Summary

Part IV, "Communion", continues with Chapter Twenty, “Open Hands”. The author opens this brief chapter with a description of how she continues resist the meaning and implications of a physical gesture that is fundamental to the Christian sacrament of communion. This is the cupping and opening of her hands to receive the gift of the bread as it is offered to her. She equates the gesture with both vulnerability and need, an experience that, “like any good American,” she resists because she likes “to wait until I think I’ve earned … until I’ve deserved” (143). She then describes receiving a gift of flowers from a friend who knew she was going through a difficult time, commenting that it is valuable and important to be able to simply and gratefully receive generosity, kindness, and compassion, “whether it sneaks in through a piece of bread...