This Bread, This Cup

Derrel Emmerson, April 2020

               This Bread

               Take this bread.  It is my body.

               Take this bread.  It is now yours-

               Take this bread.  made from grain: This Bread

               Take this bread.  Take this bread.  It is my body.

               Take this bread.  It is now yours-

               Take this bread.  made from grain:

               Take this bread.  cut, harvested by rough hands,

               Take this bread.  rolled under the wheels of commerce,

               Take this bread.  threshed by rough and fickle hands,

               Take this bread.  ground beneath the stones,

                sacked,

                 sifted,

                  spilled,

                   mixed,

                    kneaded,

                     rolled,

                       formed,

                        fired

                and torn.

               Now...take this bread,

               Take and eat:

               devour,

                 ingest,

                   partake,

               until it dissolves,

                    infuses

               and becomes your flesh

               and you who eat

               are one with me

               and one another.

               Remember,

                I am with you,

                in you

                and among you.

               This Cup

               This cup is the new covenant in my blood:

               redemption,

               freedom,

               your life in my nation.

               Drink this cup,

               All of you.

               Let it flow down,

               drizzle down your chins

               fill every cell

               like a flood

               flowing freely.

               It is free.

               It is me.

               It is heaven's bounty.

               Remember,

                I am with you,

                in you

                and among you.

                  derrel emmerson