• A loaf of whole grain bread
• A knife and cutting board
• A plate for the bread
• Small napkins for all participants
• Bell

• Purchase a loaf of whole grain bread. If you have participants with known food allergies you may wish to purchase (or invite them to bring) a second loaf of bread that is free of ingredients they need to avoid.
• Slice the bread and arrange it on the plate, with at least one piece per participant.

Place the loaf of bread on the table or hold it up for participants to see.

Invite participants to consider all the elements of the interdependent web of existence involved in creating this loaf of bread and bringing it here, and to name some of those elements aloud. If ideas flow slowly, encourage participants to think about things as diverse as ingredients, transportation, economies, markets, workers, the local store, money, celestial bodies, the founding of the congregation, and the production of this curriculum. When the brainstorm feels close to complete, share the bread, saying:

We give thanks for the web of life, more complex than we understand, and for each strand of the web. We depend upon much more than we know.

Pass the bread in silence. When each participant has a piece of bread, invite them into mindful eating with these words:

I invite you to eat your bread. As you chew and swallow, call to mind the interconnected elements of life that have come together in this loaf, in this moment.