The living Word

Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to his disciples to set before the people. He also divided the two fish among them all. They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces of bread and fish.

Bread of Life

While Break Thou the Bread of Life is often sung during Communion, it is really intended to prepare the heart for Bible study. The great London preacher G. Campbell Morgan customarily read the words of the hymn before his midweek service.

The author, Mary Lathbury, was better known as a commercial artist than as a poet. Her illustrations regularly appeared in the popular magazines of the nineteenth century. She was a devout Christian who often vacationed at Lake Chautauqua, where she became one of the founders of a new movement. Mixing Christian inspiration, culture, and education, the Chautauqua movement spread across the country.…As she sat with her Bible, overlooking Lake Chautauqua, she thought of the disciples at the Sea of Galilee and wrote this hymn. Mary Lathbury's desire was to take Bible students "beyond the sacred page" to meet the living Word.

From The One Year Book of Hymns , Tyndale House Publishers (1995), entry for February 15