Bread of Life, Living Water
#1008 Hymns—For Home and ChurchLyrics
The Story Behind “Bread of Life, Living Water”
Born at a child's hospital bedside when the sacrament came to his room — a perfectionist's two-year labor to write what being made whole really means.
The Sacrament in a Hospital Room
Annette W. Dickman was a ward pianist at eleven and a ward organist at fourteen, and over three decades she submitted more than thirty pieces to the Church's annual music program. But the seed of her hymn was planted at a hospital bedside: her ten-year-old son lay hospitalized for two weeks with a ruptured appendix, the ward fasting for him, when two priesthood holders brought the sacrament to his room.
Watching the emblems blessed beside a sick child, she connected the ordinance to Alma's teaching that the Savior took upon Himself not just our sins, but our sicknesses, pains, and infirmities. The sacrament wasn't only for the strong on Sunday. It came to the broken, where they were.
Two Years of Writing
Dickman wrote the hymn in 2011 for the most personal of reasons: 'I wrote this hymn for me,' she said. 'I had been studying and pondering a lot about the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, and particularly how it related to me personally.' A self-described perfectionist who had battled depression after a miscarriage, she was learning that scripture's 'perfect' means whole — and that we come to the sacrament not already perfect, but broken-hearted and ready to be healed.
It was the longest composition of her life — two years of study and rewriting, chorus first. The title welds together two of the Savior's own names for Himself: the Bread of Life of John 6, and the Living Water offered at Jacob's well.
A New Sacrament Hymn
Published in the Ensign in 2015 and refined with Church reviewers, the hymn was released May 30, 2024, as #1008 — one of the two new sacrament hymns in the first batch of Hymns—For Home and Church, the first additions to Latter-day Saint sacrament hymnody in nearly forty years.
'I want people to know that there is hope,' Dickman said, '...that He does make us whole and pure and holy, and that as we make those promises and follow Him and try to be like Him, we are bound to Him eternally.'
Did You Know?
- The hymn's seed was planted when the sacrament was brought to her 10-year-old son's hospital room.
- It took Dickman two years to write — the longest composition process of her life, chorus first.
- She submitted more than 30 pieces to the Church's music program over three decades before this one entered the hymnbook.
- The title joins two of the Savior's 'I Am' declarations: the Bread of Life (John 6) and the Living Water (John 4).
- With 'As Bread Is Broken,' it was one of the first new sacrament hymns in Latter-day Saint use in nearly 40 years.
Scripture Connections
- John 6:35, 47–51 — 'I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger.'
- John 4:6–15 — The woman at Jacob's well, and the water that becomes 'a well of water springing up into everlasting life.'
- Alma 7:11–12 — The Savior took upon Him our pains and sicknesses too — the doctrine she saw at the hospital bedside.
- Doctrine and Covenants 63:23 — Living water as the promise to covenant keepers.
Talk About It
Questions to spark a conversation with your family or Primary class:
- Bread and water are the simplest foods there are. Why do you think the Savior chose them to represent Himself?
- The hymn began when the sacrament was carried to a sick child. What does that teach about who the ordinance is for?
- Dickman learned that 'perfect' in scripture means whole. How does that change how you hear 'be ye therefore perfect'?
- What are you hungry or thirsty for that the Savior offers?
Teaching Resources
Categories
Attribution
Music by: Annette W. Dickman, 2011 | HEALING GRACE
Text by: Annette W. Dickman, 2011
Audio files from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints