The Breaking of the Bread

In the awesome name of God,
in the victorious name of Jesus,
in the mysterious name of the Spirit,
we acknowledge our God
and we wait;
we are still
we are silent
and we wait.

We wait for the sounds of God
and the sounds of the sacrament:
the breaking of bread
and gushing of wine
the pain of sorrow
and the pulse of hope
the echo of our name
and the bread in our teeth
a cup on our lips
and breathing at our side
as we wait for the sounds of God
the breaking of bread
and the gushing of wine.

We hear sounds in the distance:
the vibration of human lives
the crackle of fear
and the murmur of distrust
the scramble for rice
and the tearing of garbage
the shuffle of withered limbs
and the sigh of rich tourists
the growl of empty bodies
and the splash of spent blood
the breaking of the bread
and the gushing of the wine.

We hear the snarl of a bullet
and the snap of a trigger
the sudden yell of unseen mines
the cough of smoking ruins
the whisper of desolation
and the silence of a lifeless field
the breaking of bread
the gushing of the wine.

We hear the bleating of the lamb
and the breaking of the womb
the death of the lamb
and the breaking of the tomb
a word that was healing
and a God that was feeling
in the breaking of bread
and the gushing of the wine.

And we will wait for the bursting of joy
and the glow of children’s faces
and the dancing of willows
and the surprise of open lives
the shout of mountains
and the laughter of a second birth
the leap of our spirit
and the swirl of celebration
in the breaking of bread
and the gushing of wine.

– Garry Trompf, Your Will be Done, Christian Conference of Asia Youth 1984

Taken from Janet Morley’s Bread of Tomorrow