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Take This Bread: A Radical Conversion
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Average Rating:  out of 27 Reviews
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Price: $24.95
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Sale: $8.00
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Manufacturer: Ballantine Books
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EAN (European Article Number): 9780345486929
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Number of Items: 1
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Binding: Hardcover
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Author: Sara Miles
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Publisher: Ballantine Books
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Edition: 1
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Dewey Decimal Number: 277.3083092
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Publication Date: 2007-02-20
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Reading Level: 304
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Description: “Mine is a personal story of an unexpected and terribly inconvenient Christian conversion, told by a very unlikely convert.”
–Sara Miles
Raised as an atheist, Sara Miles lived an enthusiastically secular life as a restaurant cook and a writer. Then early one winter morning, for no earthly reason, she wandered into a church. “I was certainly not interested in becoming a Christian,” she writes, “or, as I thought of it rather less politely, a religious nut.” But she ate a piece of bread, took a sip of wine, and found herself radically transformed.
The mysterious sacrament of communion has sustained Miles ever since, in a faith she’d scorned, in work she’d never imagined. In this astonishing story, she tells how the seeds of her conversion were sown, and what her life has been like since she took that bread.
A lesbian left-wing journalist who covered revolutions around the world, Miles was not the woman her friends expected to see suddenly praising Jesus. She was certainly not the kind of person the government had in mind to run a “faith-based charity.” Religion for her was not about angels or good behavior or piety; it was about real hunger, real food, and real bodies. Before long, she turned the bread she ate at communion into tons of groceries, piled on the church’s altar to be given away. The first food pantry she established provided hundreds of poor, elderly, sick, deranged, and marginalized people with lifesaving food and a sense of belonging. Within a few years, the loaves had multiplied, and she and the people she served had started nearly a dozen more pantries.
Take This Bread is rich with real-life Dickensian characters–church ladies, child abusers, millionaires, schizophrenics, bishops, and thieves–all blown into Miles’s life by the relentless force of her newfound calling. She recounts stories about trudging through the rain in housing projects, wiping the runny nose of a psychotic man, storing a battered woman’s .375 Magnum in a cookie tin. She writes about the economy of hunger and the ugly politics of food; the meaning of prayer and the physicality of faith. Here, in this achingly beautiful, passionate book, is the living communion of Christ.
“The most amazing book.” – Anne Lamott
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Customer Reviews
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Review Summary: Faith and Action blend well together in this book. |
Date: 2008-03-19 |
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Details: From the moment I began reading to the last page I was hooked. I think this is a book that every church should own and require all outreach workers to read. In my view, Ms. Miles grasps and conveys in a succinct and direct manner just what it means to act out one's faith, a faith that has nothing to do with politics or what is expedient, or what will please people the most. There is a need, one responds, and that's all there is to it. Ms. Miles does not romanticize working with the homeless, feeding the hungry. She presents the challenges and difficulties clearly and realistically. This is not "fun" work. It's not meant to be fun. Yet,as I read this, I was struck by her understanding and acceptance as well as the clear conviction that this is what she was meant to do. Again, a very worthwhile read,immensely helpful and hopeful. |
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Review Summary: Bread and God |
Date: 2008-03-16 |
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Details: 'Take this Bread' is a wonderful book, funny and profance and touching. I loved every page. I liked the commentary on the clergy and learned so much about how to love the other. Miles brought me to face my fears. Her take on Christianity as a complex, disturbing, scary way to live is so real. With fine writing she takes us into what it means to incarnate our religion, and it's painful to face that. Luckily, her humilty, mistakes and humor keep us on her side and thinking about how we might go forth too. |
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Review Summary: Take this Bread |
Date: 2008-03-10 |
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Details: "Take This Bread" by Sara Miles is delightful, heartwarming, and a great insight into one spiritual journey. I read it with tears streaming down my cheeks while I laughed out loud at some parts. Truly a gift to those of us who are questioning the Christian Faith and our place in it. The descriptions of St. Gregory's make me want to make a trip from Ohio just to worship with a diverse and interesting congregation. I can feel in inclusiveness of the building and its people, as well as the joy that emanates from them. A book I have ordered in paper in which to write and underline those parts that speak directly to me. Thank you! |
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Review Summary: A testimony of grace... |
Date: 2007-12-30 |
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Details: I friend handed me this book and said I might enjoy it because of my Anglican background. I took it home and read it. My response to the story of this woman's conversion and following growth into a very active ministry was convicting and sometimes infuriating. From other reviews on this page I find I am not alone. I would recommend this book because it is important to know how people view the church (and evangelicals, watch out - she's quite scathing in her opinions) and where one can find grace. I think that her life story is one of grace and no matter how much I agree or disagree with what she says about life issues and doctrines and those of other christian denominations, that is the main issue. The Grace of God is far more amazing than any of us realize. And her life is a great catalyst to continue the conversation of one of the most important of faith issues - loving others.
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Review Summary: Funny. Troubling. Highly Recommended. |
Date: 2007-10-31 |
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Details: Sara Miles, a life-long foodie, is hungry. She wanders the bowels of kitchens, war, and politics in search of sustenance. She finds it finally in the cesspool that is the church, and in those banging at its doors. The place Jesus came to be with the lepers, the outcast, and the possessed. And they are all still there. Sara tells her story with funny and troubling anecdotes about both the nonsense and the overwhelming presence of God found in the players and places of organized religion. The fact is, there are loads of people wandering around longing for meaning, or to be a part of the healing of this planet. But the last place they would expect to find it is the church, which seems so embattled with itself it is essentially worthless: filled with hypocrites, snobs, holier-than-thou's, and exceedingly needy people. This memoir takes us into such a place, recognizes the players for what they are, but then generously asks - So what? Aren't we all a little mad? Come to the table anyway. It will fill you, empty you, and fill you again. I bought ten copies of this book for friends who are living on the edge, not knowing where to look for what it is they are missing. I recommend it highly.
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