“BREAD & ROSES” A Homily for Thanksgiving Bread Communion

by the Rev. Melanie Morel-Ensminger
First Unitarian Universalist Church in New Orleans
Sunday, November 22, 2009

All over the world, in nearly every culture, bread is considered the staff of life. Bread is the metaphor both for nourishment and hospitality; having a guest eat with you is said to be “breaking bread together.” In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus taught his disciples to ask for “our daily bread.” (A few years ago, there was a popular bakery on St. Charles Avenue called “Your Daily Bread” where we used to get my son's birthday cake every year) Despite the prevalence of diets that restrict or even ban the eating of bread, for many people, a meal just isn’t a meal without some form of bread on the table.

I am reminded of a story shared with me by one of the founding members of the Chattanooga UU Church, who said that when he was a soldier during World War II he ate his first meal in a Chinese restaurant and insisted, to the dismay of the Chinese waiter, that he needed bread to complete the dinner. After a lot of, ahem, discussion, the waiter finally gave up and went down the street to a grocery store in order to get the bread. But as much as we need it and love it, bread isn’t all we need for life. Even for us New Orleanians, there really IS more to life than just eating. (Really!) We are reminded once again that we do not live by bread alone.

Hymn #109 in our hymnals is an old protest song written early in the last century by union organizer James Oppenheim. Our hymnal, in the tradition of religious songbooks, has titled it “As We Come Marching, Marching,” from its first line, but it is better and more widely known by its original name “Bread and Roses.”

Oppenheim was inspired to pen the words in 1912 after witnessing a march by women workers in the textile industry, who were striking for higher pay and better working conditions. He later said he was struck by a sign carried by one of the women: “We want bread -- and we want roses too.” (Later researchers were to dispute the veracity of all details of this story, but the song “Bread and Roses” had already been written.)

Bread and roses, bread and roses. Whether the story is literally true or not, the idea that the striking women would have had the nerve to demand not only more money for their labor, safer and more humane conditions for their work, and the right to organize a union to help protect them, but they would also want beauty, “a sharing of life’s glories” as well is an inspiration to all of us. As the words of the song so poignantly remind us, “hearts starve as well as bodies.”

By the way, that strike was settled on term generally favorable to the workers – they won pay increases, time-and-a-quarter pay for overtime, and a pledge by mill owners not to retaliate against the strikers. The women strikers are credited with devising the moving picket line, in order not to be arrested for loitering. We followed their example this Thursday night, as a group of approximately 3 dozen workers, organizers, and clergy gathered on Bourbon Street and marched in front of The Absinthe House and Tony Moran’s Restaurant to protest wage theft by the owners of those establishments. The organizers told us specifically to keep moving so we couldn’t be arrested by the NOPD for obstructing the street.

We enter this week into the winter holiday season, a time for many of rejoicing and celebration, a time for purchasing and making and receiving gifts of all kinds, gifts that symbolize our affection and abundance. But it is also time to remind ourselves that store-bought gifts only partially assuage the hearts of those who are lonely, who need companionship, who seek a fulfillment greater and deeper than consumerism can reach. The material abundance of the holiday season can mask emotional, spiritual, as well as physical emptiness. Hearts starve as well as bodies.

Let us remember in this season of giving to give of ourselves, to give gifts that cannot be bought and paid for – gifts of service, of time, of love and compassion, of tolerance and acceptance, gifts of senseless beauty and random kindness. As we remember to do this, on every day and in every season, we help to build a world where all human beings can enjoy both bread and roses.

All of the breads gathered on our communal table are more than just bread, for they represent the life experiences and cultures and backgrounds and loved ones of many of the people in our congregation. Let us bless the bread and share it together, saying the words for Unison Blessing that are in your Orders of Service.