“One day a huge crowd came to hear Jesus talk about the amazing power of God’s love. Thousands showed up. Adults, teenagers, and children all wanted to see Jesus. Jesus led them all up to the top of a high mountain, and he talked to them all day long about how much God loves us. There was a problem though. It got late and the people began to get hungry for dinner. On the top of the mountain there were no stores, and certainly no restaurants. There was practically nothing to eat. And even though the people loved listening to Jesus…their bellies started to rumble. And the littlest kids…well, they started to fuss a bit.”

So, I put together a little book…

As many of you probably know my wife and I have two girls, and like many young parents these days we spend the last moments of the day with them reading—either us reading to them, or vice versa.

Some years ago I put together a small book on Holy Communion, which I had made up for my own kids and the children of the parish that I serve. I wanted something that I could read with my children that would give them the basics of the story of Jesus, the story of the Last Supper, and make the connections between those stories and what we do week-by-week in church.

I took some of the feedback that my toughest critics (my children!) gave me, and I reworked that little book from the ground up, and thus was born Breaking Bread Together.

I am convinced that the most important venue for Christian Education is the home. An hour or two a week at church just isn’t enough to ground our children in the Way of Jesus. If you don’t believe me, try imagining your local Board of Education proposing all math instruction to take place in an hour a week.

There would be pitchforks and torches, I promise you!

No, our children need the grounding of a weekly worshipping and educating community, but we also need to be teaching and forming at home too.

Breaking Bread Together is a short book which tells the stories of the feeding of the multitudes, the Last Supper, and the road to Emmaus in a simple, easy-to-grasp manner. And then it makes simple connections between those stories and our celebrations of the Holy Eucharist.

Now, this isn’t a post-doctoral teaching aid, going into the differences between transubstantiation and consubstantiation, and nor does it go into the intricacies of the Doctrine of Concomitance—that’s my next children’s book.

😉

No, this is a simple book, with simple illustrations, which if it became a part of your family’s weekly reading repertoire, might just help you and your family grow in the practice of Eucharist. Together.

It’s currently available in print at Amazon and Barnes and Noble, and as an eBook for Kindle. If you’d like to purchase in “bulk” for your Sunday School class, please let me know, and I’ll make you a deal. If you’re a struggling mission parish with limited resources, you can let me know that too, and I’ll try and send you a few copies free of charge. (While supplies last!…)

And, if you’re curious as to what it’s all about before you purchase 200 copies for your Sunday School class, you can let me know, and I’ll send you a PDF of the book. (Provided you don’t hit “print” 200 times…!)

I’m also busy working on a three-session “curriculum” to accompany the book, for use in a Sunday School or “First Communion” class. When it’s finished, it will be available here free of charge.

If you do read it please let me know what you think. Especially let me know what the children think!

(And I’ll get to work right away on “Fun With the Doctrine of Concomitance!”)