“Break Thou The Bread Of Life” - Mary Artemisia Lathbury

1841–1913

A commercial artist by trade, Mary Lathbury designed layouts for magazines and wrote poetry on the side. She was also an enthusiastic student of the Bible. Few, if any, would consider her an important historical figure, but she got involved in a history-making movement, and she left us a hymn that many still sing today.

The movement became known as Chautauqua. It launched in the 1870s as a continuing education program for Sunday school teachers, held each summer on the shores of Lake Chautauqua in western New York. This was a brilliant idea hatched by a businessman and a pastor, and it actually worked. Over the next fifty years or so, Chautauqua became an important part of American culture.

Over time, these summer classes evolved beyond Bible training. A wide variety of experts would be invited to speak on literary, social, or scientific subjects; writer Mark Twain and orator William Jennings Bryan made frequent appearances. Spin-off gatherings were held around the country. President Theodore Roosevelt called Chautauqua “the most American thing in America.”

But let’s get back to Mary Lathbury. She often attended the conference in its early years, when it was still focused on training Sunday school teachers. One of the Chautauqua founders, John Vincent, learning that Mary wrote poetry, asked if she could compose a text for a Bible study hymn, something the crowd could sing before a Bible teacher addressed them. She came through.

Break Thou the bread of life, dear Lord, to me,

As Thou didst break the loaves beside the sea;

Beyond the sacred page I seek thee, Lord;

My spirit pants for Thee, O living Word!

In a big way, the Chautauqua movement recognized the American hunger for knowledge and found many ways to meet it. In a smaller way, Mary Lathbury captured the soul’s desire for knowledge of God.

As you read Scripture, you can make it a history lesson or a literary study, but if that’s all it is, you’re missing the point. God breaks open his Word like a piece of warm pita, and he shares himself with us in that sacred page.

Jesus replied, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again. Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”

John 6:35