Description: 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.
Brief description: 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.
Review Quotes:
"While Elizabeth Caldwell has done all the research and provides guidance for individuals as well as lesson plans for groups, her invitation is open and gentle, compelling, not burdensome. She invites us to join the long line of pilgrims who have turned to the Psalms to find their way into God's presence. She is a trustworthy leader for a Lenten pilgrimage that will change your life." --Laura Mendenhall, President Emerita, Columbia Theological Seminary
"From time to time, the Holy Spirit helps me see something in a new way. In this beautiful, thoughtful book, Caldwell helps me see the season of Lent and the Psalms anew. With wisdom and grace, she invites us to open our eyes and tend to our hearts and pause so that God may do what God does best--draw us near and make us more faithful. I am deeply grateful." --Rodger Y. Nishioka, Senior Pastor, Village Presbyterian Church, Prairie Village, Kansas
"Elizabeth Caldwell's small, soulful volume is like a prism through which the gentle and passionate light of God reflects through selected psalms. Each chapter invites readers to pause and linger with the ancient words, through a variety of translations and paraphrases, in order that the words can help us uncover layer after layer of personal meaning. Like a relationship that ripens with time, Caldwell's pastoral heart and invitational style gives us a trustworthy companion for our Lenten journeys. Pausing in this way is indeed, as the author states, countercultural. It is also a gift. This book is one I will return to year after year." --Eugenia Anne Gamble, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) pastor and author of Words of Love: A Healing Journey with the Ten Commandments