Break Thou the Bread of Life -- Mary A. Lathbury (and Alexander Groves)

Mary Artemisia Lathbury was evidently pretty inspired by the scenery she chose for her surroundings in 1877. It was a method she’d already used, or was about to again, when she composed words for a purpose that was not just musical. We can be pretty sure she was reading some from holy scripture, as her words and the direction she was given for her composition point us there when she wrote “Break Thou the Bread of Life”. What would you read, and where would you go if you were trying to do what she did?

Lake Chautauqua in New York state was a place and an atmosphere that Lathbury and others used many times to teach biblical principles. When Lathbury penned her words about ‘bread’ and ‘life’, the camp had been around for only three years since its inception in 1874.  Perhaps Lathbury’s contribution to the Chautauqua experience in 1877 was of no small significance, as other Chautauqua-like camps would arise, including several hundred across the United States by the 1920’s. Although an important part of anyone’s time at a Chautauqua camp was the music, the camp’s organizers wanted something additional in 1877. The camp’s director and the musical director (William Sherwin), who would write the music for Lathbury’s poem, must have had her in mind as they thought about how to motivate the camp’s visitors to seek God in His written word. From what she wrote and how it’s been used commonly up until today, one might gather that Lathbury was trying to teach us something about communion in “Break Thou the Bread of Life”.  But, its message was broader, perhaps drawn from the teaching that Jesus gave beside another lake (the Sea of Galilee in the middle of John 6).  It was just two verses that she wrote to communicate her thoughts. She must have thought that was sufficient to tell people ‘Open your bible and learn from it’. By 1913, another composer, Alexander Groves wrote two more verses, perhaps as he also reflected on John 6.   

Is it not ironic that we use “Break Thou the Bread of Life” most commonly at communion—a feast, albeit a spiritual one—two millennia after Jesus reminded his hearers of what real food was in the wake of another feast in John 6? He’d just fed thousands of hungry stomachs, including those of the 12 Apostles, the previous day, so maybe those followers couldn’t be blamed for expecting more. Jesus admonishes them in not so many words ‘Quit thinking with your salivary glands!’ Would He say that to me, as I vocalize “Break Thou the Bread…” during communion? Or, would his words ring in our ears during that next fellowship--meaning, potluck meal!--that we value as one of the pillars of church life? Break thou the bread…am I doin’ that just at communion? Or, just in a church bible study? Maybe only in a pew? What if I physically ate only as often as I crack open His book? Don’t starve…go get yourself some real food!  

Information on the song was obtained from the books “Amazing Grace – 366 Inspiring Hymn Stories for Daily Devotions”, by Kenneth W. Osbeck, 1990; and “The Complete Book of Hymns – Inspiring Stories About 600 Hymns and Praise Songs”, by William J. and Ardythe Petersen, 2006.  Also see this site for information about the Chautauqua movement that Lathbury helped start: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chautauqua

See this site for two other more obscure verses that Alexander Groves wrote later (in 1913) for this song: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/b/t/t/bttblife.htm

Day Is Dying in the West – Mary A. Lathbury

A sunset and a campground inspired Mary Lathbury to write the poetry – or maybe she was actually just reiterating some already-written poetry – for the hymn “Day Is Dying in the West”. Who do you imagine she was quoting as she penned the words in 1877? She was next to Lake Chautauqua in New York state, but the words she wrote could have been true of any place with a beautiful sundown experience. What’s your favorite one? Camp WaMaVa or Manatawny? I’d choose the sundown on a dirt-gravel road near Belmont, Ohio, I think.

Lathbury and other Methodists initiated the Chautauqua meetings as a religious/cultural/entertainment/ summer school in the late 1800s. A large tent (like the one in the picture) might have been one of the easiest ways to identify a Chautauqua meeting place, but for Mary Lathbury that summer in 1877, it wasn’t the tents she thought about when she composed. She came to that time already committed to God’s service as an artist, and was a keen observer of the creation. So, when the camp’s leader asked her to write a hymn text that they could use for the evening’s gathering, Lathbury stole some time looking at the horizon. She must have seen His hands at work as she recorded the words of the song. God is a fellow poet, she seems to say with the words she wrote…or perhaps more aptly stated, God was her poet-guide. After all, it’s His earth, His ‘evening lamps’ and shadows, and His ‘eternal morning’ that capture our attention--all poetry in motion. At least, they are if we see what Mary Lathbury witnessed that evening. Lathbury was 36 years old when she penned the words in 1877, and you might say she was already blessed with a vision. The song’s theme shows she already had a grip on life’s conclusion.

How God speaks about the end can be observed in His creation, she seems to say with each verse’s words, especially verses one and four. He tells us there will be a finish line, each time the sun sets. Does that occur to me as I travel home from work in that time of the season when the sun is low, in my face? My childhood home has a very noticeable sunset horizon, straight as an arrow, with three or four lonely trees stuck against the sky for contrast. I’ll admit that I never thought about God being a poet, that He was trying to tell me something each day around 8:00 PM during the 26 summers I spent there. With Mary Lathbury’s song, I’ll have more to consider, and appreciate about Him wherever I am, and whenever I have the chance to look toward the western horizon.

 Information on the song was obtained from the books “101 Hymn Stories”, by Kenneth W. Osbeck, Kregel Publications, 1982; “Amazing Grace – 366 Inspiring Hymn Stories for Daily Devotions”, by Kenneth W. Osbeck, 1990; and “The Complete Book of Hymns – Inspiring Stories About 600 Hymns and Praise Songs”, by William J. and Ardythe Petersen, 2006. Also see this site for information about the Chautauqua movement that Lathbury helped start: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chautauqua