For many of us, faith is encountered not first through abstraction or silence, but through texture, rhythm, repetition, and shared work. This poem emerges from the sensory world of baking—warmth, fragrance, patience, and touch—and attends to grace as something embodied and practiced rather than merely believed.
Written to be read, prayed, or sung, it traces a quiet liturgy of bread-making: from stillness and waiting, through shaping and laughter, to bread broken for healing and justice. Rooted in kitchens and community tables, it names Christ as present not only in sanctuaries, but in flour-dusted aprons, proving dough, and love shared in ordinary labour. Here, the holy is not elsewhere—it is daily spread.
Stillness before us,
Ovens are glowing,
Christ in the silence
Before first light.
Soft hum of proving,
Batch in the shadow,
Grace in the waiting
That births delight.
Warm is the morning,
Soda is rising,
Christ in the shaping
Of tender dough.
Brown bread is waiting,
Soft as a blessing,
Grace in the proving
We come to know.
Flour on aprons,
Light through the window,
Christ in the laughter
Of those who bake.
Barmbrack for sharing,
Farls on the griddle,
Love in the labour
For justice’ sake.
Loaf that is broken,
Shared for the healing,
Christ in the giving
Of daily grace.
Crumbs for the weary,
Hope for the searching,
Love at the table
In every place.
Bless now our kitchens,
Bless all who hunger,
Christ in the breaking
Of every bread.
Here in the ordinary,
Here in the fragrance,
God’s living presence
Is daily spread.
Copyright (c) 2026 Michael McFarland Campbell. All rights reserved. Suggested tune Bunessan.
As with all my hymns and poems, you are warmly welcome to use this piece in worship, reflection, or community settings. I simply ask that it be shared with attribution.



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