isolation: Responding to terror by listening to Jesus voice
• February 2020 (4)
  • Grief AND thankfulness: A story and some new words
  • Grief AND thankfulness: What I learned from writing this series
  • Important anniversaries in 2020: Prohibition
  • Important anniversaries in 2020: Women got the vote 100 years ago
• January 2020 (5)
  • Grief AND thankfulness in my conversion story
  • Grief AND thankfulness: The role of lament
  • Grief AND thankfulness compared with consolation and desolation
  • Grief AND thankfulness: How to pray for people we love
  • Grief AND thankfulness: How to listen
• December 2019 (4)
  • Grief AND thankfulness in the Apostle Paul’s prayers
  • Grief AND thankfulness in the Christmas story
  • Grief AND thankfulness at Christmas 2019
  • Grief AND thankfulness: a beautiful poem for the New Year and New Decade
• November 2019 (4)
  • Grief AND thankfulness: The weaned child
  • Grief AND thankfulness: Feeling responsible
  • Grief AND thankfulness: Wow, I just found grief in my favorite passage on thankfulness
  • Grief AND thankfulness in the story of the ten lepers
• October 2019 (5)
  • Fasting and our bodies
  • Fasting from words
  • Fasting matters in 2019
  • How I changed my perspective about autumn
  • First post in a new series: Grief AND thankfulness
• September 2019 (4)
  • An unplanned fast from reading
  • Ending a fast
  • The surprise of fasting
  • When we intentionally put away our phones, is it a fast or a sabbath?
• August 2019 (5)
  • Creative prayer nurtures stopping
  • Creative prayer: Walking and memorizing psalms
  • Creative prayer: The Psalms and music
  • Creative prayer with colors
  • Creative Prayer: The basic practice of the kingdom of God
• July 2019 (4)
  • Creative prayer: Learning from mindfulness meditation
  • Creative prayer: apples and wings
  • Creative prayer: trees
  • Creative prayer as remembering truth
• June 2019 (4)
  • Creative prayer: Pressing pause
  • Creative prayer: Prayer cards
  • Creative Prayer: Relinquishing and welcoming
  • Creative prayer: Returning prayer
• May 2019 (5)
  • Creative prayer in a foreign language
  • Creative prayer without co-dependency
  • Creative prayer: Seasons
  • Creative prayer: Submitting AND entreating
  • Creative prayer with Jeremiah
• April 2019 (4)
  • Creative prayer in a hospitable spirit
  • Creative prayer: Joy spot sightings
  • Creative prayer using the imagination
  • Creative prayer while walking
• March 2019 (4)
  • Creative prayer for creation care
  • Creative prayer: Prompts for prayer
  • Creative prayer: More prayer prompts
  • Creative prayer using our hands
• February 2019 (4)
  • Chinese New Year: A Case Study for Shifts in Christian Caring
  • What I learned from Bishop Aiden of Lindisfarne
  • First post in a new series: Creative prayer
  • Creative prayer: Art as symbol and metaphor
• January 2019 (5)
  • Nurturing friendships in a cellphone world: Jesus as Friend
  • Nurturing friendships in a cellphone world: Friendship with Christ and friendship with others
  • Nurturing friendships in a cellphone world: Who is my neighbor?
  • Nurturing friendships in a cellphone world: Friendship as action
  • Nurturing friendships in a cellphone world: Hymns that describe friendship with God
• December 2018 (3)
  • Nurturing friendships in a cellphone world: Changing definitions of friendship
  • Nurturing friendships in a cellphone world: Confidence about friendship
  • Nurturing Friendships in a Cellphone World: Friendship with God
• November 2018 (5)
  • Connections between the Bible and prayer: Sensory prayer in Revelation
  • First post in a new series: Nurturing friendships in a cellphone world
  • Nurturing friendships in a cellphone world: Strong opinions and responses
  • Nurturing friendships in a cellphone world: My conversation partners about friendship
  • Nurturing friendships in a cellphone world: Two views about communication technologies
• October 2018 (4)
  • Connections between the Bible and prayer: Two prayers in Ephesians
  • Connections between the Bible and prayer: The prayer in Philippians
  • Connections between the Bible and prayer: Paul’s thankfulness
  • Connections between the Bible and Prayer: the instructions in James
• September 2018 (4)
  • Connections between the Bible and prayer: Who is God?
  • Connections between the Bible and prayer: the context of the Lord’s Prayer
  • Connections between the Bible and prayer: Instructions from the Apostle Paul
  • Connections between the Bible and prayer: Paul’s prayer in Colossians
• August 2018 (5)
  • Providing Christian Care in Our Time
  • Providing Christian care in our time: Seven trends in pastoral care today
  • Providing Christian Care in Our Time: Skills for Pastoral Care
  • Providing Christian care: The importance of spiritual practices
  • First post in a new series: Connections between the Bible and prayer
• July 2018 (4)
  • The friendship skills of asking, giving and thanking: We belong together
  • Friendship skills: Obstacles to thankfulness
  • Friendship skills of asking, giving, and thanking: A biblical example and some questions for reflection
  • My new book on Christian caring: How I came to write it
• June 2018 (4)
  • Contrasts: Guests and hosts
  • Contrasts: Engaging in spiritual practices because of grace or guilt
  • First post in a new series: The friendship skills of asking, giving and thanking
  • Friendship skills: Giving, asking, noticing and thanking
• May 2018 (5)
  • Nature speaks about God: The Bible and nature
  • An AHA moment on Mother’s Day
  • On Pentecost, let's ponder the Holy Spirit
  • First post in a series on contrasts: shalom and peace
  • Contrasts: Thankfulness and optimism
• April 2018 (4)
  • Nature speaks about God: the feeling of God’s absence
  • Nature speaks about God: familiar and unfamiliar landscapes
  • Nature speaks about God: The miracle of trees
  • Nature speaks about God: Patterns in God’s speech
• March 2018 (5)
  • First post in a new series: Nature speaks about God
  • Nature speaks about God: Mountains and clouds on Easter
  • Nature speaks about God: Algae and stars
  • Nature speaks about God: Tropical fish in the Red Sea
  • Nature speaks about God: Jesus in a boat on Greenlake
• February 2018 (4)
  • Listening to God in Prayer: Praying the Psalms
  • Listening to God in Prayer: Ben's story
  • Listening to God in Prayer: Availability
  • Listening to God in Prayer: Some helpful quotations
• January 2018 (4)
  • Listening to God in Prayer: A New Approach to the Bible
  • Prayer as Listening to God: Key Questions
  • Prayer as Listening to God: A pattern for letting God speak through scripture
  • Listening to God in Prayer: Imagining yourself in a Bible story
• December 2017 (5)
  • Listening to God in prayer: Alone or with others
  • Listening to God in prayer: Breath prayer
  • Prayer as Listening to God: Distractions in silent prayer
  • Listening to God in Prayer: Noticing God’s Presence
  • Prayer as listening to God: Looking back at last year
• November 2017 (4)
  • Stories I ponder: What I learned in Sweden
  • Stories I ponder: My dad the pilot
  • First post in a new series: Listening to God in prayer
  • Listening to God in prayer: My journey
• October 2017 (4)
  • Stories I ponder: How I changed my mind about women in ministry
  • Stories I ponder: Dave’s sister’s end of life
  • Stories I ponder: The high cost of pretending to be someone we’re not
  • Stories I ponder: How I learned about introversion and extraversion, and why it matters
• September 2017 (5)
  • Stories I ponder: Aunt Lynn
  • Stories I ponder: A tale of two grandmothers
  • Stories I ponder: My father-in-law and money
  • Stories I ponder: My mother and her sister
  • Stories I ponder: We are necessary and superfluous
• August 2017 (4)
  • Initiative in friendships: A gift given to me by initiative
  • Initiative in friendship: Practice!
  • First post in a new series - Stories I ponder: The tulip
  • Stories I ponder: The noisy washing machine
• July 2017 (4)
  • Initiative in friendships: Obstacles
  • Initiative in friendships: Overcoming fear
  • Initiative in friendships: Different ways of initiating
  • Initiative in friendships: Some options, including vulnerability
• June 2017 (4)
  • My new spiritual practice: A Christian perspective on thoughts
  • Two common questions about the Sabbath
  • New series of blog posts: Initiative in friendships
  • Initiative in friendships: What Mary might have missed
• May 2017 (5)
  • My new spiritual practice: Separating thoughts from feelings
  • My new spiritual practice: Feeling the feelings
  • My new spiritual practice: Coping with feelings that want to dominate
  • My new spiritual practice: Dealing with “demonic” thoughts
  • My new spiritual practice: Is self-compassion really appropriate for Christians?
• April 2017 (4)
  • Drawing Near to God with the Heart: Dave's story
  • Three Psalms for Holy Week
  • Spiritual practices for the Easter season
  • Support for Earth Day from hundreds and thousands of years ago
• March 2017 (5)
  • Drawing Near to God with the Heart: Facing the Inner Darkness
  • Drawing Near to God with the Heart: Tears
  • Drawing Near to God with the Heart: All will be well
  • Drawing Near to God with the Heart: Longing for heaven
  • Drawing Near to God with the Heart: What do you want?
• February 2017 (4)
  • Drawing Near to God with the Heart: God Woos Us
  • Drawing Near to God with the Heart: A journey with the Psalms
  • Drawing Near to God with the Heart: Praying the Psalms
  • Drawing Near to God with the Heart: God’s presence through the Holy Spirit
• January 2017 (4)
  • Jesus' model of hearing God's guidance
  • Four kinds of home
  • My latest creative project: Short stories about self-discovery and spiritual growth
  • Drawing Near to God with the Heart: first post of a series
• December 2016 (5)
  • Quotations I love: Bishop Desmond Tutu on hope
  • Quotations I love: secrets and compassion
  • Quotations I love: Richard Halverson on being sent
  • Some Christmas thoughts from the Southern Hemisphere
  • Quotations I love: Five quotations about thankfulness
• November 2016 (4)
  • Quotations I love: A. W. Tozer on worship that illuminates work
  • Quotations I love: Arnold Glasow on feeling at home with people
  • Quotations I love: Breton Fisherman's Prayer
  • Quotations I love: Four quotations about attention
• October 2016 (4)
  • Quotations I love: Thomas Merton on our transparent world
  • Quotations I love: Paul Tournier on building good out of evil
  • Quotations I love: Thomas Aquinas on loving people we disagree with
  • Quotations I love: The Jerusalem Talmud on enjoying good things
• September 2016 (5)
  • Quotations I love: Henri Nouwen on being beloved
  • Quotations I love: Rick Warren on love and disagreement
  • Quotations I love: regret and fear are thieves
  • Quotations I love: Eugene Peterson on paying attention
  • Quotations I love: moving from intending to pray to actually praying
• August 2016 (4)
  • Worshipping God the Creator: Co-Creators with God
  • Worshipping God the Creator: two quite diverse stories
  • Worshipping God the Creator: A powerful quotation, some scriptures and a hymn
  • Worshipping God the Creator: Creation speaks and Creation helps us give thanks
• July 2016 (4)
  • Worshipping God the Creator: Creation care
  • Worshipping God the Creator: voluntary simplicity
  • Worshipping God the Creator: voluntary simplicity in action
  • Worshipping God the Creator: Bill’s Story
• June 2016 (4)
  • Worshipping God the Creator: the Creation invites us to join in praise
  • Worshipping God the Creator: The Bible and Creation
  • Worshipping God the Creator: some thoughts from midlife interviews
  • Worshipping God the Creator: The good creation
• May 2016 (5)
  • Sabbath Keeping a decade later: relationships
  • Sabbath Keeping a decade later: What I do on the Sabbath
  • Thoughts for Pentecost: the significance of the Holy Spirit today
  • Praise to the Trinity in four movements
  • Worshipping God the Creator: the first post of a series
• April 2016 (4)
  • Spiritual practices for the Easter season
  • Sabbath Keeping a decade later: the first post of a series
  • Sabbath Keeping a decade later: gardening
  • Sabbath Keeping a decade later: Stopping
• March 2016 (5)
  • Benedictine spirituality: hospitality, service, and work
  • Benedictine spirituality: balance and paradox
  • Benedictine Spirituality: Maureen’s story
  • Hungry for more of God? Try fasting
  • Jesus frees us from bondage at Easter
• February 2016 (4)
  • Benedictine spirituality: monastic living in ordinary life
  • Benedictine spirituality: the first vow, stability
  • Benedictine spirituality: the second vow, conversion of life
  • Benedictine spirituality: the third vow, obedience
• January 2016 (4)
  • Two postures for entering into the New Year
  • Benedictine spirituality: the first post of a series
  • Benedictine spirituality: John’s story
  • Benedictine spirituality: Who was Benedict?
• December 2015 (4)
  • Another thankfulness challenge
  • Thankfulness and sentness
  • What I learned about the incarnation from Christmas in the Southern Hemisphere
  • These are a few of my favorite things for the Christmas season
• November 2015 (4)
  • Do not ride in the car with Lynne . . .
  • Why “journey” works so well as a metaphor for faith
  • Spiritual practices that help us journey
  • A thankfulness challenge
• October 2015 (5)
  • John Perkins listened
  • An amusing story of hearing God’s guidance
  • Good listening is not enough to make a good conversation
  • Drawing near to God by noticing patterns
  • When fear, ego and ambition drive the bus
• September 2015 (4)
  • Can novels teach? Should novels teach?
  • Good listeners are detectives, not tennis players
  • A game that nurtures good listening
  • Listening to creation as a part of environmental stewardship
• August 2015 (4)
  • Trust and obey for there's no other way
  • Creating alongside God
  • The spiral upwards because of knowing God (and how to pray for it)
  • Location-specific prayer
• July 2015 (4)
  • Thinking analytically about ACTS prayer
  • ACTS prayer analyzed in the light of the Psalms
  • Let's rediscover (or discover) lament
  • Let’s get creative with ACTS prayer
• June 2015 (4)
  • Celtic Christianity: sorrow for sin without self-absorption or self-punishment
  • Celtic Christianity: Paradoxes
  • Celtic Christianity: Ross’s story about art
  • Celtic Christianity: Jan’s story about pilgrimage
• May 2015 (4)
  • Celtic Christianity: The Trinity
  • Celtic Christianity: Community
  • Thoughts for Pentecost: The Holy Spirit, God’s empowering presence
  • Celtic Christianity: Wholistic Prayer
• April 2015 (6)
  • Humility and listening, part 2
  • Jesus: freeing us from bondage
  • Receptivity and listening
  • Celtic Christianity: the first post of a series
  • Celtic Christianity: pilgrimage and the Celtic sense of place
  • Celtic Christianity: the earth and art
• March 2015 (4)
  • “Holy curiosity” as a way to think about effective listening
  • My journey as a listener
  • Listening wisely to people’s stories
  • Humility and listening
• February 2015 (4)
  • Odd and peculiar?
  • What is hope?
  • Of clouds and attentiveness
  • Why Do We Listen?
• January 2015 (4)
  • Journey with Jesus to the cross during Lent
  • Money, generosity and transformation into Christ’s image
  • Growing in thankfulness
  • An option for Lent: focus on growing as a listener
• December 2014 (5)
  • Five myths about friendship today
  • Letting go of agendas as we listen
  • Bringing my whole self to the manger
  • Upside Down Christmas
  • Jesus’ presence in pain
• November 2014 (4)
  • Of spiders and civility
  • Words matter
  • Grace gifts versus guilt-inducing obligations
  • Imaginary friends
• October 2014 (4)
  • Hearing God speak communally
  • Two options for what to do when the news overwhelms you
  • Two little coins: the God of very small things
  • What is compassion like when you haven't experienced what the other person is experiencing?
• September 2014 (4)
  • Consensus Versus Discernment
  • Holy Listening
  • An amusing story of why listening matters
  • Hearing God's voice
• August 2014 (5)
  • Hospitality and Listening
  • Listening Past the Noise
  • The Role of Listening in Nurturing Christian Discipleship
  • Psalm for 2014
  • The spiritual journey at midlife
• July 2014 (4)
  • The Lord's Prayer and Spiritual Practices
  • The Lord's Prayer and Spiritual Practices, part 2
  • A Cat with a Noble Character
  • Finding Home and Homes
• June 2014 (7)
  • Breath Prayer
  • Freedom from Fear of Death
  • Spiritual Practices for Sitting in Front of a Screen
  • Open Hands, Open Heart
  • A moment beside the Willamette River
  • Life in a two-beat rhythm
  • Welcome to my website