October 4, 2024 Musings

On Harlots, money, hierarchy, and books (not Moo Deng)

This is Moo Deng. I keep seeing her. This substack post ain’t even about her—not even a lil bit. But I just want to remember this time in history where she kept barrelling through my internet streets. Yes, I am a part of the problem now.

I’m not gon’ keep you.¹

I am dipping in here between classes because I have some questions and observations — and I know that many of you adore deliberation and discussion.

1. I am in the last stages of proofing my first book². One of the women of the Bible I mention with much respect is Rahab, aka Rahab the Harlot.

   I have always been annoyed with Rahab’s being referred to that way in both the Old and New Testaments. Because listen, Abraham isn’t called “Abraham Who Trafficked His Sister/Wife to Pharoahs, Twice, to Protect Himself”; and David isn’t referred to as “David the Rapist.”

   But what if what scribes meant for shaming, God meant for good? What if “Rahab the Harlot” is a name cemented into scripture to encourage us that God loves and cares for sex workers, even when “good Christians” reject them? Because Rahab the Harlot recognized and trusted the hand of God more than many of Israelites who had witnessed God’s power firsthand³, married herself a lovely man, and raised THE BEST son—Boaz⁴. She is in the genealogy of Jesus, named and claimed⁵. God blessed her real good, despite whatever God’s people may have thought. Selah

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2. I am thinking about money. A lot. Because, this economy? It got me thinking about freedom from the tyranny of mammon. This sparks my imagination in conceiving of a world focused not on profit. Who would we be in the world if society was not profit-driven? What would change about society itself? What would the world choose to focus on if profit weren’t its voracious, relentless goal?

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3. During class this week, my eldest observed how important hierarchy was in Greco-Roman society (as evidenced in Plutarch), but also in Anglo-Saxon society (as evidenced in Beowulf), both of which deeply influenced the origin story of the United States, and current American society. Always, there was someone to appease and someone to oppress. And it seems to my eldest (and I think he’s right), that far too many times, the violent principle of hierarchy has perverted the liberative good news of Jesus. Who does Jesus favor and who does he ridicule? Are the loudest Christian messengers in our society mimicking His behavior? I am in a constant conversation with my kids to compare and contrast what is said and what is done in Jesus’ name with what Jesus actually did and said.

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I need to download with people! Have you read these books?

• I am in a book club that magically hasn’t met since we read (or didn’t read, lol) The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store. I reread it again because I initially read it last year. I am dying to discuss it with someone. Dodo. Monkeypants. IYKYK!

• A couple of weeks ago, I read Tomi Adayemi’s latest book, Children of Anguish and Anarchy. Did you? What did you think? And did you read or listen to it (I have a theory)?

• I finished Colored Television last week and…I miss the characters?

  Joshunda Sanders
  ’ note…

…gave me the nudge I needed to read it. Thank you! Have y’all picked it up yet? (And is the author gunning for Kenya Barris or is it just me thinking that?)

• This week, I finished The New Menopause (which is really informative—I will be referring to it again and again), which I paired with Ageless Aging and Grown Woman Talk because honeeeeeeyyyyyyy, perimenopause. I read Ageless Aging to see into the future! I need to know what elders think of this aging process. I found it to be most useful for me when it was informational. So many of the health remedies (like oxygen chambers and electronic pulse stimulation therapy, for example), though, were clearly aimed at people with money and good insurance. Grown Woman Talk was also really informative: there’s a section on creating a health family tree that is brilliant. Sometimes I felt like she was wagging her metaphorical finger at me, but I support Black women seeking to support Black women in eating well, exercising, and being proactive with our health (I can’t hear that message often enough).

• I just finished Norse Mythology today (I listened to Neil Gaiman’s narration and adored it). I just love myths and what they tell us about the people who tell and retell the stories.

1

Last time I wrote, Marcellus Williams was still alive. Last time I wrote, Lebanon was becoming a war zone and Palestine was being bulldozed. Last time I wrote, Haitians were being attacked for existing. Since I last wrote, a vice presidential debate put a congenial face on anti-immigrant hatred. Since I last wrote, a few more indictments were added to the man who called himself Love, who drugged and trafficked and raped many, many people, and was enabled to do so by many, many more. Since I last wrote, a few more megachurch pastors have been removed, not for hypocrisy, but for getting caught. I won’t pretend this is normal. I will remain shocked. I will remain vigilant. I will lament, and resist, and love as best I can. I know most of you will, too.

2. It’s a lil gift book of prayers and poems for Black women. It doesn’t come out until next May. It has very unserious and silly parts and parts that are quite sacred to me. I get sweaty every time I mention it because prayer is personal and I feel mad exposed. But that’s the act of writing, ain’t it.

3. “I know that the Lord has given you this land and that a great fear of you has fallen on us, so that all who live in this country are melting in fear because of you. We have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to Sihon and Og, the two kings of the Amorites east of the Jordan, whom you completely destroyed. When we heard of it, our hearts melted in fear and everyone’s courage failed because of you, for the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below.” Rahab said this in Joshua 2:9-11.

4. I may be biased, and I don’t know what happened on that threshing floor, but Boaz saw a foreign woman (Ruth) gleaning in his fields and protected her—in a time where exploitation and rape was often the fate of foreign women. He heard the story — and the cost — of giving land and inheritance back to Ruth’s mother-in-law, Naomi, and enthusiastically paid it, marrying Ruth and securing a financial future for her and Naomi. He is one of the most selfless men in the Bible. Even when he was a lil tipsy, he was honorable. He was raised by Rahab, another foreign woman who was shrewd, discerning, and loyal to God and family—so he knew a good woman when he saw one.

5. Matthew 1:5