The Reed of God ~ Reading for Week I

As a clear and untilled space thou madest the divine ear of corn to burst forth; hail, thou living table having space for the Bread of Life; hail, perennial Fountain of living water.                                                                           The Akathist Hymn

The picture above shows the flyleaf of my copy of The Reed of God which I bought at a used book sale years ago. I like it because the previous owner's name is so biblical. Maybe his middle name is Hadadrimmon. I like that name because it's in one of my favorite passages from the Old Testament, Zechariah 12:11, "On that day the mourning in Jerusalem will be as great as the mourning for Hadadrimmon in the plain of Megiddo." I keep meaning to look for ways to use that phrase. I don't know if you can see the address on that label at the top of the page, but if you can, don't use it. I haven't lived there in fourteen years.

So now, down to business. This week we will discuss Part One of The Reed of God (Emptiness, Fiat, Advent). I will write some kind of introduction on Sunday, and then we can discuss that section through the week. This is NOT, however, a cut and dried assignment. If that's too much for you to read in a week, don't let that deter you from joining in. Read what you can. Participate when you can. The last thing I want is for anyone to think this is overwhelming. The idea is to create a peaceful space in the havoc, not to increase the havoc. I probably won't even finish that much before I write the introduction, although I'm listening to the book on Audible while I'm working or driving, so maybe I will. You, however, don't need to read it all before Sunday, just 6 or 7 short pages a day (in my edition) beginning Sunday.

If you have looked through the book you will recognize the above quote from the flyleaf before Part I. If you are interested, you can read more about the Akathist Hymn here.

See you Sunday! I'm really looking forward to this.

AMDG