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For the Bread Which You Have Broken: Meaning, History, and Theology

"For the bread which you have broken"

Written
1924
Category
Hymn
Status
Published
Rights
Public domain

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Story

For the Bread Which You Have Broken is Louis FitzGerald Benson's 1924 communion hymn, first published in 1925 and later widely paired with Vicar Earle Copes's tune KINGDOM. It moves from thanksgiving at the Lord's Table to holiness, the communion of saints, and service in God's Kingdom.

Overview

For the Bread Which You Have Broken is a compact communion hymn in which thanksgiving at the Lord's Table becomes a prayer for holy living. Louis FitzGerald Benson begins with the gifts and words associated with the Supper, then widens the horizon to peace with God, the communion of saints, the church's continuing fellowship, and service in the world. Its spiritual movement is therefore not simply remembrance but response.

The hymn is especially useful after Communion because its final emphasis is outward-facing. Those who have received the sacrament ask that their lives be hallowed, that the church's bonds of love remain intact, and that God's reign become visible in the world to which believers are sent. This progression connects worship, ecclesial unity, discipleship, and mission without depending on a narrowly defined sacramental theory.

Its third stanza also gives the hymn an eschatological dimension by placing the worshiping church in relation to the saints in glory. That makes the text appropriate not only for Eucharistic services and Maundy Thursday but also for All Saints observances and services that emphasize the unity of the church across death and time.

Historical Background

Louis FitzGerald Benson wrote For the Bread Which You Have Broken on November 21, 1924. The Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology records that he first produced three stanzas and then showed the text to his friend Henry Sloane Coffin, minister of Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church in New York. Coffin suggested that the hymn needed an additional stanza about communicants going from the Lord's Table into the world to serve. Benson accepted the suggestion, giving the hymn the four-stanza shape by which it became known.

The completed hymn appeared in Benson's Hymns Original and Translated, published in Philadelphia in 1925. Its original diction used traditional second-person forms such as “thou” and “hast.” Many later hymnals modernized the language to “you” and “have,” and some made additional small textual adjustments. The present HymnInfo record represents that widely used modernized title and first line rather than claiming that the modern wording is Benson's exact 1925 typography.

Benson was unusually well prepared to write for congregational worship. After pastoral service in Germantown, Pennsylvania, he became a major editor and historian of Presbyterian hymnody, assembling a library of more than 9,000 hymnological volumes and producing influential works such as The English Hymn. The communion text came late in his career and reflects his characteristic concern that hymnody unite historical Christian worship, disciplined language, and practical church use.

The tune most commonly associated with the hymn today was not part of its original publication. Vicar Earle Copes composed KINGDOM in 1959 specifically for Benson's text; Hymnary records a 1960 music copyright and notes that the name derives from the hymn's concluding kingdom petition. The tune was first used publicly at the 1960 National Convocation of Methodist Youth and entered The Methodist Hymnal in 1964. In The United Methodist Hymnal it is printed under the name FOR THE BREAD. Other traditions have paired Benson's 8.7.8.7 text with tunes including OMNI DIE, AGAPÉ, BENG-LI, and CROSS OF JESUS, so no single tune belongs intrinsically to the words.

Hymnary indexes the text in dozens of hymnals and shows adoption across Presbyterian, Methodist, Episcopal, Lutheran, United Church, Churches of Christ, and other collections. Editors place it chiefly with Holy Communion or Eucharist, but also with All Saints, discipleship, service, and Maundy Thursday. Such indexing demonstrates broad transmission across traditions without proving that every congregation sings it frequently.

Copyright must be separated between text and music. Benson's words, first published in 1925, are public domain in the United States as of 2026 because U.S. Copyright Office guidance places works published before January 1, 1931 in the public domain. They are also public domain in the Philippines under the general life-plus-fifty-year term, since Benson died in 1930. Copes's 1959 tune is a separate work: Hymnary identifies the music as copyrighted in 1960 and renewed in 1988 by Hope Publishing Company, and Copes died in 2014. The public-domain status of Benson's text therefore does not clear KINGDOM, FOR THE BREAD, or later arrangements for unrestricted musical use.

Biblical Foundations

Luke 22:19–20 and 1 Corinthians 11:23–26 provide the clearest biblical frame for the hymn. Both passages recount the breaking of bread and the cup in connection with Jesus' final meal with his disciples, while Paul explicitly links the meal with proclaiming the Lord's death until he comes. Benson's opening thanksgiving can therefore be read as a congregational response to the church's remembrance of Christ at the Table.

First Corinthians 10:16–17 adds the corporate dimension that becomes especially important later in the hymn. Paul connects participation in the cup and loaf with the church's identity as one body. This illuminates Benson's concern for enduring fellowship among believers and for a communion that reaches beyond private devotion.

Acts 2:42 places the breaking of bread alongside apostolic teaching, fellowship, and prayer in the life of the earliest Christian community. It helps show why the hymn treats Communion as part of a shared pattern of worship and discipleship rather than an isolated individual experience.

Matthew 6:10 supplies a particularly close thematic parallel to the hymn's final petition. The Lord's Prayer asks for God's Kingdom to come and God's will to be done on earth. Benson's added fourth stanza turns that kingdom prayer into a post-Communion vocation: worshipers are sent into the world to serve under the reign for which they pray.

Verse Explanation

Stanza 1 is a direct act of thanksgiving after the Lord's Supper. It names the sacramental actions and moves immediately toward gratitude, making the hymn naturally suited to post-Communion singing.

Stanza 2 asks that what has been received at the Table reshape the worshipers themselves. The focus moves from remembered gift to consecrated life, linking restored peace and divine calling with holiness.

Stanza 3 expands the congregation's horizon to the communion of saints. The church still waiting in this life is pictured in relation to believers already in glory, and the prayer centers on preserving the bond of Christian love.

Stanza 4, added after Henry Sloane Coffin's suggestion, sends the worshipers into service. The hymn ends with protection, vigilance of heart, mission in the world, and a kingdom-centered prayer, so its final movement is commissioning rather than retreat.

Theological Reflection

The hymn begins with eucharistic thanksgiving. Bread, cup, and Christ's words are received as gifts that call forth gratitude, while the next stanza asks that the grace celebrated at the Table shape the worshipers' whole lives. The sacrament is therefore linked with sanctification: thanksgiving becomes a prayer that ordinary conduct be made holy.

A second theme is ecclesiology, the doctrine of the church. Communion is portrayed as fellowship not only among the people physically present but within a larger communion of saints. The church on earth worships in hope and remains bound in love to those who have gone before. Different Christian traditions describe the Eucharistic presence of Christ in different ways, but Benson's text can be sung across those differences because its emphasis falls on gratitude, fellowship, holiness, and faithful response.

The final stanza gives the hymn a theology of mission. Henry Sloane Coffin's documented suggestion prevented the text from ending only with inward or heavenly consolation. The worshipers who have received Communion are sent outward, asking for protection, disciplined hearts, and the coming of God's Kingdom through lives of service.

This movement from Table to world is the hymn's strongest theological contribution. Communion is not presented as an endpoint. It nourishes a church whose unity, holiness, memory, hope, and service are meant to bear witness beyond the act of receiving bread and cup.

Church Impact

For the Bread Which You Have Broken has circulated broadly in English-language Protestant hymnody. Hymnary indexes it in more than fifty hymnals and records settings in Presbyterian, United Methodist, Episcopal, Lutheran, United Church, Churches of Christ, and other collections. That breadth makes it a notable twentieth-century communion text, although hymnal inclusion alone does not establish how frequently it is sung in any particular congregation.

Its liturgical usefulness is unusually clear. The United Methodist Hymnal classifies it for Holy Communion, following Communion, All Saints, the communion of saints, and service. Episcopal and Lutheran hymnals place it under Holy Eucharist or Holy Communion, while Presbyterian lectionary indexing connects it with Maundy Thursday as well as other occasions.

The text's transmission with several tunes has helped it cross denominational and musical boundaries. KINGDOM is prominent in Presbyterian and Methodist use, while OMNI DIE, BENG-LI, AGAPÉ, and other settings appear elsewhere. Across these traditions, the hymn's durable feature is its four-part movement from thanksgiving at the Table to consecration, communion with the saints, and service in the world.

Musical Notes

The best-known modern tune for the hymn is KINGDOM by Vicar Earle Copes, composed in 1959 specifically for Benson's text. Hymnary gives the meter as 8.7.8.7 and describes the tune as having a gentle melodic contour with subtle rhythmic changes that soften the text's trochaic pattern. In The United Methodist Hymnal the same setting appears as FOR THE BREAD and is printed in G major.

Copes's setting is substantially later than Benson's 1924 text and should not be described as the hymn's original music. It was first used publicly at the 1960 National Convocation of Methodist Youth and later appeared in The Methodist Hymnal of 1964. Hymnary identifies the music as ©1960, renewed 1988 by Hope Publishing Company, so the tune remains distinct from the public-domain text for copyright purposes.

The hymn has also been sung to several alternate tunes, including OMNI DIE, AGAPÉ, BENG-LI, and CROSS OF JESUS. This varied tune history reflects the adaptability of the compact 8.7.8.7 meter. Where KINGDOM is used, its restrained character supports the hymn's movement from thanksgiving and fellowship toward quiet commissioning.

Application

  • Receive Communion with deliberate thanksgiving for Christ's self-giving and for the fellowship of the church.
  • Let participation at the Table lead to examination of how worship is shaping daily holiness, reconciliation, and service.
  • Remember absent and departed believers as part of the church's larger communion while maintaining the distinct theological language of your own tradition.
  • Use the hymn after Communion to emphasize that sacramental worship sends Christians back into the world with a vocation.
  • Connect the closing kingdom prayer with concrete acts through which a congregation can embody mercy, peace, justice, and faithful service.

Discussion Questions

  1. How does the hymn move from thanksgiving at Communion toward Christian service in the world?
  2. What does 1 Corinthians 10:16–17 add to the hymn's picture of the church as one body?
  3. Why might Henry Sloane Coffin have felt that a hymn about Communion needed a stanza about service after worship?
  4. How does the third stanza connect present worship with the communion of saints and Christian hope?
  5. What changes when a public-domain text is sung to a later copyrighted tune such as KINGDOM?

Teaching Tips

  • Introduce the hymn with its documented 1924 origin and explain that Henry Sloane Coffin encouraged Benson to add the final service-oriented stanza.
  • Read 1 Corinthians 10:16–17 and 11:23–26 before singing so the congregation can connect the Table with both remembrance and the unity of the body.
  • Use the four stanzas as a teaching sequence: thanksgiving, consecration, communion of saints, and mission.
  • Explain that modern hymnals often update Benson's original second-person language, so wording may differ between editions without representing a different hymn.
  • If using Copes's KINGDOM or FOR THE BREAD, distinguish the 1959 tune from Benson's 1924 text and observe the tune's separate copyright status.

Sources

  1. Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology — For the bread which thou hast broken, composition date and Coffin's fourth-stanza suggestion

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  2. Princeton Theological Seminary Library Special Collections — The Louis F. Benson Manuscript Collection

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  3. Hymnary.org — For the Bread Which You Have Broken text authority, meter, public-domain status, tunes, and hymnal instances

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  4. Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology — V. Earle Copes biography

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  5. Hymnary.org — KINGDOM tune authority, composition history, meter, and music copyright

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  6. Hymnary.org — The United Methodist Hymnal 614, FOR THE BREAD setting and liturgical classifications

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  7. World English Bible Classic — Official Scripture text

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  8. U.S. Copyright Office — Circular 15A, Duration of Copyright

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  9. Lawphil — Republic Act No. 8293, Sections 213 and 214 on Philippine copyright terms

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