Meal Time Grace

Prayer before Meal time, Artist Unknown

Giving Thanks for This Meal

Our Holy Abba
Father of Your Children, and Friend to us all;
Creator of heaven and earth
   and all things of them and in her;

In this minute before devouring
While we still ourselves to give thanks
   and consider the nature of hunger and filling;

We take this holy moment to appreciate
the time, the people, the history, and the energy
that went into making food
   and shaping it into this meal
   and welcoming others into this communion
   and recognizing Your presence in this now.

We follow the contours of this sacred second
through the valleys and their hills,                                              
along the rivers and in their deep wells,                                                        
past the farms and workshops,
the mills and grocery stores
where people team with life
and make a living.

We now accept as best as we are able
to receive this feast and this fellowship –
to offer this open handedly
with hospitality and generosity
as coming from You
   With You
      In You
         And for You.

And for all those whom You have invited to this table:
   May You be honoured
   May we fortify each other
   May we gratefully taste what we take
      and be mindful of those who have neither
      food nor table nor friends and family with whom to share.

May we humbly receive this with grace and gratitude in Jesus name.

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Thanks to my son Nathan who is inspiring me to be more mindful while I eat.

Thanks to my brother-in-law Geoff who is the slowest eater I have ever met.

Thanks to my very good friend Harold, now deceased, whose personal hospitality I miss.

Thanks for my very good friend David who introduced me to the culture of “liming.”

Thank God for the spiritual family with which He has surrounded me; I am amazed.