Just as no single person symbolizes the Discipleship of Equals, no single bread can feed our hunger. We bless many kinds of bread as a sign that the Discipleship of Equals savors the variety of women, men, and children who make up our community. Sourdough bread rises because into each new loaf we put a small amount of dough kept from the last batch. Let this bread remind us of our mothers, our grandmothers, our female ancestors, those whose life we have in our veins. Let this sourdough bread nourish feminist ministers to pass on their legacy from generation to generation.
Rye bread is the common bread of the working class in many countries.
Let it symbolize for us all women ministers who are unemployed and seeking jobs. Let it remind us of women who are discriminated against in wages. Rice cakes are made from a grain that in antiquity was rare and treasured in many places, thus kept for medicinal uses. Let these rice cakes call to mind women and men who are ill, especially those living with HIV-AIDS, and those who suffer mental illness. Matzah calls to mind refugees and exiles, those who have been forced to leave their homes and even to flee their homeland.