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.