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Receptivity and Offering: Welcoming God's transformation in 2022

Lynne Baab • Friday December 31 2021

I first read the prophet Malachi in my early 20s. When I got to chapter 3, I was stunned by the parallels with some of the events of Jesus’ ministry: John the Baptist prepares the way for Jesus, and Jesus enters the Temple and drives out the money-changers and the people selling animals.

The first two verses of Malachi 2 seem to foretell those events: “See, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. The messenger of the covenant in whom you delight—indeed, he is coming, says...

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Holy Spirit disruptions: Overview of the series

Lynne Baab • Thursday November 4 2021

For five decades, I have known that Jesus is present in my life through the Holy Spirit. During those same decades, I also have affirmed that God works in our lives through the Holy Spirit. But I had no idea how many examples I would see when I looked at my life through the lens of “Holy Spirit disruptions.” Here are all the weekly posts in this series that ended up running six months – because I kept finding new memories to write about:

Introduction to the series Embodiment Pride and ego We are God’s beloved What if something being hard shows we’re doing it right? Go/wait Wait Ignite...

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Holy Spirit disruptions: Sin as vandalism of shalom

Lynne Baab • Friday October 29 2021

I was emailing back and forth with a friend about Cornelius Plantinga, Jr., one of my favorite seminary professors. My friend said that Dr. Plantinga’s book, Not the Way It’s Supposed to Be: A Breviary of Sin, was very helpful to him. I asked why, and he said the definition of sin, “not the way it’s supposed to be,” clarified his thoughts. It helped him see that sin is anything that vandalizes shalom.

I loved the power of those words. “Vandalism” implies willful destruction or damage, which raises a question: If our damage to shalom – for ourselves or someone else –...

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Holy Spirit disruptions: Give less advice

Lynne Baab • Thursday October 14 2021

I never really understood or appreciated small talk until we lived in Dunedin, New Zealand, for ten years. The weather there often changes more than once each day. When chatting with the administrative people in my department at the university or with checkers at the grocery store, I could say, “Did you enjoy that sunny Sunday afternoon?” or “Wasn’t that windstorm amazing?” Weather was a fuel for communicating warmth, without taking the time to interact deeply. Weather talk, like all small talk at its best, says, “I care about you but I don’t have the time/energy/inclination for a deep conversation right...

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