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cooking special food over favourite prayers

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Originally posted by TheAlethiophile:
This does have the downside of having awkward moments when somebody later says, "shall we say grace" just as I've put a chip in my mouth.

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Originally posted by Lucia:
One of our children finds it hard to know what to say when praying aloud with others. Does anyone know of a good resource for some set graces that we could look at using some of the time?

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Casting lots is a scriptural way to make a choice. The eleven Apostles chose Matthias to succeed Judas Iscariot as one of the Twelve Apostles by casting lots (Acts 1:15-26).

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Guaranteed to work about six times, I would think!

In France, in protestant circles, there are quite a lot of sung graces (which have never caught on in our family but which we do use at church meals). I can probably point you to some, albeit in French.
 

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Posted by Lucia (# 15201) on :
 
We could do graces in French! Our kids having done all their schooling in French school are now more fluent than their parents!

[ 05. September 2014, 12:39: Message edited by: Lucia ]
 

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Posted by Adeodatus (# 4992) on :
 
Can I share a theory I have about grace before meals? I've a hunch that, before it was ever attached to any particular religion, it was a sort of acknowledgement (if the meal contained meat) that for us to be fed, a life had been taken. That's why I think it's actually terribly important, and why I always say at least a mental prayer of thanksgiving before I eat.
 

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Posted by Eutychus (# 3081) on :
 

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Originally posted by Lucia:
We could do graces in French! Our kids having done all their schooling in French school are now more fluent than their parents!

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Hehe!

Toi qui disposes (traditional version, first verse); alternative, to the tune of "oh when the saints". To spare the hosts, I won't link to more, but that last page sends you to lots of others. The ones I know there are:

"nous te disons merci"; "seigneur toi qui donne pâture": "pour ce repas (swing)" and "compte les bienfaits de Dieu" ('count your blessings' in Engilsh). So that's one more than the "dice graces" already, and free to boot

Now imagine that granny in the Norman Rockwell painting singing one in the middle of the restaurant.
 

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Posted by Cottontail (# 12234) on :
 

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Originally posted by Eutychus:

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Originally posted by Lucia:
One of our children finds it hard to know what to say when praying aloud with others. Does anyone know of a good resource for some set graces that we could look at using some of the time?

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You could always go for a table grace die, which I personally think is more in the "Gadgets for God" league than anything else. The "sales argument" is hilarious, too, complete with proof text:

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Casting lots is a scriptural way to make a choice. The eleven Apostles chose Matthias to succeed Judas Iscariot as one of the Twelve Apostles by casting lots (Acts 1:15-26).

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Guaranteed to work about six times, I would think!

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My sister found the Grace Cube (same thing as Eutychus', but without the thees and thous) very effective for her kiddies. They were getting bored of grace for a while, and the 'game' element of this revived their interest, as well as giving them some words to say. They have grown out of it now, but they each have a fund of at least 6 graces that they can say whenever.
 

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Posted by LeRoc (# 3216) on :
 
I don't know if there are any sung graces before a meal in the Netherlands, I've never encountered them. There are some sung prayers before a child goes to bed. This is the one my parents sung with me.
 

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Posted by no prophet (# 15560) on :
 
This might one for a poll? Do you say it? Aloud or silent? Is it thanksgiving, petition etc? Is it a set prayer or made up just then? When do you refrain from grace?

My family has stopped formal grace in lieu of acknowledging each other and glad we are together and safe, with our understanding having developed that God doesn't really provide food, protection or anything else material.
 

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Posted by Heavenly Anarchist (# 13313) on :
 
My inlaws often have a sung grace when family are round, usually 'All good gifts around us', and sometimes sung in the round.
We seem to have got out of the habit in our home and I sometimes wish we'd say grace more often. I think it is because my husband often isn't home when we eat so it doesn't feel right; we sometimes say it at weekends when we are all together. But I'd like to pray together more as a family anyway, let alone say grace.
 

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Posted by IngoB (# 8700) on :
 

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Originally posted by LeRoc:
I don't know if there are any sung graces before a meal in the Netherlands, I've never encountered them. There are some sung prayers before a child goes to bed. This is the one my parents sung with me.

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IngoB: That's originally the famous German poem "Müde bin ich" by Luise Hensel, sister of the German composer Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy. The melody that you likely learned is from the German folk song "Taler, Taler, du musst wandern". The combination became one of the most popular good night songs for children in Germany, a (rather recent!) tradition that I guess must have spilled over into the Netherlands at some point in time...

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Thank you, I didn't know that. Yes, the text is that of Hensel's poem (allowing for some free translation). The melody differs a bit from Taler, Taler after the second line, but I guess that's something that can happen in adaptation.
 

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Posted by ChastMastr (# 716) on :
 
We pretty much do "Bless, O Father, Thy gifts to our use and us to Thy service, for Christ's sake/in Jesus' Name, Amen."
 

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Posted by Curiosity killed ... (# 11770) on :
 
We sing grace with Guides
Johnny Appleseed (sung) words
Addams family graces
Sung graces to familiar tunes
 

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Posted by North East Quine (# 13049) on :
 
We say grace before dinner, and also before lunch if it's a "proper" meal as opposed to a sandwich.

We've had some interesting discussions over the years with our children regarding grace. E.g. If you don't like your vegetables and are only eating them under parental duress, should you be able to exempt said veg from grace, on the grounds that saying that you're grateful when you're not would be lying to God?

(As if trying to get them to eat their greens wasn't hard enough without adding a theological dimension )

[ 06. September 2014, 17:49: Message edited by: North East Quine ]
 

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Posted by Fineline (# 12143) on :
 
I don't say grace before my meals. I grew up with saying it, but for me, it was meaningless. I thank God spontaneously when I go shopping and find good things to eat on the bargain shelf, and I sometimes thank God spontaneously while I'm eating, because I like my food and I am grateful for it. But for some reason, the ritual of saying grace before my meal has never been a meaningful thing for me and I can't associate it with the spontaneous thanks I give God at other times - perhaps because I grew up with it being just a ritual, rather than meaningful thanks.
 

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Posted by L'organist (# 17338) on :
 
Always when we sit at the table together, which is most evenings and lunch in the winter when the children are home.
 

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Posted by Chorister (# 473) on :
 
My parents still say grace - out loud at home, silently in restaurants. But it's not something I'd want to carry on. That doesn't mean I'm not grateful, though!

As children, we used to sing grace before school lunch every day:

Thank you for the world so sweet,
Thank you for the food we eat,
Thankyou for the birds that sing,
Thank you God for everything.
 

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Posted by OddJob (# 17591) on :
 
I gave up at the age of 10 when it consisted of giving thanks for the 1970s northern England diet of boiled potatoes (seen as a principal food group in those days) and something even less palatable such as boiled cabbage.

Later I appreciated the sentiment and feel it's better to give thanks spontaneously for receiving a pleasant surprise or for being fortunate/able to achieve much, such as managing to complete a run on a sunny day on a par with folk 20 years younger.
 

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Posted by Autenrieth Road (# 10509) on :
 
I find that a silent grace before eating, and the Lord's Prayer, and the Serenity Prayer, are the only prayers I can pray these days. (And liturgical prayers when I'm at church.) Also I can sing (even when not in church) sung things that I know from church, whether it be anthems, hymns, or service music. Everything else ties me up in too much knots of confusion.

Lectio Divina, on another thread, seems like something I can do, but it doesn't seem like prayer to me (which I say as a positive thing, given how confused I am by prayer).

[ 13. September 2014, 23:04: Message edited by: Autenrieth Road ]
 

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Posted by Kelly Alves (# 2522) on :
 

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Originally posted by Adeodatus:
Can I share a theory I have about grace before meals? I've a hunch that, before it was ever attached to any particular religion, it was a sort of acknowledgement (if the meal contained meat) that for us to be fed, a life had been taken. That's why I think it's actually terribly important, and why I always say at least a mental prayer of thanksgiving before I eat.

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Wow, we think alike.

I wrote somewhere on the Ship before about watching an episode of Gordon Ramsey's "'F Word." in which he was saying goodbye to his pigs at the abattoir. He told them what good pigs they were, and how he'd miss them, and how sorry he was it had to be this way-- then he stopped and said, " dunno what to say, really."

"Thank you!" I shouted at the TV set. " say 'thank you!"

And yeah, that lead to thought about humans entering the agricultural era, and hand- raising their food, and the natural affection that arises from a person when they take care of something...
 

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Posted by CuppaT (# 10523) on :
 
My youngest says a full grace before everything he eats. This means that if he goes and gets a cookie and milk, he is going to set them down on the table before carrying them into the computer room and stop and stand before the icons and raise his hands and say the Lord's Prayer and then grace.

I admit, this drives me a little nuts. But how do you tell him that he is overdoing it? Once when I was confessing that I overate, the priest told me that I should be thankful for everything that I put in my mouth. My son does this better than I do.
 

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Posted by Jude (# 3033) on :
 
Oh how I loathe that song that says "in this house we're gonna say grace". It just seems so pious to me. I could never sing it at our old church. And yet at our house on Sunday evening we DO say Grace. But not on other days, which we used to, as I remember when I was little. Maybe it's just gone out of fashion ...
 

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Posted by LeRoc (# 3216) on :
 

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CuppaT: But how do you tell him that he is overdoing it?

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Originally posted by CuppaT:
My youngest says a full grace before everything he eats. This means that if he goes and gets a cookie and milk, he is going to set them down on the table before carrying them into the computer room and stop and stand before the icons and raise his hands and say the Lord's Prayer and then grace.

I admit, this drives me a little nuts. But how do you tell him that he is overdoing it? Once when I was confessing that I overate, the priest told me that I should be thankful for everything that I put in my mouth. My son does this better than I do.

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Originally posted by CuppaT:
My youngest says a full grace before everything he eats. This means that if he goes and gets a cookie and milk, he is going to set them down on the table before carrying them into the computer room and stop and stand before the icons and raise his hands and say the Lord's Prayer and then grace.

I admit, this drives me a little nuts. But how do you tell him that he is overdoing it? Once when I was confessing that I overate, the priest told me that I should be thankful for everything that I put in my mouth. My son does this better than I do.

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