Let Us Break Bread Together

This African American spiritual may date back to the eighteenth century. Other stanzas have been added by oral tradition. A look through modern hymnals will reveal an array of variations on the text. The most notable alteration in the Psalter Hymnal is the phrase "to the Lord of life" in place of the original "to the rising sun," in which "sun" was an ambiguous metaphor referring to God. The song's use at communion services probably dates from after the American Civil War. Miles Mark Fisher notes in Negro Slave Songs in the United States (1953),

 [Originally the hymn] relates hardly at all to holy communion, which does not necessarily require early morning administration or a devotee who faces east. [This] it seems was a signal song of Virginia slaves during the eighteenth century who used it and similar ones to convene their secret meetings.

 The text discerns participation in the Lord's Supper as a humble act in which we not only eat the bread (st. 1) and drink the wine (st. 2) but also praise our God (st. 3) "on our knees." The refrain ends with a prayer for mercy, an African American kyrie (see PHH 258) that reminds us of the tax collector's prayer in Luke 18:13.

To download the easy alphanotes and chords sheet music, look here. Enjoy! 

Lyrics:

 1 Let us break bread together on our knees.

 Let us break bread together on our knees.

 Refrain:

 When I fall on my knees with my face to the rising sun,

 O Lord have mercy on me.

 

2 Let us drink wine together on our knees.

 Let us drink wine together on our knees. [Refrain]

 

3 Let us praise God together on our knees.

 Let us praise God together on our knees. [Refrain]