Blessed are the Women
- Lizz & Esther / Deconstructing Mamas
- May 12
- 4 min read
Welcome to Grace and Space, a weekly newsletter from the Deconstructing Mamas Podcast! GRACE for who you have been, are now and SPACE for who you are becoming and will be!
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Some of us were taught that women were made after—a supporting role, a helper, a rib.
Some of us were taught that women were made for—to serve, to submit, to stay quiet.
And many of us were taught to never question these teachings, even when our souls screamed otherwise.
But what if the story was always bigger than that?
What if buried beneath the layers of patriarchy and power was a lineage of women whose stories weren’t about shame or silence—but about courage, resistance, and divine presence?
As we deconstruct the faith systems that taught us who we should be, many of us are discovering a new way forward by returning to the stories that were always there—but never told this way.
The woman who anointed Jesus with oil? She wasn’t an embarrassment. She was a prophet.
The bleeding woman who reached out in desperation? She wasn’t unclean. She was a healer of her own story.
The woman at the well? She wasn’t promiscuous. She was the first sharer of the good news of living water.
And the women who mothered, mourned, questioned, danced, doubted, birthed, and blessed?They are our spiritual grandmothers. Not one-dimensional flannelgraph figures, but full-bodied witnesses to a deeper truth.
As we raise our own children—especially our daughters—we can begin to undo the damage of a faith that told us women were “less than.”
We can begin to tell the truth: that women's stories matter.
That their voices matter.
That our voices matter.
What would it mean for your own story to sit beside theirs, not as a footnote, but as part of the ongoing sacred narrative?
What if worship didn’t look like disappearing into a pew, but rising in your full truth—your body, your tears, your rage, your joy—all welcome in the presence of the divine?
This is the work of reconstruction:
✨ We look at the stories we were given.
✨ We hold them up to the light.
✨ We listen for the voices that were silenced.
✨ We speak them back to life.
In doing so, we begin to heal.
We begin to reimagine.
We begin to remember: we were never the afterthoughts.
We have always been part of the story.
-Esther Joy Goetz
Our Podcast This Week:
''Without women we don’t have Jesus. We don’t have Christianity. We don’t have any of it.” (Claire K. McKeever-Burgett)
Our episode this week is with Claire K. McKeever-Burgett, mom of two and author of Blessed are the Women: Naming and Reclaiming Women's Stories from the Gospels. Our conversation is full of wisdom, both fierce and tender, and the reclamation of the divine feminine in all her forms. We chat through these questions: 1. Were there any particular women in the Bible whose stories deeply impacted you personally? If so, why? 2. What was the most surprising thing you learned while researching the stories of these women? 3. The Bible was written in a time and culture that was largely patriarchal. How did you navigate the cultural context while writing about these women’s stories?
4. What do you hope is the lasting impact of your work on the way people view women in the Bible? How have you and might we incorporate that into our parenting?
5. If you were sitting at a table with your kids and you knew for sure they would take one message with them on their life’s journey, what poem of yours would you read them?
Get ready to sob your eyes out when you hear the answer to the last question. And also get ready to have your soul healed on the spot. If you want to feel understood and empowered as a woman or if you want to understand and empower women, this is the episode for you. You can find Claire here:
Website: www.clairemckeeverburgett.com
Instagram: @clairemckeeverburgett
Resource Alerts:
Claire McKeever-Burgett combines her own personal journey with the stories of ten remarkable women from the New Testament: Elizabeth, Mary, Anna, Eve, Adama, Miriam, Susanna, Edith, Amira, and Mary Magdalene. Through a blend of storytelling, poetry, and prayer, Blessed are the Women invites readers to reimagine worship, embrace women's narratives, and foster healing within themselves and their communities.
It provides liturgies for personal or communal use, discussion questions, and connections to organizations dedicated to women's empowerment and healing.
With its pastoral and prophetic approach, Blessed are the Women presents a fresh perspective on faith and spirituality, inspiring readers to find resonance between their own stories and those of women who have shaped history.
This empowering and transformative work ignites a call for a more inclusive and egalitarian faith that embraces the fullness of women's voices and experiences.
One last thing. We want to remind you that we are so glad you are here. We wouldn't be the same without you. You will always find GRACE for where you've been and who you are now, and SPACE for who you are becoming and will be.
Carry on, our new-found friends. Welcome to the twisty-windy, full -of-adventure faith path that's laid out before us all.
Love,
Lizz & Esther
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