Breaking the Bread

Steve's brother is going on an Emmaus walk this weekend, and Steve is his sponsor. Steve is also serving on the walk as a table leader. Part of the send off on Thursdays is a sponsor's hour in the chapel. Since Steve is on the team, he was with the pilgrims in the conference room, so I got to be the "substitute sponsor" during sponsor hour.

That service includes communion. The communion devotion was based on the idea that communion has four parts:

• Taking the bread
• Breaking the bread
• Blessing the bread
• Giving the bread

The minister serving communion compared this to what happens to up -- we are taken by God, broken, blessed and then given by Him in service to other people.

I have to admit that that idea bothers me. Is it wrong of me to be bothered by the idea that God "breaks" us? I know that I've heard it before, but I don't like it.

Matthew 7:9-11: "Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!

I think about my children, teaching them and raising them. I have no desire to "break" them. If I know how to be a parent, then I'm certain that God does. He will transform me, recreate me, change my heart, change my mind, melt me, mold me, and love me, but breaking connotes destruction. I think that it is the wrong word for how God takes his children and moves them toward perfection and wholeness.

Image: Broken bread from prayer vigil