• “Men think lightly of sin; not only sinners, but the saints do not view it in its proper light. Sin is not a light thing in the sight of God. The Church of God is asleep.” – Mary Winslow

Mary A. Lathbury

The  Story  Behind Break  Thou  the Bread  of Life

This   beautiful devotional hymn  wa s   wr i t t en  in  1880  a s   a  ” s tudy  song”  for   a  group  of   students  gathe r ed for   conf e r enc e   a t  Lake   Chaut auqua ,   New York,   a  mos t   f i t t ing  s e t t ing  for   such  a  song.

I t s   author   wa s   the   daught e r   of   a  Me thodi s t   mini s t e r .   Ea r ly in  l i f e   she  showed  evidenc e   of   unusua l   poe t i c   t a l ent .   One   day  God’ s   Spi r i t   spoke   to he r ,   “Remembe r ,   My  chi ld,   you  have   a  gi f t   for   wr i t ing  ve r s e ;   cons e c r a t e  thi s  to Me   a s   you  do  your  inmos t  spi r i t . “

Having he a rd the   c a l l ,   she   gave   up  he r  t e a ching  of   a r t  and  devot ed  he r -s e l f   to  edi tor i a l   work  and wr i t ing  for   Sunday  s chool   pe r iodi c a l s .   The   r e -sul t   of   he r   cons e c r a t ion  brought   untold  bl e s s ing  to  many- – – e spe c i a l ly  by me ans   of   thi s   hymn and anothe r ,   “Day i s   Dying in  the  We s t , ”   a l so  written in  1880  for   Chaut auqua   a s   a  ve spe r   song.

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  • “In all places and at all times, we can have that familiar friendship, we can have Him with us; and there may be through the day a constant interchange of private words, of little offerings, too small to have any name attached to them—by which the bonds of that familiar friendship grow closer and more real, until it comes to that special personal intimacy, which we call sanctity.” – Janet Erskine Stuart, 1857-1914

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Verse of the Day

[Christ’s Birth Announced to Mary] Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. And having come in, the angel said to her, “Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!” — Luke 1:26-28 (NKJV)

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