Book Analysis: Take This Bread

I have always found communion to be an important sacrament to the Christian faith, but sometimes its meaning can be lost in repetitiveness. Sara Miles, in her book Take This Bread, has shed a new light on what it means to take communion as she writes about her transformation into being a Christian by receiving bread and wine. Hunger is the main theme of the book, whether it be spiritually or physically, all humans are linked by that common need. This transformation goes beyond her and pours into the souls and bodies of the San Francisco community, by sharing not only food but the body of Christ. This book has pushed me to get past my comfort zone and heavily consider the way in which food can be an important aspect of my faith and how I share

Early on Sara had very secular morals and delved deeply into worldly things, never considering looking to Christ for fulfillment (Miles, 9). Miles wasn’t your typical convert either. She is also a lesbian, not that there is anything at all wrong with that, but that is a very controversial topic within the church. In my own experience, my parents are very conservative and don’t exactly agree with gay rights, but they aren’t hateful toward gays. For a long time I thought this way, that it wasn’t right for them to marry, but I wouldn’t say that God wouldn’t love them because I believed, and do believe that He loves everyone. Recently I have come around to the idea that gays should be able to have equal rights. I think this because in all honesty we really don’t know specifically what God wants here, but we do know that above everything else He wants us to love and respect one another. Adding to that, when we slip up I think that is what allows us to have that “hunger” for Jesus in our lives, because we need to rely on Him. As mentioned before Miles came from an atheist background, but her grandparents were missionaries. Her parents had never liked church, and felt that it was illogical to believe in such ideologies and as a result of that Sara adopted a lot of those values (Miles, 7). In a lot of ways I think Sara is still who she is; curious,

Gregory’s Episcopal Church. She had said that she became overwhelmed by the realization of God and that He became very real to her. Miles also talks about how unbalanced and emotional she was, and didn’t know how to handle herself, but continually came back for more (Miles, 58-59). I love hearing Sara talk about taking communion for the first time because it seems so beautiful, how Jesus was able to move through her and come to life inside of her. There have been a couple of times when I would go on retreats and mission trips and take communion in a more meaningful way because of the people I had become close to and had gotten to know on those trips would be with me. When I am take communion at the First United Methodist Church on a regular Sunday though, it can almost become just a regular thing you do at church without really remembering its sacredness. I still feel it is important, but because I’ve been doing it all my life and I think it is easy to forget all the things tied to it. Overall I feel as though this book has made me explore different ways of being a part of a community and enabled me to see that God works through all of us whether we believe it or not. It’s also extremely refreshing to see Sara’s excitement for her newfound faith and how she deals with the problems thrown at her. In Sara’s case I think God made the impossible possible. This story is an