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What to Read on Holy Saturday

In the Christian tradition, today is called “Holy Saturday.” It’s a day of waiting. A day in between the horror of the crucifixion and the promise of the resurrection. It’s a day in between death and life. For the Jewish people who followed Jesus, it was a Sabbath day, a day of rest. A day of waiting.

Holy Saturday and Waiting

Many of us find ourselves waiting during this coronavirus crisis. Waiting for the limits on our work and school and travel to be lifted. Waiting to see loved ones. Waiting to celebrate. Waiting, even, to mourn. 

Throughout this season of Lent (the 40 days that lead up to Easter), I’ve been offering “tips” on social media on how to start reading the Bible, and I’m offering the final of 12 tips here today. (If you want all 12 together, I created a free ebook that you can download here.) 

On Holy Saturday, a day of waiting, and in this time of waiting during COVID-19, the words of the Bible have particular resonance. Both the Israelites in the Old Testament and the Christians in the New Testament knew the peculiar strain of waiting. They questioned the purpose of waiting. They wrote about whether God was too slow in keeping his promises. They exhorted one another to continue to wait and not give up hope. I find comfort in returning to their words. I hope you will too.

How to Start Reading the Bible

Here’s my final offering as far as starting to read the Bible on your own: 

Use the tools available. If a passage is hard to understand, see if a different translation helps. (I like the NRSV, the NIV, and the Message—all can be found at biblegateway.com).

Use a Study Bible with notes that might help you understand and that offer introductions to each book.

If you really want to dive into a particular book, get a commentary to read alongside it. For books in the New Testament, I recommend N.T. Wright’s New Testament for Everyone series.

I’ve been reading the Bible now for decades, and I’ve gone to seminary, and I love reading commentaries and listening to podcasts and learning more and more. But the truth is that every time I sit down with someone who has never read the Bible before, I learn something. That person has beautifully fresh eyes and ears and sees things and asks questions I wouldn’t even think to ask. 

If you are new to the Bible, you are a gift to those of us who have been reading it for years, and hopefully we can be a gift to you as well. So I guess this leads me to one more recommendation—find other people who can read the Bible with you.

As wonderful as it is to read the Bible on your own, it is a book that was meant to be read in community. (Technology provides ways to do this even during social distancing!) This book is the story of God’s neverending love for the world, and of God’s neverending love for you. I hope you’ll find these thoughts helpful in receiving that love day by day.

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Want to read more? Here are some suggestions:

Free Resources
AJB Recommends: Spiritual Podcasts During COVID-19 Crisis
COVID-19, Holy Week, and Preparing for Suffering with Love {Ep 104}

If you haven’t already, please  subscribe  to receive regular updates and news. You can also follow me on  Facebook ,  Instagram , and  Twitter,  and you can  subscribe to my Love is Stronger Than Fear podcast on  Apple Podcasts ,  Google Podcasts , and  Spotify , as well as other platforms.

The post What to Read on Holy Saturday appeared first on Amy Julia Becker.

AJB Recommends: Spiritual Podcasts During COVID-19 Crisis

I’ve been listening to two different types of podcasts lately in this time of the COVID-19 crisis. One, podcasts that report and analyze news, politics, and current events. And two, podcasts that offer some spiritual insight into this COVD-19 moment. (There’s also another set of more self-help podcasts that are offering lots of good material right now. For those, I’m listening to Rhythms for Life and All Things Life.) 

Today, Good Friday, I wanted to recommend three episodes of spiritual podcasts I’ve appreciated in this season of COVID-19:

Praxis Podcast

First, Andy Crouch recorded an interview a few weeks ago in which he talked about how to mourn what needs to be mourned in this moment while also holding out hope for redemptive possibilities. This is a podcast designed for leaders, but as Andy points out, any adult who is leading a household (i.e. home-schooling) right now, could benefit from thinking about these things.

Transforming Center Podcast

Second, Ruth Haley Barton recorded an interview about spiritual leadership during this time. She emphasized pausing before reacting as she watched so many church leaders rush into action. In my opinion, now is a moment for leaders to step up, take action, and even work harder than usual, but I also appreciate the wisdom in Barton’s exhortation to pause, listen, pray, and even wait before acting right now.

For the Life of the World Podcast

Finally, Miroslav Volf offers a theological reflection on fear. There’s lots to chew on in this episode, but I was most struck by his comments on the pandemic/infectious nature of fear as well as his point that instead of trying to eliminate all danger, we need to learn how to cultivate courage.

I hope these words will bless you and strengthen you, as they did me. 

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Want to read more? Here are some suggestions:

COVID-19, Holy Week, and Preparing for Suffering with Love {Ep 104}
AJB Recommends: Privilege and Race Podcasts
AJB Recommends: Faith and Family Podcasts

If you haven’t already, please  subscribe  to receive regular updates and news. You can also follow me on  Facebook ,  Instagram , and  Twitter,  and you can  subscribe to my Love is Stronger Than Fear podcast on  Apple Podcasts ,  Google Podcasts , and  Spotify , as well as other platforms.

The post AJB Recommends: Spiritual Podcasts During COVID-19 Crisis appeared first on Amy Julia Becker.

How Our Kids are Coping During Coronavirus Crisis

COVID-19 has brought a variety of emotions into our home, and I’ve wanted to know how our kids were coping with the coronavirus dynamics. “I have realized that I’m dealing with coronavirus feelings by thinking,” William said at dinner the other night. “It helps me when I read a lot and think a lot.”

Kids and Coronavirus Emotions

William couldn’t specify his feelings. He couldn’t name sadness or fear. We all know people who are sick. We all know that people we love could die. But our day-to-day interactions are tinged more with loneliness and impatience than they are with grief or fear. Still, even if we can’t feel our feelings, we know they are there. 

“How about the rest of you?” I asked. “How are you dealing with feelings about the coronavirus and all this?”

Marilee, who has been sleeping 14-15 hours per day for the past two weeks, batted her eyes and mimed going to bed. 

“Penny?” I asked. 

She looked up from her dinner and nodded. “I’m texting.”

So there it is. Thinking. Sleeping. Texting. 

If I’m honest, I’m not that different. Yes, in this time, I have prayed more frequently. I have noticed that on days when I take a run, I feel better. I have learned to pay attention—when every muscle in my shoulders and neck got tight the other night, I knew to ask myself what my body was trying to tell me rather than just shrugging off the tension. 

But I’m also drinking more wine. And eating more potato chips. And eating more dark chocolate covered almonds with sea salt from Trader Joe’s. And trying to find the balance between being gracious to myself but not justifying self-destructive behavior. 

Coping Mechanisms in Our House

So. In our house, we are: Thinking. Sleeping. Texting. Drinking. Eating. Praying. Running. And we are feeling. Feeling the worry, the grief, the boredom, the loneliness, the gratitude, the happiness. 

The truth is we are all, kids and adults alike, going to turn to coping mechanisms—some healthy, some not-so-much—in this time of coronavirus and stress. For me, noticing those behaviors without passing judgment on them helps me to address feelings underneath the behaviors more directly. I don’t want to condemn or deny the feelings. But I also don’t want to get stuck in them. What I do want is to stay connected to feeling how very human we are. How very frail and vulnerable and broken. How very beautiful and interconnected and precious. How very capable of receiving love and giving love in return.

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Want to read more? Here are some suggestions:

COVID-19, Holy Week, and Preparing for Suffering with Love {Ep 104}
Penny’s Prayer for Church During COVID-19 Crisis
The Foundation is Shaking: Coronavirus and Living in Love {Ep 103}

If you haven’t already, please  subscribe  to receive regular updates and news. You can also follow me on  Facebook ,  Instagram , and  Twitter,  and you can  subscribe to my Love is Stronger Than Fear podcast on  Apple Podcasts ,  Google Podcasts , and  Spotify , as well as other platforms.

The post How Our Kids are Coping During Coronavirus Crisis appeared first on Amy Julia Becker.

In Holy Week, Preparing for Loss

Jerome Adams, the surgeon general of the United States, has warned that the upcoming week will be the “hardest yet” in terms of American lives lost to COVID-19. His warning is a call to prepare for suffering, and it coincides with what Christians call Holy Week.

Holy Week and Loss

Holy Week—the days leading up to Jesus’ crucifixion—is also a time of preparation for suffering. I’ve been thinking about how Jesus prepared for his own suffering and death and what he might be able to teach us in this moment. 

I had a chance to speak about this time of preparation and what it teaches us in today’s episode of the Love is Stronger Than Fear podcast. I also had a chance to write about it for Gospel Taboo (“In Holy Week, Preparing for Loss with Love”). I’d love for you to listen to the podcast and read the essay, and if you find them helpful in navigating this season of loss, please share them with friends.

As I write for Gospel Taboo, “Jesus prepared himself and his disciples for loss, and he did so through simple practices of love.” To read more, keep reading over at Gospel Taboo.

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Want to read more? Here are some suggestions:

COVID-19, Holy Week, and Preparing for Suffering with Love {Ep 104}
Penny’s Prayer for Church During COVID-19 Crisis
A Three-Minute Invitation to Peace
Reading Hope in Trying Times Interview

If you haven’t already, please  subscribe  to receive regular updates and news. You can also follow me on  Facebook ,  Instagram , and  Twitter,  and you can  subscribe to my Love is Stronger Than Fear podcast on  Apple Podcasts ,  Google Podcasts , and  Spotify , as well as other platforms.

The post In Holy Week, Preparing for Loss appeared first on Amy Julia Becker.

COVID-19, Holy Week, and Preparing for Suffering with Love {Ep 104}

At dinner a few nights ago, we asked our kids if they have any questions for God during this time of COVID-19 and suffering. They all nodded. “Why would God allow the coronavirus to happen?” William said. The girls’ echoed his thoughts, and I’ve heard from other parents whose kids are asking the same question. I imagine most of us have asked this question at some point in our lives, and probably at some point in the past few weeks during this COVID-19 crisis—if God is good, loving, and powerful, how can so much suffering exist? 

No Easy Answers for Suffering

We couldn’t offer any easy answers. There’s no formula to prove God’s existence, God’s love, or God’s power. There’s no checklist that explains how those characteristics of God could work together and produce the world of suffering we inhabit. 

That night, we offered some philosophical musings on the nature of love. How love is non-coercive. Powerful, but not forceful. How love works through humans, and so when humans say no to love, bad things result. Honestly, I’m not sure our answers helped our kids at all. 

COVID-19 and Suffering

I’m not sure this helped them either, but later on I remembered that the Christian answer to the problem of suffering is not a checklist or an airtight argument or a set of philosophical musings. The Christian answer to the problem of COVID-19 and suffering—all suffering— is the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. The answer is a life of love. 

We are entering into Holy Week, a week in which Jesus prepared for suffering and death. He did so with love. In this week’s episode of the Love is Stronger than Fear podcast, I talk at length about how Jesus’ final days on this earth helped to prepare him to face suffering, and how we too can enter into love in order to be better prepared for the days ahead. (You can listen to the episode via the player above or wherever you get your podcasts.)

Jesus. It’s a simple answer, but I struggle with it. I still want an equation. But I go back again and again to this person who taught us to love, who loved us through his own suffering and death, and who showed us that love is the only force powerful enough to overcome the grave. This Holy Week, I am looking for answers in Jesus.

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Podcast Show Notes

Philippians 1:19-30

Psalm 88

Psalm 63

Blog post I wrote about how Psalm 63 moves us towards hope

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Want to read more? Here are some suggestions:

Coronavirus, Suffering, and Two Questions About God
The Foundation is Shaking: Coronavirus and Living in Love {Ep. 103}
Reflections on Suffering… and Love

If you haven’t already, please  subscribe  to receive regular updates and news. You can also follow me on  Facebook ,  Instagram , and  Twitter,  and you can  subscribe to my Love is Stronger Than Fear podcast on  Apple Podcasts ,  Google Podcasts , and  Spotify , as well as other platforms.

The post COVID-19, Holy Week, and Preparing for Suffering with Love {Ep 104} appeared first on Amy Julia Becker.

Penny’s Prayer for Church During COVID-19 Crisis

2019

Penny was asked to write a prayer for our church. Our pastor sends out a prayer written by a member of our congregation every morning. Here’s Penny’s prayer:

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Dear God,⁠

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Hopefully everything about this virus would calm down and we could go back to our normal lives.⁠

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May we be in the hands of God.⁠

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May God be with you and never give up.⁠

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Even in tough times, God never fails. God never gives up.⁠

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Amen.⁠

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Want to read more articles similar to Penny’s prayer? Here are some suggestions:

Social Connection in a Time of Social Distance {Ep 102}
Coronavirus, Suffering, and Two Questions About God
Penny’s Gift of Encouragement is a Gift to Me

If you haven’t already, please  subscribe  to receive regular updates and news. You can also follow me on  Facebook ,  Instagram , and  Twitter,  and you can  subscribe to my Love is Stronger Than Fear podcast on  Apple Podcasts ,  Google Podcasts , and  Spotify , as well as other platforms.

The post Penny’s Prayer for Church During COVID-19 Crisis appeared first on Amy Julia Becker.

A Day of Unlimited Screen Time

We had an extended family Zoom call with a “bring your own blanket” theme.

Our household treated the first week of school closure due to COVID-19 as spring break, per our schools’ instruction. The kids asked for a day of unlimited screen time, and I acquiesced with the caveat that they couldn’t start watching until 8am. 

Penny emerged this morning at 5:52. “Oh sweetie,” I said when she found me in the kitchen making my tea. I reached out my arms for a hug. “Are you just having a hard time sleeping with all this confusion?” 

She looked at me with sleepy eyes and nodded slowly.

“How are you feeling about everything?” I asked, with my most compassionate voice.

“Confused?” she said. 

I nodded with understanding. “It can be hard to sleep when there’s so much uncertainty.”

She said, “Mom. I just can’t sleep when I’m excited. Unlimited screen time!”

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Want to read more? Here are some suggestions:

In Their Own Words: Penny and William on Technology
Penny’s Gift of Encouragement is a Gift to Me
New Rules For Screen Time Pt. 1 and Pt. 2

If you haven’t already, please  subscribe  to receive regular updates and news. You can also follow me on  Facebook ,  Instagram , and  Twitter .

The post A Day of Unlimited Screen Time appeared first on Amy Julia Becker.

Coronavirus, Suffering, and Two Questions About God

Suffering and death and events like our current experience with the coronavirus generally lead humans to ask at least two questions about God. Does God exist (because, how could God exist if there’s all this suffering and death)? And, if God does exist, what is God like (because if God is God, then God must be powerful, and if this is how God’s power gets worked out, then God must not be loving…)? 

I have lots to say on these questions, but for today I wanted to just offer three articles from mainstream news sources I’ve read recently that do a wonderful job of grappling with these questions in the public sphere in relation to suffering, the coronavirus, and God:

Casey Cep wrote a beautiful essay for The New Yorker about the significance of the church: The Gospel in a Time of Social Distancing

N.T. Wright writes in TIME a really helpful exploration of what Christianity does, and does not, offer in this moment: Christianity Offers No Answers in the Time of Coronavirus: It’s Not Supposed To

Father James Martin writes for The New York Times about wondering where God is in the midst of suffering: Where is God in a Pandemic? 

None of these writers pretends to have answers. But they point us towards a faith that can root and ground us even when the world is shaking. I am grateful for their words.

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Want to read more? Here are some suggestions:

Social Connection in a Time of Social Distance {Ep 102}
The Foundation is Shaking: Coronavirus and Living in Love {Ep. 103}
When God Looks at Us with Love

If you haven’t already, please  subscribe  to receive regular updates and news. You can also follow me on  Facebook ,  Instagram , and  Twitter,  and you can  subscribe to my Love is Stronger Than Fear podcast on Apple Podcasts ,  Google Podcasts , and  Spotify , as well as other platforms.

The post Coronavirus, Suffering, and Two Questions About God appeared first on Amy Julia Becker.

Stories of the Saints Book Recommendation

Hooray for the UPS delivery man who brought me Stories of the Saints today. So excited for this gift! I can’t wait to dive into this new book with our kids—if there is ever a time we need to learn from spiritual heroes of the past, it is now! Stories of the Saints: Bold and Inspiring Tales of Adventure, Grace, and Courage is written by Carey Wallace and is available for purchase here.


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Want to read more? Here are some suggestions for you:

Reading Hope in Trying Times Interview
Eight Ideas to Help Your Child Develop a Love of Reading
The Gift of Reading

If you haven’t already, please  subscribe  to receive regular updates and news. You can also follow me on  Facebook ,  Instagram , and  Twitter,  and you can  subscribe to my Love is Stronger Than Fear podcast on  Apple Podcasts ,  Google Podcasts , and  Spotify , as well as other platforms.

The post Stories of the Saints Book Recommendation appeared first on Amy Julia Becker.

The Foundation is Shaking: Coronavirus and Living in Love {Ep. 103}

What do we do when the foundation is shaking with the upheaval of the coronavirus? Where do we turn when everything feels wobbly and everything seems to be in danger of tipping over?

Honestly, I tend to respond with busyness and self-medication. Keep that to-do list going. Drink that second glass of Chardonnay. 

My kids tend to respond with entertainment. Give me more Netflix. And perhaps the current baking craze going on at our house is their own form of self-medication. Try to make it all better with more sugar. 

But as much as we try to numb, deny, ignore, or push through right now, the pain of our present moment will not go away. Thousands of Americans have already died from the coronavirus. Hundreds of thousands of people are sick from this virus around the globe. Millions of Americans lost their jobs, just last week. And the news is going to keep getting worse. 

So what do we do when the foundation is shaking and busyness, self-medication, and entertainment are not enough? 

We learn how to put our roots down into deeper soil. We learn how to build our houses on firmer foundations. We recognize the shaky ground of economic and social and medical security and safety, and we wonder whether there is a deeper, wider, broader reality of love and truth and beauty and grace that can hold us up and hold us together.

And honestly, the way to build on a firmer foundation, the way to root in more nourishing soil, is to connect to Jesus. Jesus invites us into his house, with its rock-solid foundation. Jesus invites us to be a part of his “tree” (“I am the vine, and you are the branches,” he said), to share his root system. We don’t need to summon up our own energy to build a better foundation or find the right soil. We just need to turn to the source of love, connect to him, and hold on for dear life. 

Today’s episode of the Love is Stronger than Fear podcast explores these ideas and much more. You can listen via the player above or on your favorite podcast platform. I’d love to know what you think.

Additional Resources to Accompany Episode 103:


Philippians 1:13-18, 1 Corinthians 13, Ephesians 3:14-21, 1 John 4
Blog Post: How to Receive God’s Love
Harvard Business Review: That Discomfort You’re Feeling is Grief

And here is William’s list that I reference in the podcast:

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Want to read more? Here are some suggestions:

What I Learned When I Tried to Stop Drinking So Much Wine
Social Connection in a Time of Social Distance {Ep 102}
Fear, Fearing the Lord, and Walking in Love

If you haven’t already, please  subscribe  to receive regular updates and news. You can also follow me on  Facebook ,  Instagram , and  Twitter .

The post The Foundation is Shaking: Coronavirus and Living in Love {Ep. 103} appeared first on Amy Julia Becker.