A eucharistic hymn

Bread sustains our human bodies,
keeps our mortal flesh alive.
Sharing bread, we can empow’r our
global neighbours to survive.
Round your table, God, we gather
your new life to recognise.
Teach us always how to view your
world with eucharistic eyes.

Wine enables celebration,

calling us to jubilee,
changing eating into dining,
building close community.
Round your table, God, we gather
your new life to recognise.
Teach us always how to view your
world with eucharistic eyes.

Jesus calls us, as his people,

eucharistic folk to be:
sharing both the bread of struggle
and the wine of unity.
Round your table, God, we gather
your new life to recognise.
Teach us always how to view your
world with eucharistic eyes.

Copyright Ó Robert J. Faser, 2001 (Permission is granted to use this hymn during worship in a local congregation / worshipping group, provided that acknowledgement is made.)

Tunes:        Ode to Joy (TiS 152), Abbot’s Leigh (TiS 153)

In this eucharistic hymn, I begin with the everyday uses of bread and of wine as the starting-point for my reflection on the eucharist, noting that (at the holiest moment of our worship) the Christian church is a community of people who shares food.

For most of us, bread, as a staple food, is a sign of survival.  Sharing bread is a sign of sharing the basics of survival.  Sharing bread in the context of worship declares that we are a community that affirms an intimate connection between our worship of God and our sharing with our neighbour; whether the neighbours are nearby or far away.

For many of us, wine is associated with our times of celebration, and with the occasions in which we build community.  Sharing wine in the context of worship declares that we are a community that affirms an intimate connection between our worship of God and our life together.