Four Types of Bread
a satire
Bread One "Can my communion bread be deep-fried and sprinkled with cinnamon sugar? I prefer the kind filled with cream and wrapped in krinkley paper. Someone usually brings them to church, but there's always a shop on the corner pumping perfume into the streets. That’s feel good food, that is. Don't tell me about the calories. I eat because I like to not as a way to survive." Bread Two "That sweet stuff's not for me. Don't put fruit or nuts in my bread. Give me the plain stuff—pure manna. That was good enough for Israel, so it’s good enough for me. No fluff, gimmick, or disguise. And don't say my tastes are old. Repetition is faithfulness in action. I'm eating because it's right, and you should too." Bread Three "Eating is a fascinating experience, and of course, I do it to live. But it's the science that interests me. Let us measure, analyze, and discuss. Taste and preference are asides when I touch without seeing, chew without feeling, and eat without tasting. I eat for the mental exercise. But you do you.” Bread Four "I hastily eat what's hastily given from the drive-thru window for we are on the go, and we know we've not much time to eat. I pass back the fries, the drinks, and the toy. I’ll vacuum the car tomorrow with a snack in my pocket, I eat to do my work late into the night.
Afterthought
These four types of bread represent what we accept from the Lord to live on. Communion isn’t merely the eucharist or church or reading the Bible, but rather how we take in all God’s Word. This includes how we receive the Bible, the people God places in our lives, the reality of the world around us, and the message of the cross, that is, Christ and our suffering.
Those who prefer Bread One accept from God only what feels good. Those who prefer Bread Two believe that following a traditional, dutiful religion is the best way to live. Those who eat Bread Three (my personal favorite) prefer a mental exercise disconnected from feelings and senses. And Bread Four eaters see Christianity as a necessary pit stop to get stuff done and keep busy.
What’s the right way to take in communion? Good question.
I don’t think I could write a stanza on the “right” way to take communion because our daily bread comes to us in different ways. It comes as sweet things, such as the sound of my sons reading together on the couch. I received that moment as a gift from God. Sometimes our communion bread comes as a faithful duty to perform, such as attending a Bible study consistently, ordering groceries, or politely listening to someone. Sometimes our communion bread is a mental exercise, such as reflecting on why my daughter’s sass really got my goat the other day. And yes, sometimes our communion bread is hastily taken in the pursuit of something else. It’s all part of eating, and by faith, the Lord can use all of it to feed and grow us.
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