Lent is an ideal time to step back and reflect on the deeper movements of the spirit, and Elizabeth Caldwell helps readers do this through a simple but profound approach.
Pause: Spending Lent with the Psalms invites us to take up the spiritual practice of encountering, sinking into, and deeply engaging with one psalm each week during Lent and Holy Week.
The season of Lent encourages Christians to consider a different pace—one of slowing down, noticing, pausing—than what our dominant culture values. The invitation to pause with the Psalms begins on Ash Wednesday, starting with a mark of ashes on our foreheads that reminds us that in spite of our failures—things we have done or failed to do—we belong to God. Readers are then guided into an exploration of Psalm 51 and the theme of a clean heart. Each chapter helps readers to connect an image drawn from that psalm, such as paths, faces, blessing, tables, waiting, thanksgiving, listening, being alone or abandoned, and hands, with their own lives. At the close of each chapter, readers are invited to try a different prayer practice to help them continue to reflect on the theme and psalm each day. This intentional engagement—without feeling burdensome—opens just enough space and time for a creative spiritual practice to flourish, sustaining the life of faith during the Lenten season in ways that can make a difference in God’s world.
Reflection and discussion questions are included with each chapter and the book includes a leader's guide at the end for study groups.
In addition to the individual devotion and group study material found in the book, you can access free digital resources, which include a sermon series guide, children's bulletins, and illustrated sheets for use during worship or study, at www.wjkbooks.com/Pause.
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Elizabeth F. Caldwell, a noted Christian educator and member of the Common English Bible board of editors, is Professor Emerita of Pastoral Theology at McCormick Theological Seminary and former Visiting Professor in Religious Education at Vanderbilt Divinity School. She is the author of Wondering about the Bible with Children, coauthor of God's Big Plan, and coeditor of Growing in God's Love: A Story Bible.