Product Overview
Find sacred stillness in the Psalms amid the rush of Advent.
The season of Advent, meant to be a time of waiting, all too often hurtles headlong into Christmas without allowing us to take a breath. The poetry of the Psalms, on the other hand, invites us to slow down, pause, and connect with the thoughts, feelings, and images the psalmist has offered. To help readers carve out time for reflection and meditation during this ironically hectic time, noted Christian educator and best-selling author Elizabeth Caldwell engages readers in a creative spiritual practice of deeply connecting with one psalm each week to illuminate an enduring attribute of God so that we may recognize how these characteristics are embodied in the One whom God sent to live among us, offering us life and love.
Waiting: Spending Advent with the Psalmsis divided into two sections to allow readers not only to connect with the Psalms during Advent but to extend this spiritual practice through the seasons of Christmas and Epiphany. The first section, "Waiting," offers four weekly sessions for the Advent season, each of which explores a psalm and illuminates an enduring attribute of God. In addition to reflection questions and a suggested spiritual practice for each week, a leader’s guide for a four-session group study is also included.
The second section, "Abiding," provides four chapters for Christmas Day through Epiphany. Easily used by groups or individuals throughout these seasons, each chapter continues the practice of engaging deeply with a psalm to uncover attributes of God, provides reflection questions, and offers a spiritual practice of praying the psalm for the week to help readers carry the light and love of God into the world around them. The book ends with daily devotions for readers to use during the Twelve Days of Christmas.
Through this unique seasonal practice, individuals, study groups, and preachers will find ways to enrich their ministry and sustain their life of faith as one that makes a difference in this world that God has created.
Reviews
"Elizabeth Caldwell throws open a fresh window onto Advent through this exploration of the Psalms, revealing how these ancient treasures of faith can speak to us anew during this season of waiting and anticipating God’s incarnate gift. Grounded in solid scholarship while simultaneously accessible, this study is aptly relevant to the joys, sorrows, and struggles of our modern lives."—Tracy S. Daub, Pastor and author of Holy Disruption: Discovering Advent in the Gospel of Mark
"The structure of one psalm for each week invites a focused, slower pace that will allow readers to relish the liturgical seasons of Advent and Christmas. Caldwell provides a thoughtful antidote to the prevailing cultural pace that often overtakes us during the holidays, inviting us instead to notice, attend, and connect to God’s presence in our midst."—Jill Duffield, Senior Pastor and former editor of The Presbyterian Outlook
"Thanks to Caldwell, the songbook of the Bible becomes a fresh lens through which to see and experience the depths of God and the Christmas story. I have no doubt that this book will add richness and meaning to your experience of Advent and Christmas!"—Josh Scott, Lead Pastor and author of Bible Stories for Grown-Ups: Reading Scripture with New Eyes
"Caldwell challenges the reader to exchange hectic, mindless Christmas consumption for thoughtful psalm-based prayer every week of Advent into the Christmas and Epiphany seasons. The waiting of Advent gives way to the Christmas time of God with us and to abiding in the presence of God. This delightful book engages both the individual reader and those involved in group study."—Stephen Breck Reid, Professor of Christian Scriptures, Baylor University
"Just what we’ve been waiting for! Caldwell conducts a concert of voices—the psalmist, translators, poets, scholars, and her own lived experience—in this lovely book that invites and leads us through seasons of Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany with the Psalms. Each chapter left me