We're Here. We're Listening.
The work to center and celebrate, name and reclaim women from the Gospels and everywhere is a lifetime practice and revolution.
Dearly Beloveds,
THANK YOU for helping make the launch of Blessed Are the Women such a joyful and celebratory endeavor!
Parnassus Books was packed with love and connection on Wednesday, and I’m still levitating from the energy, interest, and joy vibrating amongst us and within us that holy, sacred night. We sold a lot of books, and, more importantly, we centered and celebrated women and our stories and witnessed, yet again, that when women speak and sing and pray and lead with integrity, honesty, and joy, people show up and listen.
As I said last week, this is only the beginning. The work to center and celebrate, name and reclaim women from the Gospels and everywhere is a lifetime practice and revolution. And it takes all of us circling up, leaning in, and listening intently to keep it growing, widening, and deepening so that our children might know Mary Magdalene as a leader of our faith as much as they know Peter as one; that they might know Anna as a prophet and priest as much as they know Paul as such.
Please keep buying the book, sharing this newsletter, and talking about women as the powerful, courageous leaders that we are. This is my life’s work, so if you need some help, please reach out.
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The women and their stories have lived with me and in me for so long now, I’ve only recently begun re-reading my book. And it’s such a gift to re-read it through your eyes and hearts, as well. Your questions, observations, energy, and curiosity keep the women and the stories true to who they are—the living, breathing Word of God. Dynamic. Deep and ever deepening. Honest. Complex. Whole. Holy.
Therefore, to close on this Sunday of Blessed Are the Women Book Launch week, I give you some of my favorite quotes from the women, without whom we wouldn’t have any of it.
Thanks be to God they are here. Thanks be to God we are here.
Thanks be to God they are speaking and we are listening. Amen.
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“Your birth prepared me to rely on Mother God and gave me practice for what was to come, the foreboding of the body-breaking, blood-shedding miracle that you were only able to endure because I endured it first.”
—from “Mary: The First Supper" in Blessed Are the Women
“The more we learned to embrace our grief as a friend, the closer we drew to each other. The more we learned to give voice to our pain, the more we healed.”
—from “Elizabeth: Help Me Grow" in Blessed Are the Women
“Years of practice emptying buckets, dyeing fabrics, and milking goats qualified me to enter the holy temple. There, I made my simple abode in the very dwelling place of God, even long ago I learned to meet God everywhere.”
—from “Anna: Prophet, Poet, Priest" in Blessed Are the Women
“We women are strong, and we women are wise. We give birth and nurture the next generations. In times of war and of peace, we plot new ways forward.”
—from “Susanna and Salome: Leading from the Margins” in Blessed Are the Women
“I keep asking my questions of a world that tries hard to render me silent. And I keep blessing that which requires a blessing.”
—from “Eve: The ‘Sinful’ Woman" in Blessed Are the Women
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Please take a few minutes to give Blessed Are the Women a five-star review on Amazon. Even if you purchased your book elsewhere, you can still review the book! Visit this page, scroll to the bottom, and click on the button that reads “Write a Customer Review.”
I need at least 35 reviews for the algorithm to kick in and pay more attention to the book—recommending it, advertising it, etc. Will you help me get even more than 35?
Just like preorders tell booksellers you want this book, reviews tell both booksellers AND the general public AND the pesky algorithm that you loved it and they will, too. Thank you! Love you! Happy reading and reviewing!
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Join me tonight, Sunday, March 3 at 6 p.m. CT, on Instagram Live as I talk with my dear friend, pastor of Southeast Raleigh Table, about Blessed Are the Women and more! To join, open your Instagram App, make sure you follow me, and Instagram will let you know that I’m live. Then, you’ll click on my picture that says “live,” and Lisa and I will be there to welcome you into this sacred conversation. Can’t wait to see you there!
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UPCOMING EVENTS!
Thank you for reading my Substack. This post is public so feel free to share it.
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