‘I Am The Bread of Life’: Setting is Everything
The 2005 Lessons and Carols service featured a stirring song that was new to me: “I am the Bread of Life.” I looked into it a little and found that the song originated as a Catholic anthem (the words and music are by Suzanne Toolan) and seemed to have a reputation as a folksy, sentimental song that represented what some Catholics don’t like about contemporary worship music. This clip I found via Google does have an around-the-campfire feel to it, and had I heard that version first, I doubt I would have taken to the song the same way. But the Lessons and Carols setting—with the choir, organ, trumpets, descant, and robust congregational singing on the final verse—gave the song a sense of grandeur and glory. It helped me worship, and made the promise of resurrection more vivid to me.
Can you tell me where to get that arrangement of “I Am the Bread of Life”? I want to use it for communion during Easter Vigil, and that setting is exactly what I had in mind.
Posted by Susan Scaffidi on 03/03 at 07:13 PM