Customer Reviews

Take This Bread: A Radical Conversion

5 star:		(44)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Sara Miles describes herself as a blue-state, secular intellectual, a lesbian, and a left-wing journalist who developed habits of deep scepticism from covering revolutionary movements in Central America. Her grandparents on both sides were missionaries, but in reaction to that upbringing her parents were actively hostile to religion. So, it's a bit of an understatement that she also describes herself as a "very unlikely convert." But at the age of 46 Miles walked into Saint Gregory's Episcopal Church in San Francisco, partook of the Eucharist, and experienced a radical conversion. She had never heard a Gospel reading, never said the Lord's Prayer, and knew only one person who went to church. Today she is on staff at Saint Gregory's.

That was some eight years ago and only the beginning of further conversions. Building upon her life experiences as a chef, her conversion through the Eucharist, passion for the poor, and the founding vision of St. Gregory's, in 2000 Miles started a food pantry at her church that gave away free groceries (not meals) with no questions asked and no forms to fill out. Each week food for about 400 families was placed around the eucharistic altar. Such was the open communion and unconditional acceptance that she experienced at Saint Gregory's and intended to extend to anyone who was hungry. Through connections with the San Francisco Food Bank, and the generosity of unexpected donors, the miracle of the loaves multiplied and Miles went on to jump start nine more food pantries around the city.

Mundane food for the body became not only a sign of God's kingdom but, as theologians would say, the actual thing signified. Those who received wanted to give. Care for broken spirits accompanied bread for hungry bodies. If you have spent any time in church you will especially appreciate Miles' candid descriptions of the disruptions and divisions that the food pantries caused at Saint Gregory's. At one point more homeless, schizophrenic, and drug-crazed hungry people came to the food pantry than artsy, proper worshippers to the church services. While Miles saw this as a blessing, others saw it as a curse of sorts.

With her story of radical Christian conversion and the incarnation of daily discipleship Miles will join other feminist authors who have earned a broad readership because of the authenticity with which they have written about loving Christ, the church, and the world--Joan Chittister, Nora Gallagher, Anne Lamott, Kathleen Norris, Marilynne Robinson, and Barbara Brown Taylor come to mind. When I finished her book my mind kept returning to Paul's words in 1 Corinthians 4:21, "The kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power," and in Galatians 5:6, "The only thing that matters is faith expressing itself in love."

*****
This is a book about a different kind of Christianity, one based on love and reminiscent of Jesus---authentic and moving---for all of those who are turned off by the religious right and what today passes for the "Good News". It is refreshing and eye-opening to see a secular leftist lesbian experience a radical conversion to Christianity based around feeding others' physical, spiritual and emotional hunger through food pantries. Jesus said "Feed My sheep", and the author does this, and chronicles her journey. She is the kind of Christian I want to be, not hate-based or fear-based or dogma-based, but faithful to the actual Gospel, which is violently at odds with the way faith is sometimes practiced today.

She is Episcopalian, and her sexual identiy as a lesbian (which she retains after her conversion) is peripheral to her story about feeding hungry people. She ministers to "the poor, the weak, the sick and the lonely", and the book chronicles how all this comes about.

This is a great read, one that will make Christians open their eyes, and people of other faiths respect someone who has lived her life in love.
*****

Sara Miles was an unlikely candidate for a religious epiphany--a lesbian, with atheist parents and a journalistic view on life. She had been a restaurant cook and writer.

As she traveled to war-torn countries reporting on the effects of the war on the citizens, and experienced first-hand how people who are worlds apart, and don't speak the same language, can be brought together by the simple act of sharing food, she began to see food as the universal bond that ties us all together.

On her return to San Francisco, she happens upon St. Gregory's Church, a radical Episcopalian church where the founders are trying something new: Breaking down the barriers of the traditional church and inviting its members to take a greater role in the celebration of the Eucharist.

As quoted on her web site: Then early one 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 Sara Miles ate a piece of bread, took a sip of wine, and found herself radically transformed.

Sara is hooked, and is soon a full-fledged member of the church, receiving Communion on a regular basis. Her desire to share the breaking of bread with those less fortunate becomes overwhelming.

Sara sets up the St. Gregory's food pantry--a new idea, where, instead of dishing out meals like soup kitchens, the volunteers allow the poor and needy of the area to maintain their dignity by selecting their own groceries and bringing them home to cook their own meals. In no time, the news of the good work in St. Gregory's has spread among the community, and over 250 people gather outside every week for the pantry.

Through her good work, Sara Miles has set up a number of similar food pantries in San Francisco, helping hundreds of people. This heartwarming, sometimes funny and sometimes sad, story of one woman's plight to bring the church to the people should be an inspiration to all of us to reach out to those around us, and embrace God's children, as he embraces us all.

Armchair Interviews says: One woman's good work is making a huge difference

You know, there are those books you read and quickly forget. There are those books that give you an interesting thought or two. And then there are books that get under your skin and completely and forever change the way you look at things. This is one of the third kind. This book is powerful, it is overwhelming. You can not read this book and approach the Lord's Supper the same way again. You can not read this book and think of Christianity the same way. This book will change you.

It might also bother you, especially if you are an evangelical. Sara is raw. She's rough. She uses language and lives a lifestyle that would make many Christians furrow their brow. She throws out statements like this: "You know," Swami Jeff told me once, "God couldn't care less about the church. We don't understand the Eucharist, or that bread and wine live within us, so we ritualize the things that hold the mystery. We focus on the container and formalize the mystery. But you can't do that." Which is, of course, so wrong in so many ways. God does care about the Church. The Church is God at work in the world. The book of Ephesians rightly teaches that the greatest metaphor for Christ and the Church is a husband and wife (and the metaphor goes the other way, as well). And there are many other things about this book that are so bothersome. And offensive.

And yet, her voice is necessary, because she get so much right. She understands the radical, accepting love of Jesus Christ for this world. She gets that love for Jesus demands a love for all his children. She gets that serving Christ is more important than showing up to church and looking pretty. "Doing the Gospel rather than just quoting it was the best way I could find out what God was up to." She gets that feeding the poor is one of the essentials of following Christ. And she gets the fact that Christ is for the poor, the outcast, the marginalized, the hungry. She understands that the Kingdom of God is right here, right now, right under our noses, if we would only open our eyes to see it. She hammers home the idea that community is core to Christianity - but not the community we choose; it's the community God calls to us, and calls us to. She gets the Modern Church. "My suspicion was that committees in churches served the same purpose as committees in other institutions: They were holding tanks for people who professed interest in an issue but didn't always want to act." And, I've got to tell you, the story of her conversion, of how she walked into church, received Communion, and was overcome by God, is breathtakingly powerful. I wish all could read her story.

In the end, a lot of Christians will be scandalized by much of who she is and what she says There are certainly parts that make me uncomfortable. And yet there is so much to learn here, so much the Church needs to wrestle with, to understand, to hear - it ought to shock Christians right out of their complacency, into a place where they take Jesus' mandate seriously.

This book came recommended by Anne Lamott from the Sun Valley Writer's Conference newsletter. I am so glad I took her up on her suggestion. Sara Miles' conversion story is one of the best books of biblical exegeses I have had the pleasure to read.

Her childhood was liberal and void of relgion. But the hunger to be spiritually fed was always present. In her thirties she stumbles across an episcopal church in San Francisco and for the first time takes the bread and wine of the Eucharist. Her feeling of being fed by Christ - being welcome to sit at His table - is profound and life changing. She passionately shows us how we are all welcome to Christ's table to be nourished and fed despite our brokenness, weakness, intolerance, and just plain humanness. And we are called to nourish and feed others, those that are easy to love and those that are not. She makes her experience of being fed and feeding others visceral and real - all are welcome, no questions asked. I found this book insightful, funny, and inspiring.

I am a life long Christian so I was especially interested in reading how an atheist in her 40's experienced a conversion upon wandering into an Episcopal church and taking communion. What led up to that and what followed that conversion are compelling stories, beautifully written. Sara Miles practice of Christianity puts many if not most of us Christians to shame. Her story is about what it really means to BE a Christian, not what it means to believe as a Christian. The stories that flow from her successful efforts to establish food pantries in San Francisco, beginning with her Episcopal church, are deeply moving. If you are even the faintest kind of Christian you will find this book can touch your heart, your soul, and your mind in the most refreshing way. Sara Miles is not about converting or convincing, she is about living a full human life, one she found most completely fulfilling when she took the "bread of life" at the communion table. Unbelievers should read this book to see why it is that becoming a "follower of Jesus" can be a way of tapping into the "something more" that lies outside the boundaries of reason and empirical science. Miles has been there and gone beyond.

Passionate--open hearted--piercingly intelligent--earthy--occasionally profane--absolutely unconventional--Sara's raw story of her own life pulled me along to its hopeful conclusion, all my other reading set aside for later. This is NOT a "how-to" book; it is clear that Sara believes she played little role in this conversion, and that even for her it remains a mystery--but what a compelling mystery! Her journalistic talents only enhance what would by any measure be a great read. And if you like her style, as I do, check out her earlier book, "Hacking the Party Line: the Democrats & Silicon Valley".

In an age when so much "Christian" energy is focussed on metaphorically stoning gays, immigrants, those whose need for a safety net would threaten to raise taxes, etc. -- here is a woman who asks "What Would Jesus Do," and looks to the Sermon on the Mount rather than an out-of-context verse in Leviticus for an answer. Jesus would feed the hungry, and so she does, very literally. It's also a mystical book, and challenges all of us to explore the realm of the numinous. It's perfectly, beautifully written.

I really enjoyed Sara Miles's "Take This Bread." Even without the religious angle, Miles's life is an interesting one: raised in Greenwich Village by athiest parents, she worked in food service for several years before getting involved in left-wing politics. While covering war-torn Latin America, Miles saw suffering first hand. After settling in San Francisco ("The northernmost city in Latin America") with her young daughter, she finds love and feels herself drawn to a church in Potrero Hill. Her religious conversion may not be entirely surprising: both sets of her grandparents were missionaries. Her spiritual journey is brutally honest: like Anne Lamott, Miles doesn't feign piety or see the world through rose colored glasses. After Miles starts a food bank at her church, there are moments of grace as well as challenges to her faith. Miles is candid about her own self-righteousness and lack of affection for those who don't share her worldview. What emerges is an honest, engrossing story about just how difficult it is to be a Christian. It is also a revealing look at faith-based charities and social problems in America.

I enjoyed "Take This Bread" quite a bit. I'm sure many others will too.

As a fan of Anne Lamott and unusual conversion stories, I came to Sarah Miles's story with expectations and was not disappointed. This is a fresh, humorous, passionate, and unusual look at a change of heart--from a left-wing, secular journalist to someone caught and held by the mystery and grace of the Eucharist in St. Gregory of Nyssa's Episcopal Church in San Francisco. Her journey--her insights along the way--and her strong committment to feeding others as she is fed by God makes for a remarkable and inspiring story. This is well worth reading.