The writer as reader

A writer is, first and last, a reader. Who do you write for? Gertrude Stein was asked, and famously replied, “Myself and strangers.” That self, the reader-self who is allied with strangers, may be a writer’s better half, more detached, more trustworthy, than the writing self who swaggers through a lifetime of prose. It is difficult—and diminishing—to separate the self who writes from the one who reads. Both acts belong to the communion of the word, which is a writer’s life.

Patricia Hampl, I Could Tell You Stories: Sojourns in the Land of Memory

Happy Chinese New Year!

The most festive days of the Chinese calendar are upon us! To all who celebrate this feast, may the Year of the Ox bring you much happiness and prosperity.

Posting will probably be sparse over the next few days to make way for rituals and family visitations. Although its celebration in our household is somewhat muted this year because we are still in the period of mourning for my mom, we are observing many of the traditional customs proper to this 15-day festival. In case you didn’t already know, most of it involves food, food and more food!

Gong Xi Fa Cai!

Indian and Armenian Orthodoxy on OCN

Joseph alerted me to the latest episode of OCN’s Come Receive the Light, which features the Indian and Armenian Orthodox Churches. You can listen to it on the show’s page, or download the mp3 directly here.

This day in history

On Friday, which is the sixth day, wicked men set up the cross of the Most High, and on Friday again they pierced His side with a lance and there flowed from it for us blood and water of life, halleluia, in propitiation for the peoples, who confessed and believed in Him.

Tell me, Friday, why is there great honour to you among the Churches? “On me was created Adam, the head of mankind, and on me he entered Paradise and the Watchers bowed down before him, halleluia, and on me was crucified the First-born, who redeemed the world.”

From Morning Prayer (Saphro) of Friday, in The Book of Common Prayer of the Syrian Church, trans. Bede Griffiths (Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias, 2005).

Adapted 2009 Bible Reading Plan

It turned out to be a bit harder than I’d imagined, and the final product is quite different than the plan designed by Kevin and Esteban. Basically, I amended one of their NRSV plans in which the two Testaments are read concurrently.

A few things to note:

• My greatest priority was to come up with something reasonable and doable for me. You might find it suitable for you, or you might decide that the original plan works better.
• The plan is set to begin this Sunday, January 25th so that the reader is not discouraged by being behind right away. It’s never too late to start reading the Bible!
• The order of Old Testament readings follows the Septuagint-based one proposed by Kevin.
• The entire New Testament is read through only once (instead of thrice, as in Kevin’s original plan), with the Gospels repeated at the end.

Well, I hope someone else will find it useful as well. Happy reading!

Click here to download the adapted plan in PDF format.