Here is bread

Here is bread that speaks of love;
your body broken for a guilty world,
for a guilty world.
Hungry, we come to feed on you;
manna from heaven, giving strength anew,
giving strength anew.

Lord, by your cross and resurrection you have freed us.
And now we know that you're the Saviour of the world.
Open our eyes to see you here with us
and burn within our hearts,
risen Lord, risen Lord.

Here is wine that tells of grace;
your blood outpoured to cover all our shame,
to cover all our shame.
Thirsty, we come to drink from you;
fountain of life, our souls you will renew,
our souls you will renew.

Grace, such grace!
Here, we find grace!

Here we are, your body, Lord,
given that all the world might be restored,
the world might be restored.
Offering now the lives we live;
freely you gave, and freely we will give,
freely we will give.

My own love and appreciation of the gift of Holy Communion has grown enormously over the past decade. For a long time, I have been seeking to capture something of the richness of what Communion expresses within a song.

I wanted the majority of the song to focus on the sheer grace of God, as we recall in Communion the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and are nourished through the taking of bread and wine. However, I am also challenged by the words of St Augustine: "You are the body of Christ. In you and through you the work of the incarnation must go forward. You are to be taken; you are to be blessed, broken, and given; that you may be the means of grace and the vehicles of the Eternal love. Behold what you are. Become what you receive.” The third verse of this song seeks to capture something of this sense of us being offered as the body of Christ for the sake of the world.