Take This Piece of Bread

Take this piece of bread
As a symbol of my body.
When you eat it,
Think of me,
And remember who I am,
Who I am.

Take this cup of wine
As a symbol of my life’s blood.
When you drink it,
Think of me,
And remember who I am,
Who I am.

What we shared last night was close to perfect,
But where have they gone?
Don’t they know Who I Am?

About This Song:
The year was 1972. Jesus Christ Superstar was at the height of its popularity, and I loved the music as much as anyone. I just disagreed with some of its theology. Uh, a lot of it, actually.

So I wrote a one-hour Christian rock opera I called The Identity of Divinity–or ID for short. I used it to “straighten out” the bad theology of Superstar.

I was still teaching 9th grade English, and I arranged to use the gym/auditorium at my school one evening to present a single performance of The Identity of Divinity, using students, folks from church, and even people from the community at large.

I have fond memories of the multitude of rehearsals involved. Getting the nearly fifty people involved together at one time was a major accomplishment. Thankfully, most of the practices involved much smaller groups.

Although this song obviously refers to Jesus’ words when He served his disciples the commemorative meal we refer to as “The Lord’s Supper” or “Communion,” I use that one last bit of the song to indicate that Jesus was remembering that last meal with His disciples while dying on the cross. And that He was very conscious of how most of His disciples had deserted Him.

I’ve noticed on Facebook that a number of my former students are Christians. I would like to believe that The Identity of Divinity played a role in their spiritual growth. And that the songs I post on this blog are contributing to your spiritual growth as well.

You can find a free PDF lead sheet (chords, melody, & lyrics) for this song on my website. Check here for all available lead sheets. And don’t forget to check the archives for other songs that might be similar in theme to this one.

Please come back again on Wednesday for another song. Better yet, subscribe to receive each week’s two posts by email.

Best regards,
Roger

About Roger E. Bruner

Seventy-five-year-old Roger E. Bruner is the author and publisher of twenty Christian novels and the writer of more than two hundred Christian songs and choruses, a handful of musical dramas, and a number of shorter works. He sings, plays guitar and bass, and records his original songs in his home studio. He is active in his church's nursing home ministry He also plays bass guitar on the church raise team. Married for seventeen years to Kathleen, he has one grown daughter. Kathleen has two. Roger enjoys reading, moderate exercise, photography and book cover design (he's done all of his own except for Rosa No-Name), playing Snood, making walking sticks, and complaining about the state of the nation while continuing to pray for it.

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