Take This Bread

A Radical Conversion

By: Sara Miles

Narrated by: Nicole Poole

Length: 8 hrs and 52 mins

Publisher's summary

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.

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.

©2007 Sara Miles (P)2016 Tantor

Critic reviews

"Engaging, funny, and highly entertaining." (Booklist)

I needed this!

This pandemic and political time have left me confused and exhausted about “what is a Christian and who is Christian” even though I’ve considered myself one for 67 years. But I see other Christians and cannot identify with some of them and their rules and beliefs, especially the groups of people they say are not worthy to be part of their belief system. Sara’s story has taught me that being a Christian is messy and there isn’t just one way to follow God. I need to be ok with my way, and do my best to practice loving kindness towards others and their way. Thank you Sara and to my Pastor who recommended your book.

Beautiful. insightful. inspired.

Sara writes about food as meeting with God. I was taken in a journey into practical faith, and shown things that I hadn't previously seen and church. eucharist, food and God.

phenomenal

This book is realistic on what it truly means to be a Christian while also being human.

Powerful! A fresh look at being a Christ follower!

If you could sum up Take This Bread in three words, what would they be?

Truth. Powerful. Jesus.

What other book might you compare Take This Bread to and why?

The Bible...because I think Sara's story captures what it really means to "feed my sheep," and to stand in the overflow of Jesus' grace.

Which scene was your favorite?

There's a line when others are making excuses about why the idea of a food pantry wouldn't work at the church....and Sara says, "what would Jesus F@#!ing do!?!" I love it!

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

When Sara went into the church and took communion...and Jesus changed her life!

Any additional comments?

Such a fantastic story of how to allow the gospel to change one's heart and mind...and to put words and thoughts into actions regardless of what others think.

Excellent memoir of faith!

So many fascinating layers--from battlefield to kitchen, from impoverished neighbors to entitled believers, from belief to action to life, this book is a bountiful table set for all.

Thot-provoking story, worth reading / listening.

Book changed how I think about participation... and I have participated in many groups and with many kinds of topics. It reminds me of how I felt after reading Slum-Dog Millionaire. It had the same (for me) "aha!" ... this is how I got here feeling. So many times in life we see the finished product but not the journey to get there.