"You are the Bread"

Yesterday in worship, I sang in our Easter Cantata- a beautiful arrangement of music and narration that takes you through Holy Week- Palm Sunday through Easter morning. There was one song in particular that I fell in love with called, "You Are the Bread." The first time I sang through it, I had this overwhelming sense of my Christian faith that is strongly rooted in my former Jewish faith. I had this feeling of wholeness and thankfulness that these words had such a rich meaning to me. This was because the song actually uses the traditional Jewish prayer over the bread and wine during a Sabbath Meal, blended with the theology of Holy Communion and the words of the Last Supper, a Passover Seder. Here are the words: You can listen to our choir sing it HERE.

(Words and music by Ruth Schram)

We come to your table, to take of the bread and the wine
We come to your table to know you, to share the divine
To hear once again of your grace, of the Passover lamb, sacrifice, and redemption
Your merciful plan from before time began, from before time began

You are the bread (blessed art thou O Lord of God, king of the universe who bringest forth bread from the earth)
You are the bread of life, take and eat, never hunger again
You are the wine (Blessed are thou O Lord our God, king of the universe, Creator of the fruit of the vine)
You are the wine, the blood that is shed
You are the bread