Take and eat:  take and meet

This is my body:  I am the bread

The bread of life, the bread of lives

The life of the grain, from seed to proud stalk

I am the life of the farmworker

Who sows and reaps that others might eat

I am the life of the agribusiness executive

Who buys and sells and hires and fires

So that the grain might be grown and sold

I am the teacher who tends the children

Who will grow up to be farmworkers and agribusiness executives

The teacher who plants the seeds of curiousity, kindness, wisdom, and tolerance

So that all might learn to make bread and share it well

Take and eat, this is my body, I am this bread

I am the cashier in the grocery store

Where the teacher and the farmworker and the executive buy their bread

And I am the artist who makes the ads for the grocery store

And I am the accountant who does the taxes for the artist who makes the ads

And I am the nurse who gave a flu shot to the accountant

And I am the retired person who volunteers in the homework help center

at the youth club where the nurse’s child goes after school

Take and eat, I am this bread

I am the person who replaced the worn-out tires on the car that the retired person uses to get to the youth club to do volunteer tutoring

Take me, savor me, enjoy my nourishment

Because you depend on me

Every life that I am is a life that matters

Every morsel of me calls out to be remembered and honored

Every time you gather around the table in my name, take this bread, as Jesus did, and bless it, and break it, and share it all around–

This is my body.