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