Tag: Portland

Women

Our dog Ellie sits in front of a door labeled 'Women'

When I was growing up I began to struggle with the difference between how the Bible says women should be treated and the way they were treated. I was happy we weren’t following the Bible’s teachings, I felt women should be the equals of men, but how can you claim the Bible is the word of God and then choose to ignore the words? Were people created in God’s image or the other way around? The teachers I talked to never gave a convincing answer, mostly just that it was a cultural difference, but that didn’t make sense to me as it was a cultural difference back then too.

I started reading the Bible cover to cover and struggled with some of the old heroes of the Bible, some of whom seemed to me to be monsters, and sometimes God too. And then I got to Judges Chapter 4.

Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, was leading Israel at that time.
Judges 4:4

Wait. What?

According to Judges, Deborah was not just the person the people chose as judge, but also the person God chose as prophet. God tells Deborah he’s going to give Israel a great victory against their oppressors, so she tells her commander to gather his troops. Such is the commander’s faith in her and in God’s faith in her, and such is his fear of the fearsome chariots of the enemy, that he says he will go but only if she goes with him. She goes, and rout the enemy they do, not just in this battle but in others that follow. The book of Judges has many judges set as examples, some as good and some as bad, but Deborah is one of the greats.

So I began to wonder, why is her story forgotten, why did our religion choose sexism instead, to the harm of billions over thousands of years? And not just sexism, but racism, and homophobia, and on and on? I eventually decided the Bible was not the words of God but the words of men trying to understand the nature of God, and of themselves.

We need not be monsters. This is how Deborah’s story concludes:

Then the land had peace forty years.
Judges 5:31b

If you take the Bible at its word, two generations grow up in peace because of one woman, their judge and God’s prophet.

God took delight in her, pity we don’t.

Air Conditioned

A close-up of our dog Ellie covered in snow

We’re in the midst of a long heat wave where it isn’t cooling off much at night, but yesterday we had air conditioning installed so now we have a delightfully cool house. I may have overdone it though when I looked over and saw the pup covered in frost. Although I suppose the trees in the background are a dead giveaway that Ellie is actually outside, this is not from the big snow we had in January but a much smaller one in December. The wind was blowing the snow horizontally in little pellets so I didn’t make her pose long as the dog park is exposed at the top of the hill and the surrounding neighborhood was a more pleasant place to be. She was having a great time despite the expression, she was bored that I stopped our walk for pictures and waited patiently for the fun to resume.

New Moon

Translation

Some of the homes in our neighborhood post poetry near the sidewalk that I like to read on our dog walks, and though I detested poetry when I was young a couple of them have really caught my eye and made me want to start exploring it. I loved this short poem from a few hundred years ago by samurai and poet Mizuta Masahide, who is quoted in this translation as:

My barn having burned to the ground

I can now see the moon.

Mizuta Masahide

There are several translations available, translation is tricky in general but I would guess especially so for poetry, another version is:

Barn’s burnt down –

now I can see the moon.

Mizuta Masahide

I was unfamiliar with the poem but loved it immediately, there are many layers in those few words. And I think this translation, though not as poetic, hints at that:

My storehouse having been burnt down,

nothing obstructs my view of the bright moon.

Mizuta Masahide

It’s important to stay positive in the face of tragedy, to see opportunity in change, to seek the beauty of the world that surrounds us but that we hide from ourselves, to see how easily our love of wealth harms the spirit. But to remember too, that barn may have stored food for the winter, and if people are suffering, they need more than “thoughts and prayers”, they need help. That they are us. Let us break bread together and wonder at the moon.

Good Morning America

Our dog Ellie stands in the dog park at Portland's Irving Park

Ellie and I enjoyed a warm but peaceful morning on the 4th of July in the dog park at Irving Park before heading out into the neighborhood. The headlines are a daily reminder that there is a vast difference between what as a country we believe and what we say we believe, and always has been, but there is much to love about America too.