Month: March 2011

First March Giveaway: Garden of Hollows

Leave a comment

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.

Women, Saints, and Birthday Give Aways, Oh My!

Leave a comment

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.

International Women's Day: The Power of Education

Leave a comment

Today isInternational Women’s Day. Today we celebrate the political, economical, and historical strides women have made in our struggle for equal rights. I’ve been trying to figure out what to say all day. In fact, I’d probably blow it off, if I hadn’t put my name on the list of bloggers writing about IWD at Gender Across Borders.

I’ve been reticent because I know how good I have it. I’m a middle class, white, educated woman in an egalitarian marriage to a man who supports me in everything I do. I’m privileged, and I know it. I come from a poor, working class family, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t get an education–not just K–12 public school. I went to college with help from the Pell Grant and the Presidential Honors Scholarship, and I put myself through seminary, working full-time. I bought a house. I chose the jobs I wanted, chose the degrees I wanted, and I waited to marry until after all my education and found a man who had the same egalitarian principles I do. I have been in control of my reproductive choices my entire adult life (and didn’t have to worry about it while I was a child). I’ve dealt with sexism, and the age-old fundamentalist-evangelical myth that a woman’s place is in the home in perfect submission to her man, raising children. I’ve been asked if I was sure I was called to be a pastor and not a pastor’s wife. But I’ve always had choices. For the most part I have been able to make my own choices and do what I want to do.

I’m well aware that most of the women in the world do not have the choices I have. I  know most live on $2 a day, that 70% of the work gets done by women, and  they get paid 30% of the money. They own 1% of the property. I know millions of girls ages 12-14 are married to men much older than they are, and stuck in the cycle of poverty. I know most girls and women in the world do not have the opportunity for education that I have. And even in countries where education is free, boys are sent to school at a much higher rate than girls.

This is why I’m happy there are organizations like The Girl Effect. The Girl Effect works to educate girls all over the world, recognizing when they get educated and work, 90% of what they make goes back to their families and communities. When girls start getting an education, the economy starts changing, and poverty becomes less likely. GAB has a great write-up of The Girl Effect:

The Girl Effect is an organization that is making leaps and bounds in advocating for girls’ right to education. Through extensive research The Girl Effect clearly demonstrates international development depends on adolescent girls.  One might not think that access to education, a basic human right, needs to be framed as a development issue for it to be realized but in much of the world and among many of it’s leaders this is the case. Through advocacy The Girl Effect encourages international policy makers, state governments and individuals to put girls education at the fore of their efforts to develop and prosper.  Although the obstacles are enormous for girls when it comes to education, they are not insurmountable and The Girl Effect, demonstrates that these challenges must be met for the world to be a better place for all.

Yes, I’m privileged, and that means I can work with organizations like The Girl Effect to make sure one day every 40 year old woman can look back on her life and say what I just said: I’m educated. I made my own choices. I controlled my reproductive choices. I chose the man I wanted to marry. I live the life I want to live.