Take This Bread

[Gregory_de_Bois]

The Lord is truly Good. Take This Bread, by Sarah Miles, is a beautiful book. It should be added to the Christian Canon. It is AMAZING!! Okay, enough basking.

The book is about how Sarah Miles became involved in St. Gregory of Nyssa Episcopal Church in San Francisco. She was an atheist, a war reporter, an activist, and an intellectual of sorts. And then one day, as she puts it, she walked into a church and took communion and everything changed.

Sarah Miles is basically a lesbian Anne Lamott. I don't know what else to say. Has anyone else read this book? If you haven't I suggest it. Having read it, I now want to change the world, I have a greater respect for tradition, the Eucharist, and all things related.

[HarmlessEccentric]

Every time I take communion in my church, I feel connected to the Christian church at large. All around the world, there are people in churches that wouldn't welcome me in their church, and on Sunday, we're all sharing in Christ's table together. The Church belongs to Jesus, not to Christians, and it's Jesus who invites us to his table, whether the other guests like it or not; I take a lot of comfort in that. Fred Phelps and I are gathered at the same table, whether he wants me there or not. Taking the bread and grape juice (hee- I'm Methodist) can be a revolutionary act for me, sometimes.

[pnggrad79]

Every time I take communion in my church, I feel connected to the Christian church at large. All around the world, there are people in churches that wouldn't welcome me in their church, and on Sunday, we're all sharing in Christ's table together. The Church belongs to Jesus, not to Christians, and it's Jesus who invites us to his table, whether the other guests like it or not; I take a lot of comfort in that. Fred Phelps and I are gathered at the same table, whether he wants me there or not. Taking the bread and grape juice (hee- I'm Methodist) can be a revolutionary act for me, sometimes.

Harmless,
I don't mean to disagree with you and you might call it semantics but... The Church is the PEOPLE. Now I agree wholeheartedly that the Church has done a poor job of representing Christ, his love, his inclusive nature and his redemption of us all. The Church is the people who claim to be Christ's followers. I would argue that at times we belong to Christ, but most of the time, I think we relegate ourselves a place away from the table. Only by God's grace do we warrant a place at the table. Because we sure as hell don't deserve it. Until the Church starts acting like it represents God's love for mankind, then I would be ashamed if Christ came back today and looked around only to find that the institution he left behind to spread his love, does nothing but throw people it doesn't like out of the house and says they aren't welcome. That is not Christ's love.

[Pablo Rafael]

Greg,

Thanks for the reading suggestion. I will get it from the library. (I am wondering how long before they tell me I'm overusing my inter-library loan priviledges. :D)

I feel that the Eucharist is a special connection that God makes to me. Through it he shows his love to me. The Eucharist is a very vital part my Catholic faith. I am anxious to read the book.

Pablo