Take This Bread: A Radical ConversionRandom House Publishing Group, 19. nov 2008 - 320 pages “Mine is a personal story of an unexpected and terribly inconvenient Christian conversion, told by a very unlikely convert.” –Sara Miles Raised as an atheist, Sara Miles lived an enthusiastically secular life as a restaurant cook and a writer. Then early one winter morning, for no earthly reason, she wandered into a church. “I was certainly not interested in becoming a Christian,” she writes, “or, as I thought of it rather less politely, a religious nut.” But she ate a piece of bread, took a sip of wine, and found herself radically transformed. The mysterious sacrament of communion has sustained Miles ever since, in a faith she’d scorned, in work she’d never imagined. In this astonishing story, she tells how the seeds of her conversion were sown, and what her life has been like since she took that bread. A lesbian left-wing journalist who covered revolutions around the world, Miles was not the woman her friends expected to see suddenly praising Jesus. She was certainly not the kind of person the government had in mind to run a “faith-based charity.” Religion for her was not about angels or good behavior or piety; it was about real hunger, real food, and real bodies. Before long, she turned the bread she ate at communion into tons of groceries, piled on the church’s altar to be given away. The first food pantry she established provided hundreds of poor, elderly, sick, deranged, and marginalized people with lifesaving food and a sense of belonging. Within a few years, the loaves had multiplied, and she and the people she served had started nearly a dozen more pantries. Take This Bread is rich with real-life Dickensian characters–church ladies, child abusers, millionaires, schizophrenics, bishops, and thieves–all blown into Miles’s life by the relentless force of her newfound calling. She recounts stories about trudging through the rain in housing projects, wiping the runny nose of a psychotic man, storing a battered woman’s .375 Magnum in a cookie tin. She writes about the economy of hunger and the ugly politics of food; the meaning of prayer and the physicality of faith. Here, in this achingly beautiful, passionate book, is the living communion of Christ. “The most amazing book.” – Anne Lamott |
From inside the book
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... faith and politics as they were meant to be . " NORA GALLAGHER , author of Changing Light " The finest confession of faith I've read in years.
... faith and politics as they were meant to be . " NORA GALLAGHER , author of Changing Light " The finest confession of faith I've read in years.
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... faith . " -Publishers Weekly " [ Take This Bread is ] engaging , funny , and highly entertaining , including many surprises as well as the occasional wrong turn . Compelling reading . " -Booklist " This book is a stunner . Beautifully ...
... faith . " -Publishers Weekly " [ Take This Bread is ] engaging , funny , and highly entertaining , including many surprises as well as the occasional wrong turn . Compelling reading . " -Booklist " This book is a stunner . Beautifully ...
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... Faith and Politics 159 Chapter 16 Words and Acts 169 Chapter 17 The Desert 179 Chapter 18 Manna . 198 Chapter 19 Misfits 207 Chapter 20 Cooking with My Brother II 218 Chapter 21 Rites 227 Chapter 22 Multiplying the Loaves . Chapter 23 ...
... Faith and Politics 159 Chapter 16 Words and Acts 169 Chapter 17 The Desert 179 Chapter 18 Manna . 198 Chapter 19 Misfits 207 Chapter 20 Cooking with My Brother II 218 Chapter 21 Rites 227 Chapter 22 Multiplying the Loaves . Chapter 23 ...
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... faith I'd scorned and work I'd never imagined . The mysterious sacrament turned out to be not a symbolic wafer at all but actual food indeed , the bread of life . In that shocking moment of communion , filled with a deep desire to reach ...
... faith I'd scorned and work I'd never imagined . The mysterious sacrament turned out to be not a symbolic wafer at all but actual food indeed , the bread of life . In that shocking moment of communion , filled with a deep desire to reach ...
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... faith - based charity . " My own family never imagined that I'd wind up preaching the Word of God and serving communion to a hymn - singing flock . But as well as an intimate memoir of personal conversion , mine is a political story ...
... faith - based charity . " My own family never imagined that I'd wind up preaching the Word of God and serving communion to a hymn - singing flock . But as well as an intimate memoir of personal conversion , mine is a political story ...
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Common terms and phrases
altar American Anglican Communion asked baptism believe Bible blessing body bread and wine called Central America Christ Christian church communion congregation cook Corpus Christi massacre crazy David deacons Derek Donald door El Salvador Episcopal Episcopalians Eucharist faith feed felt Food Bank food pantry Friday friends Fromberg God's going Gregory of Nyssa Gregory's groceries hands happened healing holy huge hunger hungry Ignacio Martín-Baró Jeff Jesus Katie kids kitchen knew learned listening liturgy lived looked lunch Lynn Martha meal meant Michael mother Nicaragua Nirmala Okay once ory's panettone Paul politics poor Potrero Hill pray prayer priest pupusas religion religious restaurant Rick San Francisco Sandinista sang Sasha share singing smiled someone started Steve strangers Sunday Susan Kellerman talk tell thing thought told took trying volunteers waiting walked wanted week who'd woman words
Popular passages
Page 6 - Waft, waft, ye winds, his story, And you, ye waters, roll, Till, like a sea of glory, It spreads from pole to pole; Till...
Page 3 - From Greenland's icy mountains ; From India's coral strand ; Where Afric's sunny fountains Roll down their golden sand ; From many an ancient river ; From many a palmy plain ; They call us to deliver Their land from error's chain.
Page 79 - And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me." In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.
Page 224 - O Lord our God, King of the Universe] who brings forth bread from the earth.
Page 235 - Make their life together a sign of Christ's love to this sinful and broken world, that unity may overcome estrangement, forgiveness heal guilt, and joy conquer despair.
Page 86 - defined in these surveys as people who said they have made a personal commitment to Jesus Christ that is still important in their life today and who also indicated they believe that when they die they will go to Heaven because they had confessed their sins and had accepted Jesus Christ as their savior.
Page 86 - Christ lived a sinless life on earth; and describing God as the all-knowing, all-powerful, perfect deity who created the universe and still rules it...
Page 83 - James, and then to all the apostles; -and last of all he appeared to me too; it was as though I was born when no one expected it...
Page 86 - Christ that is still important in [his or her] life today," and agree that "when I die, I will go to Heaven because I have confessed my sins and have accepted Jesus Christ as my savior.