Congratulations Joanna Asperger: you won Jan Richardson’s The Garden of Hollows! Email your snail mail address to shawna (at) shawnaatteberry (dot) com and I will get it in the mail.
The next giveaway will be this afternoon, so make sure you check back to see what my favorite, kick ass feminist movie is and how you can win it!
Things I have learned about doing videos:
Now onto the promised links:
For a chance to win Jan Richardson’s Garden of Hollows go here and take the survey. Also check out Jan’s wonderful site: The Painted Prayerbook.
Here is the blogpost telling all about the partying going on here during March including a free 30 minute spiritual direction session.
First off: my apologies for not getting the video describing spiritual direction posted today. I got in the zone with writing What You Didn’t Learn in Sunday School: Women Who Didn’t Sit Down and Shut Up, and I didn’t want to break the spree. I also discovered I’m going to have put a little more thought into describing spiritual direction. It’s one of those easier said than done things. I will work on the script this weekend, and have the video up Monday.
Now let’s get to the good stuff! The first giveaway!
I discovered Jan Richardson and The Painted Prayerbook four years ago when I was still a pastor and had to write sermons every week. Her thoughtful and profound insights on the weekly lectionary readings along with her artwork that looks simple at first then draws you in to see more complexity, helped get me out of a scholarly mindset and into a more creative and living way to look at the Scriptures for the week.
Two years ago I bought Jan’s beautiful handmade book, Garden of Hollows: Entering the Mysteries of Lent and Easter to travel through Lent. Jan’s thoughtful reflections beginning with the woman anointing Jesus at beginning of Holy Week through the Resurrection are bare, vulnerable reflections on what it means to empty ourselves out to Godde and live in the hollows of our lives with Godde. The stark charcoal images and meditations that are more poetry than prose helped me through a difficult Lent where I was rediscovering who I was and my calling after I left ordained ministry. I read it again last year, and I will read it again this year during this Lenten journey. It is a good companion for those who journey this time of self-emptying and reflection that Lent calls Christians to.
All you have to do to enter the drawing is answer the survey below. The reason I’m doing this survey is I’ve always thought of “Feminist Theologian” as a scary or boring term that wouldn’t interest people. I took part in Jennifer Lee’s amazing Right Brainers in Business Video Summit. During the chat yesterday I mentioned I needed a sexy term to replace “Feminist Theologian.” They told me no! That the term was sexy, and they liked it. I was flabbergasted. Then I thought: hey may be I need to ask my people what they think of it because I would love my title to be: “Feminist Theologian at Large.” I want to know what you think. You have until midnight Tuesday to enter the drawing. I will draw a name Wednesday morning and announce the winner.
Feel free to leave comments about what you think too!
Update: I still new at Survey Monkey, and the votes do not come with names attached. If you vote in the survey, leave a comment letting me know, so I can get your name in the hat.
Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey, the world’s leading questionnaire tool.
Eatin' O' The Green, Clyde Robinson, Flickr
March is a special month for three reasons:
First my birthday is March 26.
Second, St. Patrick’s Day is in March.
Third: it is Women’s History Month.
If those aren’t good enough reasons to throw a month-long blog party, then you are on the wrong blog. March will be contests and give-aways month. I’m pretty certain one of those give-aways will have something to do with St. Patrick’s Day. Since it’s Women’s History Month I am sure a lot of the give-aways will be my favorite books on the women in the Bible. So if you’ve been wanting to start your “I am Woman, hear me roar” book collection, or continue it, stay tuned. There are also a couple of handy ways to keep up effortlessly with the blog posts this month: over on the left you can subscribe to get my blog posts in your email box, or you can hit the RSS feed and have them sent to your favorite feed reader. Then you don’t have to worry about remembering to pop in.
We will also be learning about a lot of different women in history, and we may not stick to just women we can empirically prove actually existed. Some of my favorite lines from The Lord of the Rings (affiliate link) movie trilogy is from Galadriel’s prologue in The Fellowship of the Ring:
And some things that should not have been forgotten…were lost. History became legend…legend became myth.
The life of Saint Brigid illustrates these lines perfectly: Brigid was a historical women who became legend and then fell into myth and merged with a goddess who went by the name of Brigid as well. The borderlands between history, myth, and legend are hazy, and I am going to keep them that way this month*. You will be reading about women who have histories, as well as mythologies and legends.
Don’t worry: if you don’t win one of the give-aways, you still get a prize. For the month of March I am offering 30 minute spiritual direction sessions for free. Don’t know what spiritual direction is? Don’t worry about that either. Tomorrow I’m going to post a video that explains spiritual direction, so you can figure out if it’s for you or not. I will be asking for testimonials to post here on the blog. You don’t have to give one, but I want you to know that I will be asking.
So don your green, put on your party hats, and break out the Irish Cream. Get ready to hear about some fabulous women. Get ready for surveys and contests and cake! And presents! This month is one big party at Shawna R. B. Atteberry!
*Let’s face it: when it comes to the women of the Bible, these three categories get really murky, really fast.
