Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf.
I Corinthians 10:16-17
The theme of bread as a gift and as a miracle is strong in both the Old and the New Testaments. Whether it is the manna in the wilderness in the time of Moses referred to by Paul earlier in this chapter or the loaves that fed five thousand as people gathered to hear Jesus it sustained and unified the people for whom it was a heavenly gift. For the people closest to Jesus in his ministry the bread of passover was the last meal shared with Him and the one we are asked to remember as a sacrament each Maundy Thursday and every time we celebrate the Eucharist.
Of all the church participation in my life, reading and teaching and assisting in communion, the most powerful experience has been offering to my friends and neighbors, my fellow congregants, the bread and wine of communion. Each time it brings the presence of Jesus, as he promised, and unity with each other. It binds us into one, one loaf, not only with the people at the rail that moment but with all who have ever received the bread in His name any time in the past, and with all who are receiving it around the world. Each time changes me from one person with cares and worries and self-centeredness into a vehicle used by the Holy Spirit to bind His people of all times and nations into one, one loaf, belonging to the one true God Paul was entreating the Corinthians to carefully and devotedly follow.
Susan Tabatsko
