Blessing for Finals Week and Advent (Lynne)

Great and Compassionate God, we beseech your blessings on us this week as we finish the semester and begin the wondrous season of Advent. Fill us with patience, persistence and sleep that we might stay focused on the true reason for which we are at LSTC. Keep us mindful of caring for ourselves while we imbue these bodies that you have blessed with excess stress, minimal exercise and questionable nutrition. We ask your blessings on those who will graduate and go out into the world of ministry. Guide them, fill them with your grace and keep them in your loving arms. For although we are now a community united through your son, Jesus Christ, soon we will scatter to the four corners of the world. And we thank you for bringing us all together during these years of formation and learning so that we might know our sisters and brothers through that baby due to be born, Jesus.

Amen.

eating disorder grace

God of all, we thank you for the works you are doing today. we thank you for the food on our table and the friends and family around our table. we thank you that we are able to eat today and ask that you send your Spirit to comfort those who cannot eat today. oh God of compassion, show your love to our sisters and brothers struggling with food issues and eating disorders. may we be agents of your work among them and all people. help us to recognize our own eating problems and show us ways to take better care of our bodies. and bless this food we are about to eat to the health of our bodies, and bless our bodies to work in your service. amen.

In this grace, I wanted to think about praying for those with an eating disorder. It recently occured to me that thanking God for providing food to eat would hard and awkward for someone who did not want to eat that food. I also wanted to touch on all of the ways we eat 'incorrectly' and ask God to help us fix that. I hope it could be a grace that people on all sides of the issue could pray.

winter grace

God of growth and death, we humbly thank you for this food you have provided. In this season where so much appears dead and dying, we thank you that you are the living God who always looks after your children. Teach us not to look for you only in the green leaves, but also in the bare branches. Bless this food to our bodies and our bodies to your service. Amen.


For me, this grace reflects the season of winter. It is easy to lose sight of what God is doing in winter when everything is dark and grey and stark. But we must remember that God has always provided through lean times, and is even now providing food to eat when the ground outside is frozen solid. Our God never forgets her children.

A Table Grace for Advent: David's Grace #3

Christ our Light and our Life,

We remember that you once came to us -- enfleshed and in our likeness.

We remember your promise to come again and bring in the fullness of the kingdom.

Help us to remember, as we partake of this meal, that you are continually coming.

That you are still enfleshed and in our likeness.

That you are among us now at this table.

And that you are among those who are not at any table this day.

Help us to remember during this season:
The poor.
The hungry.
The unemployed.
The homeless.
And all in need.

And may this food you have provided strengthen us:
To be your hands.
To be your eyes.
To be your ears.
To be your heart.
And to show your love to all.

We pray this in your holy, life-giving name.

Amen.

Advent is a time of expectation, but it is also a time to remember. Take the word apart. Re-member. Member back together. In this grace, we re-member ourselves in Christ to those at the table and those who are not. We re-member ourselves to those who can eat their fill, and those who do not know where their next meal will come from. We re-member ourselves to our faith -- that Christ not only has come, and will come, but is coming. Christ is always among us, if we just open ourselves to his presence.

It's a rough time for a lot of folks. This holiday won't be a very happy one for many. While we give thanks for what we have, we need to wake ourselves up to what others are going through. In Mark's Gospel for the 1st Sunday of Advent, Jesus reminds us to keep awake. Let's not only keep awake for Christ's eventual coming, but for his continual coming among us and the whole human family.

Dear Lord,

On this day of thanks giving as we are gathered here together as a family in your presence. We are grateful to be here on this beautiful earth with this bounty of plenty before us. You have graced our table with the outpourings of your love and benevolence through the nourishing food before us, the life-giving and pleasurable wine we drink and toast with, and the uniquely beautiful persons sitting beside us who share in the joys and sorrows of our lives. As we gather here in celebration of life and family let us remember loved ones not here with us this year whether they be gathered elsewhere or have passed on before us into your kingdom. Let us remember the people whose hands have toiled and labored to provide us with constant influx of nourishment. Let us remember others who will not be gathered around tables with their families this year as they faithfully serve our country overseas. Let us remember and lift up to you their safety and those whom are lonely, feeling unloved, homeless and unfed today. We remember that these gifts you have bestowed upon us are also our responsibility and that we too are stewards of this good earth and that we are called to share our gifts, our love with others. We take this task seriously and give you thanks for giving us life, nourishment, family, friends, love and also the ability to transform the lives of others through these gifts. Thank you Lord for gracing our table with your presence. Amen.

Reflection

This Thanksgiving I’ll be with my boyfriend’s family rather than my own. They have welcomed me into their family and I hope to be an official member one day, however, as two families, two identities come together some clashes occur occasionally. I wanted to share a prayer with them that would unite all of us together. They have their family, their core family unit of the four of them. Then there is another family unit of his sister and her husband. And another family unit subset of my boyfriend and I. We are all united yet all different also, coming together as one family. I want to bring lightness, hope, joy and love to the presence of our gathering on Thanksgiving day. While bringing these elements to form our family, I also am conscious of those around me in various predicaments and stages of life. I am also aware of how I have been blessed and that this has a double meaning, for blessing brings responsibility too. I hope my Thanksgiving prayer will be well-received by his family and have the atmospheric impact I hope for.

Juanita's Blessing 4th Table Blessing

THANKSGIVING BLESSING

Almighty God Creator Of The Universe, We give you thanks for the abundance of your creation. We give you thanks for the feast presented before us. We give you thanks for all the people with us who will share the food at this table. Bless our loved ones who cannot be with us today but are with us in spirit. Bless this meal so that it will fill us physically and spiritually. Amen.

This is a general Thanksgiving or table blessing which I give. When giving a table blessing for a special holiday like Thanksgiving, I always remember to include a blessing for those who are absent from the table.

The sun brings water to the land, the water feeds the land, the land and sea feed the inhabitants that tender the land with kindness and treat the sun with respect. The cycle of life- continuous and unbroken, because it is fueled by gratitude. Mutual love and respect for each other bring not only moments to treasure but contentment.

I read this in a blog comment that talked about cannabis and its connection to food. Not the munchies, but one person's experience of smoking and cooking as a sacramental act. The commentator sympathized with the post and added that this sacrament and ritual helped them to remain grateful for their food, cannabis and time. I wonder what my ritual food acts are that help me to remain grateful. What are yours?

God of the sun, who brings water to the land, who nourishes the land, who feeds the inhabitants of the land. You are the center of our life that sustains us and binds us together. We are both grateful for your gifts of life and for your reconciliation to one another. Sustain us in our gratitude and mutual love for creation and one another.

Food and Relationships

Blessed Trinity,
Thank you for the gift of food and of community. Help us to see the people involved in this food. We are dependent upon others for our food. Make us to know that we do not sit at the table alone, just as we do not sit at your table alone. Give us faith to trust in the communion of the saints and the courage and love to live it out in our lives. May we welcome all people to our tables, just as you welcome us. In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

I've been thinking about the need for awareness and mindfulness in food choices and their impact upon communities for a few weeks, since our conversation with Shannon Jung. Ellen and Nan's presentation about the ways that food can build community was a helpful resource for encouraging people to be mindful of food and community. Food can bring us together, if we think about all of the people involved in food production, and are willing to step out of our social location to encounter and feed the other.

Grace for Thanksgiving Preparations - Denise

Gracious Lord,
we gather together for a feast of thanksgiving. We
prepare the food that you provide, food that was nurtured by your sunshine,
nourished by your vegetation, grown to the service of our bodies that will now
consume it in gratitude. Be in our preparations, that every morsel conveys
the love that we have for each other. Be in our conversations, that every
sharing adds to our joy. Be in our digestion that our bodies will be made
whole and healthy in our meal together. Strengthen us through this food
that we will grow to love more deeply, enjoy more genuinely and care more
profoundly for all that you have made. Thank you. Amen.

This grace is meant to be said before the preparations for a Thanksgiving meal. It is heavily influenced by J. Shannon Jung’s book “Sharing Food” and the discussion about jouissance. It seemed appropriate to say grace before the preparations since, in my family, we gather as a group to prepare together. The preparations are as much a part of the celebration for us as the actual meal, and just as meaningful, since our thoughts wander to those who will visit and our prayers surround them in whatever they face in life.

Michelle prayer #3

Source of Abundant Food & Abundant Joy

Your child feasted with whoever would welcome him,
Teach us to enjoy our food & the company in which he eat it.

The child you gave me delights in sharing what is on her plate with those around her.
Teach us to delight in sharing your abundance with those far and near.

Amen.

I can't get away with addressing God as source of abundance, Jung reinforces that for me. Jesus' party animal ways have been on my mind lately, and I am also amazed at my one-year-old's grasp of what we make so difficult- food is to be shared. She protests when we eat and don't share with her, and whenever she eats she offers us back of whatever we have put on her plate. and with a huge smile.

Table Blessing #3 - Emily Klock

We thank you for
for the food before us,
the friends beside us,
the love between us,
and your spirit among us.
Amen.

This is the table prayer that we pray whenever we have guests at our house (with no guests we pray "Come Lord Jesus be our guest, let this home and food be blessed"). We first learned this prayer at a church family retreat, and it started when we would have church friends over because they also knew the prayer.

One thing that I love about this prayer is that it moves from the obvious to the deeper blessings for which we are grateful. It is the Spirit that allows us to share the love of friends and family. Our own experience of sharing it with our church family makes it especially sentimental for me.

Keith's Table Grace #3

This blessing arose out of our discussions in class about consciousness of all the stages involved in bringing food to our tables, and the importance of remembering the people who have labored to bring us nourishment...

Bless, O Lord, the hands...
Bless the hands that broke the soil, and scattered the seed, that pulled the weeds, and reaped the crops...
Bless the hands that fed your creatures, and yes, O God, the hands that slaughtered...
Bless the hands that processed and packaged, and the hands that loaded and drove the trucks... Bless the hands that stocked the shelves, the hands that worked the cash register, the hands that bagged the purchases...
Bless the hands that cooked the food, and bless the hands that serve it...
Bless the hands now lifted in thanks to you.
May we join our hands in unity around your great banqueting table, sharing in love for you and for one another. AMEN

Brahm's Grace #3

For many of us future pastors, we will be constantly called to lead grace at a church gathering. I wrote this in mind of one of the many church potlucks/meals that are in my future.

God who gathers us,
we give thanks for this chance to come together,
to share in Your good creation
and to share in conversation.
You call us into community,
to be good neighbors,
and we remember those who are not with us.
Bless all of your creation,
that all the world might be blessed, clothed, and fed.
In Your name we pray,
Amen.

As we are gathered together into community, we remember who is not gathered with us.
We petition God for ourselves and for those not with us.
And we pray that God blesses all of the world; all of God's creation.

Jon's Blessing #3

Abundant God,
We thank you for this food before us,
That satisfies our immediate hunger.
And we thank you for your food from above,
That provides lasting satisfaction.
Help us enjoy this food
And enjoy the pleasure it gives to our bodies.
Remind us of what real hunger is like,
So that we might hunger and thirst after a world
Where hunger-pains are no more,
And all your children can have their desire for well-being satisfied.
Amen

This prayer is an attempt to incorporate some of the themes from “Food for Life.” The theme of satisfaction was mentioned in a quote from one of my favorite author’s, Wendell Berry, who speaks of consumerism always promising satisfaction but never delivering. I wanted to contrast food’s impermanent satisfaction of our hungers with God’s Bread of Life. Jung speaks a lot about God’s intent for food being enjoyment, so I wanted to incorporate this as well. But this enjoyment can only be fully understood in light of the physical knowledge of hunger. I think most of us in the West have lost sight of what it means to be really hungry, and a deeper experience of this might help our efforts in combating hunger.

The Lord Is Present

Juanita's 3rd Table Blessing
The Lord Is Present

Leader: The Lord is present when two or more are gathered in His name.
All: Amen Come Lord Jesus.
Leader: The Lord is present as we gather at the table and we praise His holy Name.
All: Amen Come Lord Jesus.
Leader: The Lord is present and we share this food prepared for us
All: Amen Come Lord Jesus
Leader: The Lord is present and we share each other's stories
All: Amen come Lord Jesus
Leader: The Lord is present and we give thanks for all that the Lord provides.
All: Amen.

This was inspired by the small table graces located on pages 36 and 37 of Jung's Sharing Food.

Peace,
Juanita Krmaschek

Thank You God: Emily Carson's Blessing #3

Hello friends. Tonight for my table blessing, I decided to write a short 'blessing' song I could play on the guitar. It uses the chords D, G, a strange inversion of C, and A. It is meant to be a blessing that would be easy to sing for people of all ages. It's simple and all about thankfulness.



Thank you God for the ways you provide.
Thank you God that you bring all things new life.

For the food we eat,
For family far and near,
For friends we love,
For hands preparing this meal we share.

Thank you God for the ways you provide.
Thank you God that you bring all things new life.

Table Grace #3 (Lynne)

Blessed art thou, O eternal, Our God, King of the Universe, Creator of the fruit of the vine; Creator of the radiance of the fire; Our God, who brings forth bread from the earth; who feeds the whole world with goodness and with grace, kindness and mercy, gives food to every creature, for your mercy endures forever.

As we gather here in this place, we share our meal, our time, our laughter, our thoughts, our sorrow and our love for you, O God. May the wine last through the night as we drink of your grace; May all be part of the conversation as we rest in your company; May all find succulence in the taste of the food as we find your love to fill us; May all find pleasure in the music of your mercy as we share in this community of you; May this meal be filling yet keep us hungry for justice in this world and hope for the future banquet at the table in your world.

Amen

*********************************************************************************
I love Jewish holy day feasts and festivals! And after the readings for this week (especially Dinner with Jesus & Paul, Peter in the Middle, Typology of Roman Public Feasting), I found myself uttering some of the phrases from the Passover Haggadah. The first part of the blessing is in fact, some of the prayers from Passover.
Other considerations were the appreciation for the wine lasting through the meal, keeping the meal size small to encourage participation and unity from all, the focus on rest & comfort amidst friends, the appreciation for the flute playing and the implication of looking towards the banquet of the afterlife.

Table Blessing #3 – Bruce G.

Gracious God: Bless this meal and all who are invited to it. May this experience bring all to the understanding that the needs of all, those present and those absent, are most important. The conversations, the service to others, the meal itself are given to us by You in order that we share all with our sisters and brothers; their needs are thus met with this gracious gift of hospitality. Awesome God, please continue to give us the gift of lively conversation, endless service, satisfying food. For us and all Your children, we pray in Your name. Amen.

When I read Dennis E. Smith’s article “Dinner with Jesus & Paul,” I realized that meals were not just for sustenance of the body but they were to be taken as food for the mind and soul, as well. Yes, there was a certain hierarchical nature to these meals, but there was so much more. There was conversation including all participants of the meal. There was a serving quality (foot-washing, for example) that added to the “personalness” of the event. There was a sharing of each other as the participants got better acquainted with each other. To a certain degree, this is missing today. Yes, we still talk over a meal, but the closeness of strangers is seen, today, contradictorily. How often do we invite a stranger to sit with us as we dine? I’m not just referring to a new member of the seminary/church family, I’m referring to those outside, those “outsiders” that normally wouldn’t “seem to fit in.” Have we welcomed these members in; have we offered a “position of honor” to those who are not in our same perceived social class? This prayer, I believe addresses this. Jesus welcomed the tax collector, the stranger, the sinner just as Jesus would welcome the emperor, the Pharisee, the elite. May we do the same.

Table Blessing #3 – Bruce G.

Gracious God: Bless this meal and all who are invited to it. May this experience bring all to the understanding that the needs of all, those present and those absent, are most important. The conversations, the service to others, the meal itself are given to us by You in order that we share all with our sisters and brothers; their needs are thus met with this gracious gift of hospitality. Awesome God, please continue to give us the gift of lively conversation, endless service, satisfying food. For us and all Your children, we pray in Your name. Amen.

When I read Dennis E. Smith’s article “Dinner with Jesus & Paul,” I realized that meals were not just for sustenance of the body but they were to be taken as food for the mind and soul, as well. Yes, there was a certain hierarchical nature to these meals, but there was so much more. There was conversation including all participants of the meal. There was a serving quality (foot-washing, for example) that added to the “personalness” of the event. There was a sharing of each other as the participants got better acquainted with each other. To a certain degree, this is missing today. Yes, we still talk over a meal, but the closeness of strangers is seen, today, contradictorily. How often do we invite a stranger to sit with us as we dine? I’m not just referring to a new member of the seminary/church family, I’m referring to those outside, those “outsiders” that normally wouldn’t “seem to fit in.” Have we welcomed these members in; have we offered a “position of honor” to those who are not in our same perceived social class? This prayer, I believe addresses this. Jesus welcomed the tax collector, the stranger, the sinner just as Jesus would welcome the emperor, the Pharisee, the elite. May we do the same.

table grace #2

As we come into winter, all of a sudden, the harvesting season sends us underground, eating more of the "hearts" of plants than the heads. Think lettuce, corn, tomatoes, vs. potatoes, carrots, rutabaga, kohlrabi and other root veg. As I think of how these heads and hearts are connected to my own I remember the rhythms of slowing and conserving energy through the winter. As I tucked into my apartment and ate hot soup during the wind storm this weekend, I thought of those who are perpetually stuck outside, without food to warm and energize them. This prayer comes out of that thought.

God of heads and hearts,
We give you thanks for the food that nourishes our bodies and our minds. We remember that the heads and hearts of produce are connected to our own. As we continue into months of fasting in this creation, help us to remember those whose heads and hearts come into need. Help us to nourish them not only with nutrition, but with grace, solidarity and love.
In your name we pray, Amen.

Autumn Thanks

Dear Lord,

Thank you for bring us into this new season.
Help us to appreciate the beauty that surrounds us in the falling of leaves, the changing of colors and the smell of the fresh, crisp air.
Comfort us as we grieve for loved ones no longer with us on earth.
Bring your blessings forth upon our farmers and your land that they care for and cultivate with food for all of us.
Let the crops be bountiful this year and let us rejoice in the abundance you sustain and provide us with daily.
Protect those who are fearful of their safety in places such as India, Somalia, Sudan, Iraq, Afghanistan, and even here, in the ghettos and homes of America where gang violence and domestic abuse are prevalent.
Surround us all in your presence Lord, let your love reign on this earth and bring joy and healing to it and all of your peoples.

Amen.

As a seminarian my family and friends always invite me to provide table grace at meals. I do not memorize prayers, I speak from my heart and the words flow out. This is my style of prayer in services too when I pray for the community. In this prayer I wanted to remember the new season of autumn which I love. I try to embrace the beauty and gifts of each season. With my family background in agriculture, harvest is a key time that is a very anxious time. When should the crops be harvested? When will the first frost come? What if it snows or rains and the fields are too muddy to get the crops out of the field? Will the crops yield enough to cover our bills this year? I also remember those who have died as All Saints Day comes closer and my boyfriend's best friend died this last week. It is a time for grief and comforting of those who mourn. As for violence across our globe, we have neighbors in need and suffering who daily face violence and threats to their security that we have no concept of. I like to remember and remind others that this violence is not just outside of America. Violence exists in our communities also. As I go to these darker places, I remember at the conclusion that God is with us, God is with us and with me. We are not alone.

2nd Table Blessing

Be present Lord and help us to be more present in our day
You know all our needs and wants Lord, and provide what is necessary
Open our eyes to the needs around us because living is not just for ourselves
Amen

In this class and in another we are talking about Creation and something that keeps coming back to me is selfishness. If I were to be asked to give a table blessing today, I would go something like this to act as a reminder.

Grace and Joy: Gwen's Second Tablegrace

Creating God,
Thank you for all that you have made with grace and joy. Re-form us and help us to rejoice in your creation, other creatures, and in food. Help us to be thankful. May our gratitude move us to joyfully share our food, our gifts, and ourselves with others.

After reading Born Again Bodies and Starving for Salvation, I am more aware of the problems that we as individuals and as a society have with food. Reading Sharing Food reconnected me to the joy of food, eating and sharing food. On Reformation Sunday, I pray that all of us can be re-formed to see the joy of eating and be thankful for food and not burdened by it.

Ellen's 2nd Blessing

Gracious God of abundance, you have created a world that produces food to feed us all. We thank you for what you have provided for us to eat today, and pray for your help in sharing your abundance so the hungry may be satisfied. Grant us awareness of our neighbors, and opportunities to show your love by sharing ourselves.

In the name of your Son, Jesus, who fed the multitudes.

AMEN

On Friday, I helped serve breakfast to 133 people at Living Room Cafe. It made me aware of how much difference nine blocks make, and that many people there ate breakfast as though it might be their only meal that day.

October 26 blessing from nan

For this day O God, we give you thanks, as we remember and reflect on the work of those who harvest our food. As the season changes, farmers are working long hours to gather and bring their crops for the market. May we be ever mindful of their labors, so that we may have food. May we receive the bounty of nature, and consciously choose to only eat what we need, so that the food may be mroe equitably shared with others. God of the Harvest, hear our prayer. Amen.


I wrote this prayer in response to the many harvesters I saw working in their fields today while driving west through Illinois. I was reminded of the recent presentation by our colleagues about farm subsidies, the pros and cons, but more particularly of the families who are struggling to compete with conglomerate agricultural companies. Be we ever mindful of how the food comes from the ground to our tables.

grace #2 Michelle

God of Abundant Joy
You spread before us a rainbow of
purple eggplant
red peppers
orange carrots
zucchini, apples, squash, berries-
you delight our senses.
May we delight in you delighting
in your creation
-and be ever thankful for your
Joy in providing Abundance.


I enjoyed the sensuality of the Song of Songs article and the playful motif of the other one and wished to somehow capture those themes of mutual engagement and delight in the other (without getting too sexy for a table grace!). Also was thinking of the Noah's rainbow expressed in the diversity of creation but namely fruits and vegetables as in S of S. Starting out with ordered color/vegetable and then letting it get a little "wild" I was hoping to express the vastness of beauty and color and smell and taste...

Grace #2 - Denise P.

Gracious Lord,
we thank you for this opportunity to accept the hospitality
of the earth in the form of this food before us. We thank you for the soil
and the sunshine and the rain. We thank you for those who cared for it and
harvested its goodness for us to enjoy. We remember those who do not know
these blessings and ask you to use the energy we will derive from this
nourishment to correct these injustices. Strengthen our bodies, our minds
and our hearts to offer your infinite hospitality to those around us.
Amen.

As I finished the work on the teaching event we have planned on the Bible and hospitality, I appreciated the gift that the earth is to us as a sign of God’s hospitality, offering us shelter and food as we journey. Our divinely ordained task is to learn how to share this bounty with equity, to ensure that all travelers know God’s mercy.

David's Table Grace #2

Lord Christ,
Firstborn of all that is,
All our being comes from you.

You are our Nourishment.
You are our Host.
You feed us with your very self.

We give you thanks for these gifts of this table.
May they remind us of the table of rich foods you set for all people.
And as you are our divine Host,
may we serve as your hosts for all.

Amen.

This grace was inspired by the reading I've done on Biblical hospitality for my teaching event. Christ is truly the perfect Host, not only inviting us to his table, but feeding us with his very self.

Hospitality was practiced in the ancient world between social unequals. There was no possibility of reciprocation. We can't possibly reciprocate Christ for our very existence and continued nourishment, but we can act as hosts of Christ's table for others, whether in worship, at the food pantry, or hosting in our homes.

There are several Scriptural references. Christ as "firstborn of all that is" alludes to Colossians 1. I am borrowing from Isaiah 25 for the image of Christ's table. Also, I was inspired by Julian of Norwich's comparison of Christ to a nurturing mother -- "Our Blessed Mother Jesus feeds us with his very self."

Of course, "Host" is an intended word play!

Emily's 3rd Table Blessing

God of Abundance, in your perfect design the earth provides us all we need. In this season of harvest, we thank you for the huge variety of gifts that you provide us for the table and as winter approaches, we think of those who are less fortunate than us. Bless this food, and bless those who eat it to be a blessing to others. Amen.

One of the things that I have been trying to do this semester is focus on eating foods that are seasonal. In autumn, God gives us a plethora of choices that seem to reflect the fall colors outside: such as squashes, apples, potatoes, and carrots. In summer and autumn, God provides far more than we could possibly eat, even in the smallest of gardens, so we must save and share with others. It seems to be such a blessing that we are reminded of God's abundance just before the cold winter closes in on us.

Thanks to God, the Bodymaker

Blessed are you, O God, Bodymaker.

You formed our bodies, you breathe into
them each moment your breath of life, and you sustain them with food.

Praised be you for our bodies, praised be you for our breath, praised be you for
our food.

Give us today enough for our needs, give us today enough to
share, and give us today the willingness and desire to use our bodies for your
service. AMEN

This prayer begins in the traditional Hebrew manner with a blessing of God. The epithet for God that I chose, “Bodymaker,” recognizes God as the good source of our bodies, which our dualistic leanings sometimes cause us to look down upon. We fear that flesh is evil, rather than the good gift that God has created. We wrongly look at our bodies as only vessels for carrying around the “important” part of us, our spirit and our soul. But God has created all three as a unity, and the body is not to be despised, it is to be honored with the other components of our beings. Our bodies are part of our praise for the Creating God, and God cares for them with tenderness.

Brahm's 2nd Grace

God our provider,
We give you thanks for
the food on our table…
the hands that prepared it…
and all the gifts that come from You…
We ask you to be with
those who are hungry…
those who flee war and violence…
those who seek justice…
We pray that you help us bridge the gap between
rich and poor…
healthy and malnourished…
whole and broken…
Through our Savior Jesus Christ,
Amen.

This prayer has a three part structure.
In the first part, I acknowledge that God is our provider, and that all things come through God. For this we give thanks. I also recognize that the food that I eat comes through many hands, most of which I do not know, and I give thanks for those who take care in preparing food for others.
The second section, after recognizing that God is our provider, recognizes while this is the case, there is much brokenness and pain in the world. I ask God to be present with those who suffer and are afraid and who struggle to obtain the basic substances of life, the things we thanked God for in the first section.
The final section identifies what I believe my Christian calling is, to be a bridge to help gap the great divides that are present in this world. This is in response to what God has done for me through Christ. It invokes the essence of the Lord’s prayer, “your kingdom come on earth as in heaven.” God calls us not to be passive in waiting for the kingdom, but active in lifting up aspects of that kingdom now; things like equality, peace, justice, and wholeness.
All this is done through our Savior, for we cannot by our own abilities or understanding accomplish this on our own.
Amen

Happy Food

Juanita's 2nd Table Blessing

This table blessing could be used for a youth gathering snack time.

Dear God,
Hear us, your children, for today we give you thanks for happy food, fun food and good times. We ask that you bless the happy, funny, and silly food that helps to bring our family and friends closer together. We give you thanks for fluffy cotton candy and bubble gum bubbles. We give thanks for yummy birthday cake and ice cream of all flavors. We give thanks for cookies and lollipops and buttery popcorn. (Have the children call out their favorite fun food). Most of all God we ask that you bless the special people who share our Happy Food. Amen.

I Thought about this Happy Food Blessing because when my granddaughter comes to visit, besides preparing a meal, I make sure that I have her favorite snacks like animal and goldfish crackers. I also remembered how much I enjoyed sharing snacks with my friends as a grade school child.

God's Blessings To All,
Juanita Krmaschek

Grace #2 Jon Bergstrom

God of Abundance,
We give you thanks for the many machines, hands, and soil
that produced this food we are about to eat.
Help us to remember our rural brothers and sisters in this country and around the world.
Let us remember countries’ right to food sovereignty
even as we remember your sovereignty in our lives.
Supply us with more than calories.
Supply us with nutrients that will help empower us to do your work.
Amen


This grace comes from my studies about farm subsidies over the past couple of weeks. I wanted first to remember how intricately our food in the US is connected with industry, as well as the traditional connections with farmers and soil. For many of us, this is good because it enables our lifestyles away from the farm. But many of our problems in the agricultural sector come from the rapid proliferation of industrial agriculture. This has led to the decline of many of our rural areas in the US. And the massive overproduction that it enables has also led to the continual oppression of rural peoples in developing countries. This is why I pray for all those living in rural environments. The prayer for food sovereignty reflects a principle that says countries should be enabled to grow the food they eat and not have their livelihoods destroyed by free market agricultural trading. And the final part about nutrition and calories comes from a reading I did that mentions how in the US, calories are cheap (because corn subsidies make high-fructose corn syrup cheap) whereas actual balanced nutrition is more expensive and harder to acquire. We should support efforts that try to make healthier food more affordable.

Table Blessing #2 - Bruce G

Dear Maker of all things: You alone have made us what we are. Let us rejoice in the creation of life. Help us to understand, and to play out in our lives, that You alone are the One responsible for our height, our weight, our color, our demeanor, our likes and our dislikes. Help us understand that You love us no matter what. Help us understand that changing ourselves, trying to “better” ourselves will not change how You love us. Help us to remember we are justified through Your grace, if only we’d have faith to see this. As we sit down to share this meal, grant us peace and satisfaction in the food placed before us; may it satisfy our desires to change and bring us closer to the real Creator. We thank You for this meal, for those we share it with, and ask Your blessings upon all who share together the bounty You have placed before us. May Your wonderful Creation of nourishment be shared with all Your children, those present and those in need. We pray these words, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

This prayer comes from contemplating over Starving for Salvation. We all try to look our best, we all try to make ourselves into something other than who we are. The prayer comes from the hope that we can realize God has made us in a form that God wants us to be. I’ve come to the realization that I’ll never be Michael Phelps or Tiger Woods or Tony Romo for God made me me alone. Starving to the point of weakness and death is not what God intends for us. This won’t make us more pleasing to God. Nothing we do will make God love us less.

Blessing #1

Table Grace:

Come, Lord Jesus, and be our guest. Share this meal with us. Enter our hearts and into the daily rhythm of our laughter and conversation.

Come, Lord Jesus, and be our host. Teach us how to serve. Open our hearts, minds, homes and tables to all we meet and know.

Come, Lord Jesus, to this meal and bless the hands and love that have provided this sustenance and those eating at this table and all others across our world. Amen.

Devotion:

As I child I grew up saying the basic table grace "Come, Lord Jesus, be our guest and let these gifts to us be blessed." This is still the table grace I offer up when my family gathers together for a meal. For the first time ever I contemplated this grace and how it doesn't quite say everything that I feel is needed to say. I often think of my first agape meal for Teens Encounter Christ where there was an empty chair at the head of the table representing Jesus' presence at our meal. Jesus is both the guest and the host who shows us all the way, provides the meal for us and enjoys the meal with us.

Blessing #2 (Lynne)

God the wealth of your grace is present in everything that we see, taste, smell, touch, and hear. May we continue to use our hands and our hearts to glorify you in this place and time. May we be mindful of those hands and hearts that care for, produce, prepare and package these gifts of food and drink before us now. They are unknown to us but we know that you know and bless all with your abundant love. God of abundance, come to our table and fill us.
Amen.

"You fill up my senses
Like a night in the forest
Like the mountains in springtime
Like a walk in the rain
Like a storm in the desert
Like a sleepy blue ocean
You fill up my senses
Come fill me again

Let me give my life to you
Come let me love you
Come love me again."

These lyrics from John Denver's Annie's Song were playing in a store when I was shopping the other day. As I shopped in the affluent suburban grocery store listening to this 1980's song, I heard the words in a different sense. I am blessed with the power of eating for enjoyment, for a sensual experience. As I eat in this life of privilege, I am constantly reminded of those who eat for survival, to live another day. And then I feel the surge of passion for ministry rushing through my veins. God has come to me, filled me with abundance and asks me to go out into the world and share God's abundant grace and love with others. It is the least I can do. It is the most I can do.

overabundant grace

"God, we give you thanks for this meal. When Jesus blessed and broke the scanty resources of five loaves of bread and two fish, there was not only enough to feed the hungry multitudes, but there was an overabundance of food. To the hungry crowds that longed to be close to Jesus, the bread and the fish was a tangible and literally life-saving sign of grace. They were not only filled, but the overabundance of food was an overabundant of grace. Let this meal represent your overabundant grace for your church and for all people who hunger. Amen."

This blessing reflects my understanding of food as an expression of grace. I think the story about Jesus feeding the multitudes shows us the compassion of Jesus and the overabundance of grace that is given us.

We Thank You: 2nd Blessing - Emily Carson

Sustainer of wholeness, Provider of life.
Thank you for the food and drink,
that nourishes our bodies and heals our hearts.
May each bite be a reminder of your ever-present nearness.
May every flavor awaken us to the beauty of your creation.
For this meal,
and for this company,
we thank you.



Reflection: I am a notorious junk-food advocate. Well, I should restate that. I WAS a notorious junk-food advocate. In the last few weeks, I have become increasingly aware of what I put into my body. I write this prayer as a way of reminding myself of God's presence within the food I eat. Eating as a student is something I always seem to be doing in a hurry - rarely taking time to notice flavors and sadly, rarely taking time to even CHEW properly. Finding God in mealtime is something I am certainly working on.

Blessing #1

Gracious God, we thank you for the many blessings you have given us and we pray that you will be with all who are in need of your loving care. Bless this food that it may nourish our bodies and strengthen us to serve you. In Christ's name, amen.

This is the basic frame I have come to use every time I am asked to bless a meal. I guess I first heard it when I began sharing meals with the folks who have now become my in-laws. Before each meal someone would always be asked say a blessing and no matter who wound up offering the prayer it almost always followed this form. Of course things were added in special situations so the prayer mentioned any concerns or thanksgivings that might be on the minds of those gathered around the table.

I think the real beauty of this prayer is that it is not about thanking God for food just for the sake of having food. Instead it reminds us that we eat because our bodies need the nutrition and part of our returning thanks for the gifts we have been given is to serve others. And it does this in a way that is still able to name and celebrate the blessings of food, or family gathered together around the table for the first time in months, or whatever other blessings we may be celebrating.

table blessing one

God of the harvest,
we thank you for these gifts on our table.

we thank you for the hands that picked the produce,

the backs that bent over the crops,

and the eyes that watched for the harvest time.

thank you God that we have food on our tables

and we do not go hungry.

keep us mindful of those in our local and global communities

who go hungry tonight,

and help us to make food choices that do not further injustice.

bless this food to our bodies

and our bodies to your service.

amen.

i have been thinking about how removed we are from our food a lot lately. like many of us, my food comes from the grocery store and is often covered in plastic. i wanted to write (and pray) a grace that reminded me that food does not just appear, it is a gift from God that must be harvested. i am also thinking about how our food choices affect the whole world. i pray that God will show me a way to make ethical food choices in a world where price is the bottom line.

Blessing 1

Blessed be to you, Creator of our earth and its inhabitants.

We thank you for the abundance of food provided by the earth, and those who labor to grow and harvest it. Thank you for the food before us, the nourishment it provides, and all who share its bounty with us.

May we be ever mindful of our connection with all living creatures and work for their flourishing.

I am interested in the connection between the food we eat and the flourishing of not just us, but the other inhabitants of our earth. I also want the blessing to serve as a reminder that what we eat comes from the earth, and involves human labor to bring it to the table in the form it is in. Life is interconnected.

My family has always been important in my life. While growing up we set aside time to be together, to be present in each other's lives, and that was at dinner time. At first it seemed like an inconvenience because none of my friends HAD to be home for dinner, but as I grew up I began to look forward to them. So now, I am broken. I hate to eat dinner alone. In fact, a group of about 7 of us trade making dinner for each other this year.

I chose this prayer to post first because you have to start somewhere. This is the prayer that was first taught in my family. My parents chose it for the family even before there was a family over 30 years ago, but they knew they wanted a prayer that meant something. It was easy to learn, but even if you forgot it was hanging on the wall in the dining room.

I can still hear my siblings and I say the prayer together. Rolling our eyes at the line "we forgive one another," energetically saying "together we HOPE for HEAVEN." And every now and again we would slow down enough to think about the words as we say them. So, now I share my family prayer with you:

God makes us a family
We need one another
We love one another
We forgive one another
We work together
We play together
We worship together
Together we use God’s Word
Together we grow in Christ
Together serve our God
Together we hope for Heaven
These are our hopes and ideals
Help us to obtain them, O God
Through Jesus Christ, Our Lord
Amen

First Blessing for Take and Eat class

Bless this food to our use, and us to your service, and make us ever mindful of the needs of others. Amen.

I just finished reading the book Born Again Bodies for our class. It explores the history of U.S. Christian attitudes towards body, appetite, and eating. I was sad that so much of it confirmed the mentality of crass individualism. In light of this, I wanted to write a table blessing that included service to others and mindfulness towards the needs of others....community life. Intentionally, I did not address the prayer to a particular divinity because we prayed this prayer in an interfaith chaplain meeting at the hospital where I work. We are a diverse group representing a wide range of faith traditions.

Manda's first blessing

All day long I've been chopping, stewing, canning, preserving, baking and cooking. Why? Well, because I didn't have enough homework to occupy my time. Right! I've got an abundance of summer vegetables right now and they're wonderful! But as lovely as they are, I can only eat so many. So in an effort to save all this goodness for some time in deep winter when I'm craving a fresh vegetable and don't want to have it shipped to me from Argentina, I'm trying to save it all now. Sure, it won't be the same but there's something awesome in the process and I'm like a kid at Christmas, having to keep myself from opening every sealed jar. (And thanking God for the one that didn't seal and I get to eat soon!)

So today, I've been thinking about saving....and salvation. So from all this comes my table blessing. It's short, but to me it encompasses a lot.

To the God of abundance,
Who saves.
We give you thanks.
Amen.

Table Grace #1

Almighty God, we give you thanks for the great gifts you gave Moses and the Israelites. You led them to a land of great abundance, flowing with milk and honey. We come before you today, O God, thankful for that same rich abundance you have given us. As we eat of these gifts, may we be called as witnesses of that abundance for others. Amen.

This is a variation of the grace I prayed last Tuesday in class. I believe that the notion of God as a God of abundance is either not taken seriously at our tables, or it is reduced to a quantitative idea. God is not a God of abundance because God provides a lot (though God does), but because God provides enough for our well-being, and for the well-being of all. The Hebrew Bible witnesses to this abundance, especially in God's provision of manna, and I believe we should also witness to this abundance at our table.

Gratitude

Creator God,

We are grateful for the varied ways we can be sustained. We are grateful that our reliance on food speaks to the interconnected nature of our lives – that all of us need each plant, each animal and each other to survive. We are grateful for the lessons learned through cultivating preparing and enjoying food. May these lessons settle in us as we eat and become a way for the reign of peace through justice to enter this earth.

With grateful hearts,
Amen


This grace was deeply influenced by Sallie McFague's manifesto. Her emphasis on the interrelated nature of humanity with all of life, and the implications of that interconnectivity on our ideas of God challenged me as to how we can better acknowledge our interdependence through prayer. I also was inspired by Brueggemann's re-reading of the biblical narrative as competing stories about God's abundance versus our fears of scarcity. I believe the diversity present in the earth is a testament to the model of abundance presented in his article.

Thanksgiving for creation and relationships

"Gracious God,
We thank you for these blessings that you share with us. We pray that as we gather together and prepare to eat this meal, a sense of gratitude and a spirit of sharing would be present in each one of us. Bless us and help us to see the ways that you call us to share our blessings and gifts with others, so that your people would be fed and your name be praised. Guide us to see the ways that you are present and active in all of creation. Give us grace and courage to love all of your creation. Forgive us for our misuse of our gifts, our exploitations of resources and people, and for the ways we reject parts of your creation as unholy. May we grow in our understanding of you and our relationship with you. Amen."
As I read the articles for this week, I thought about the ways that humans have sought to be in relationship with God. The ritual rules found in Leviticus were designed to bring a certain group of people in relationship with God by not eating particular animals and only eating specified animals in a set way. The problem with these rules is that they are rules-they can be followed without an understanding of why they were established in the first place. The goal was to help people praise God and celebrate God’s creation, while recognizing their place in it. Walter Brueggemann’s call to praise God by sharing our gifts from others and not simply hoarding them. Our gifts and material blessings come from God and are meant to be used to bring God glory, either by sharing them with others or by using them as wisely as we can. In our North American context of wealth, we should pray for the knowledge and generosity to share our gifts and use them appropriately, as well as ask for forgiveness when we do not.

Table Grace #1 (Denise P)

Loving and gracious Lord,
we thank you for gathering us here together today. Be with us in our gathering; be present in our words and our sharing, that all we say will be about your amazing love for us. Bless this food and the hands that have prepared it. Bless the ground that nurtured it and the people that processed it. Use it to nourish our bodies and strengthen us for your service. We pray all this to the glory of your holy name. Amen.

This is the table prayer I prayed when we gathered for staff lunch every
Tuesday during my internship. It was amazing how many times our regular
weekly meeting was preempted by important events that called us away. We
were always grateful for time together and however uninterrupted it managed to
be. The food was a way to celebrate being fellow human beings in the
world. We typically ate together between the staff meeting and our text
study.

Prayer 1 - Emily Klock

Gracious God,
You gave your people manna in the desert.
You fed the multitudes with loaves and fishes.
You give all your believers your own body and blood,
and you provided this meal before us.
Thank you for providing all we need.
Amen

As I was thinking of all of the meals that God has hosted for his believers, and all of the communities he has gathered around meals, I realized that God is present and eats with us too, not only at the Eucharist, but also in our daily meals.

Table Prayer #1

Creator God, fashion together the working of our hands. You bathe the earth with waters that nourish the soil and shower us with heavenly light. Use our hands to pluck up and to plant, to sort and sift the fruits of our labors. Knit together all farmers, gatherers, and chefs who provide for us our daily food. And keep us ever-mindful of those who will go hungry on this day. Amen.

Commentary: I believe that many individuals within the U.S. have fallen into a consumerism mentality. It is so easy to dash off to a 24 hour grocery store for whatever craving that hits us. We pull that package of cookies (or whatever else we crave) off the shelf, we break the “freshness seal” and devour the entire contents and often cannot remember the following day what we had just eaten.

My prayer attempts to reorient our minds to those hands, both physical and spiritual, who have provided for us our daily food. It begins by acknowledging our gifts from God to the hands of farmers and those (often underpaid immigrant workers) who collect what has been sown. It blesses the craft and artistry of chefs and calls us to be mindful of those who have limited or no access to daily food.

These are the two sung table graces I encountered most often in Argentina:

Bendice Senor nuestro pan
Y da pan a los que tienen hambre
y hambre de justicia a los que tienen pan
Bendice Senor nuestro pan.

Translation:
Bless, Lord our bread
and give bread to those who hunger
and hunger for justice to those who have bread
Bless, Lord our bread.

and:
Gracias Tata Dios, Tata Dios queremos dar,
por aquellas manos que hoy hacen nuestro pan.
Recordamos a quien le falta y a quien le sobra- (hey!)
Y que tu justicia a todos pueda alcanzar. Amen, Amen Senor!
(loose) translation:
Thanks, Daddy God, Daddy God, we want to give,
for those hands which today make our bread.
We remember those wanting and those with plenty
and may your justice provide for all. Amen, Amen Lord.

I appreciate in these table graces a remembering of those without as well as their confidence that God provides for all- combined with a supplication of the eaters present to enact God's justice to make that possible. I find threads of connection to the Douglas article- the Leviticus code was about eating justice, symbolically- and to the Brueggemann article- re learning Jesus as an economist and to trust in God's abundance, not work out of scarcity.

Connected - Week #1 Prayer by Emily Carson

Creator Within and Among Us,

Thank you for this nourishment.

May it strengthen us for the journeys ahead,

May it fill us with thankfulness for what we've been provided,

May it encourage us to look beyond ourselves,

May it connect us to the many - both near and far - who long to be filled with heavenly food.

Amen.

I'm writing this prayer an hour after finding out my step-Grandmother died this evening of a heart attack back home in Iowa. My awareness is sharply increased tonight as to how important connectedness really is. I'm definitely longing to be closer to my family tonight - and trusting in God's ability to connect us spiritually.

Meals shared in community (with 2 or 2000) are a powerful and beautiful means of building life-transforming connections.

Take, Thank, Break, Give

This is a "participatory" table grace in which all at the table take part in the ritual action:

Dear friends, stop now, and look at this food we are about to eat. Take a dish, each of you, and lift it as we give thanks to God…

Blessed are you, God of abundance, you who from the beginning have delighted in
creating food for all your creatures, who provide us each day what we need, and
who give us one another so we can rejoice together in your goodness. We give you
thanks and praise for the Son and the Spirit who give us life. We give you
thanks and praise for this food that you give us today. Blessed are you, O God! Amen.

And now, dear friends, take your portion of God’s bounty. Break it, tear it, cut it, spoon it. I give you this food not from my own hand, but from the hand of the one who has given it to me to offer. Take it with joyfulness, but also with mindfulness of those who still wait for their share. Ask God to give you a generous heart toward them. Take it now, and eat!


Commentary: I was particularly struck in reading John Burkhart’s article, “Reshaping Table Blessings,” by his mention of the four-part structure of Jesus’ last meal with the disciples: Take, Give thanks, Break, and Give. I am striving to extend my understanding of the sacramentality of all our living, even in the most ordinary of circumstances. This table grace is an effort to point out explicitly the sacramentality of a meal together among friends, so yes, the eucharistic overtones are intentional!

Table Grace #1 from Brahm

A table prayer from my family:

Komm Herr Jesus, sei unser Gast
und 
segne was du uns bescheret hast.
Amen

In English, it is commonly known as:
Come Lord Jesus, be our guest
And let these gifts to us be blessed.
Amen

This is a grace that my father might say at the dinner table. There is something lost in the translation from German to English, as the second line translated literally is “and bless these gifts that you have given.”
This table grace covers a few elements that I believe are important for a grace.
The first is that we are inviting Christ to the meal. We are inviting Christ because of the second element, that we recognize that the gifts are provided by Christ, and that these are a blessing to us. God is our great provider, and as we give thanks and worship God, we invite Christ into our midst to share in the feast.
The third element is something that became more evident to me as I became older, and that had to do with my father praying in German. It helped me become aware of the world outside of my immediate surroundings, and outside of the U.S. We recognize that God is present in all the world, and that the gifts God gives us are not limited to only us.

brahm

Jon Bergstrom's Table Blessing #1

Creator God,
Who brings forth life from a seed that falls to the ground and dies,
We give you thanks for the hands and soil that have nurtured and prepared these once-living things over time, so that they might nourish us as food.
Refresh us with this meal, and rejuvenate us with the fellowship we share around this table,
So that we might serve you and serve those who lack nourishment.

Amen


This prayer attempts to reflect some of my initial theological understandings of food. I think it is important to remember the cycle of life and death that is inherent in our eating. And I think it is important to remember that it is God who brings forth and sustains life out of death (that whole resurrection thing). I also think it is important to remember that life and growth take a very long time, whereas death and breaking things down (like we do when we eat) take a relatively short amount of time. And of course there is more to the meal than just food, the fellowship can often be just as nourishing, so let us pray that it is.

Table Blessing (Lynne Morrow)

Lord of all creation, give us the eyes to see your earth and every element with its intrinsic beauty and value; all people as sisters and brothers.
Help us to build up a world where we can share the abundance of this earth through justice and peace; cherishing the beauty in each other, and in all your created world.
In this spirit of abundance we recognize each other as sister and brother and welcome everyone at your banquet table to share in the community created through your Gracious Love.
Amen.


I enjoy reading some of Cesar Chavez (and others') prayers from National Farm Worker Ministry. This is an adaption of one such prayer. In adapting it, there is a strong sense of Sally McFague's Manifesto to North American Middle Class Christians (from Life Abundant) on my mind and in my heart. I used this blessing for the Community Inter-Faith Thanksgiving Eve service at my intern site in North Shore Glenview last year.

Table Prayer #1 (Bruce G)

Heavenly Father:
You provide the Meal of Life, Your Son Jesus Christ. Through the sharing of His Body & Blood, we are reminded of our sinful self and of our redemption and salvation. May this daily meal we share now keep us energized to continually serve and glorify the One who sacrificed all to give us life and sustenance. Amen.

This prayer comes about, in part, because of the Sack reading. It seems the Meal is personal agenda driven. We want to be in charge, we want to control, we want personal gratification and benefits. As folks who want to be in charge of all, we tend to demand pre-conditions for everything we do. Apparently, the Eucharist is included in this. My own theology says one Cup and wine. This is not a directive to others, but a personal belief. I cannot in Christian love demand others to follow blindly my personal theology. Christian love and service, in my theology, does not allow for this. We take the elements with the Word and with faith. Luther has written something to the effect of this: the Word and our faith are vital to the Meal, with or without both elements or no elements at all. God has given us so many wonderful gifts; a discerning mind and heart being just two. Peace. Bruce Gray

The Selkirk Grace

Some hae meat and canna eat,

And some wad eat that want it;

But we hae meat, and we can eat,

Sae let the Lord be thankit.

Attributed to Robert Burns, but likely earlier (see Wikipedia). This one often works for me.