Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread
A Button Poem
It takes a village, they say
So on the southwest side
Of London, Ontario
Every other Tuesday night
We meet
With our village.
Give us this day
Our daily bread
We shake hands
We greet
We kick the shoes off our feet
We take a seat
At someone else’s table.
We bring a portion of meat, bread or something sweet
To divvy up, our plates to heap
With fares and cares
To share… with our village.
Give us this day
Our daily bread
We break bread and break down walls
Rebuilding them with soft footfalls
Of trust and words that turn our hearts around
Our let us bounce our thoughts up off the ground.
We share food to eat and food for thought
We share wounds we have from old gunshots
Scars of life and often how they’ve healed.
We laugh, we tease, we sing …
We learn, we hope, we bring
We bow our heads and pray
With our village.
Give us this day
Our daily bread
It takes a village, they say…so
On the Southeast side of
Malawi, Africa
Every night
They meet
In their village.
Give us this day
Our daily bread
They shake hands, they greet, they have no shoes
To kick off their feet
They take a seat
On the ground …that’s their table.
They bring a scrap of meat, bread …there’s nothing sweet
To divvy up, no plates to heap
No fares, just cares
To share in their village.
Give us this day
Our daily bread
They would break bread if they had some to
They would rebuild if they only knew
That trust and words could turn their hearts around
But lack of all keeps them stuck in the ground.
No food to eat, just food for thought
And gaping wounds from real gunshots
Scars of life and how a few have healed.
Yet they laugh, they tease, they sing …
They learn, they hope, we bring… some help
To share with them along the way.
So to this end…
They bow their heads and pray.
In their village.
Give us this day
Our daily bread
It takes a village they say
A group, a crowd…lives willing to lay
Their own self down.
To reach across a sea so far away
Cause our daily bread seems plentiful
Our watershed it overflows
Our closet’s of clothes we cannot wear
They just hang there…like a spare
So why not share…
Give us this day
Our daily bread…
So we, in turn can lift a head
Can break the cycle poverty has sewn
Village to village
Reach to reach…
Pail by pail…
We preach…they teach
Us to know and see the heart of God
To live life for one’s self is small
To scratch the surface of our call
But giving life away…
That’s God’s M.O.
That’s stepping out of comfort’s lazy zone
He bled. He tread. He spread
The love He had…the life He led
Stretched sea to sea, land to land
Village to village… woman to man
Give us this day our daily bread
From London to Africa and back again
Stop sharing crumbs!
Let’s give a loaf!
Let’s raise our hands. Let’s take an oath.
Church…now’s the time! Today’s the day!
To give some of yourself away.
To rise and bring God’s hope down from above.
Because in Africa, they’re dying for our love.
