Prayer before meals?

[Lost Squirrel]

I had to stop myself and review the words before my meal blessing this past weekend. I had been brought up to rehearse the following prayer before meals (which eventually dwindled down to the big Sunday meal and holidays, but nonetheless...)

"Bless us, O Lord, and these thy gifts for which we are about to receive. From thy bounty, through Christ, our Lord, Amen."

These are the mindless words I've uttered since I can recall speaking. I was shocked to join my husband's family for their first holiday meal (they are from varying denominations, including Baptist, RC, non-denom, and no affiliation): the patriarch gave more of a quick homily which specifically addressed the issues for the year (or week, or whenever/whatever). Anyway, it was a very down to earth blessing, where people and issues were briefly addressed and asked for our prayers. I never seemed to mind that it took a whole minute longer than my traditional RC prayer, which always felt half-heartedly muttered at best. What a difference!

What are your traditions (as related to your family or church)?

 

[lux et lex]

When I'm with my Catholic family, that's the prayer we say. Otherwise, when at home with my Lutheran family we say the following:

"Come Lord Jesus, be our Guest, let these gifts to us be blessed. Amen."

I dated a man for a long time who would say very long specific prayers before meals. I guess it's whatever you're used to.

 

[Lost Squirrel]

Heh, no kidding as to why it is called a faith journey - I am reexamining everything!

Here's another short story about my faith "evolution":
I always carried a St Christopher medallion in my jacket pocket when riding my motorcycle. It is the RC belief that a particular saint will "watch over whatever", in St Christopher's case, he is the patron saint of travel.
Well, to make a long story short and jump ahead to winter time (non-riding season), my husband called me on the phone and told me he was on his way home from the airport. Knowing it was late at night and we had a good accumulation of snow, I began to pray for his safe travels. Funny, I realized I was speaking directly to God!
Now, reflecting back to this past summer, I recall several close calls on the bike where I shouted "dear God, watch over me!" from under my helmet. Thinking back, I never shouted "St Chris, wake up!" Nope. It just now hit me that I have ALWAYS had a one-on-one relationship with God.
Funny how our beliefs evolve.

 

[AngCath]

I learned this one as a kid: "Come Lord Jesus, be our Guest, let these gifts to us be blessed. Amen."

I now use: "Blessed are you, O Lord God, King of the Universe, for you give us food to sustain our lives and make our hearts glad; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen."

My parents no longer use a set form and at holiday gatherings (when I'm with them) my dad wings it.

 

[doulos_tou_kuriou]

When I'm with my Catholic family, that's the prayer we say. Otherwise, when at home with my Lutheran family we say the following:

"Come Lord Jesus, be our Guest, let these gifts to us be blessed. Amen."

I dated a man for a long time who would say very long specific prayers before meals. I guess it's whatever you're used to.

I grew up with "come Lord Jesus" also although I learned to say thy gifts instead of these gifts.

Also, among Norwegian and Scandinavians is the "I Jesu Navn" prayer. They are very similar between the two languages but slightly different. One translation of it which I and my wife will do occasionally is:
In Jesus name,
to the table we go,
to eat and to drink,
according to his word.
To God the glory, to us the gain,
so we have food,
in Jesus name. Amen.

We will also do impromptu prayers, or read prayers from a devotional. It really depends on who is there (we won't do a memorized one if not everyone knows it) or we also will sometimes do the Lord's Prayer.

 

[Satt]

Father, Son, Holy Ghost. Whoever eats the fastest, gets the most!

 

[Jacqueline9423]

I also grew up with "Come Lord Jesus, be our guest."

Lately, I haven't been praying before meals. I soetimes pray afterwards when I remember because of guilt, lol. I like to pray, "Bless us, O Lord, these thy gifts which we are about to receive. May they nourish our bodies and give us strength. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen."

 

[Sandcv]

Interesting topic. I taught my children the "Come Lord Jesus" prayer. When I was a kid we didn't usually pray before meals unless we were eating with my grandmother. She's a Methodist; she always prays, "Thanks to God to thee we give for this food by which we live. May we eat our bread with joy and our strength with thee employ." Then she will add specific personal thanks or requests before concluding the prayer.

We have not been very good lately about praying before meals in our household. I think we got out of the habit of it when we became so busy with children's activities, and meals became a haphazard "eat on the run" affair rather than sitting together around the table. I think I will work on doing it more regularly.

 

[servingthesaviour]

Before we have our meal we thank God that we can be together, pray that Daddy has a good day at work and comes home safely. Then we thank the Lord for all kinds of things, e.g. the morning at kindergarden, ... and ask Him to bless all our loved ones.
I, personally, don't agree with praying something that another person thought up.

 

[mdseverin]

I grew up saying

Come Lord Jesus be our guest,
At this meal may we be blessed.
By His hand may we be fed,
Give us Lord our daily bread.
Amen

My oldest is 2 and that was too long for her to learn so she says, "God is great, God is good, let us thank Him for the food. Amen"

 

[DailyBlessings]

We never did around the family dinner table, except for holidays. I picked up the habit in smeinary, though, and usually take a silent moment or two to reflect on the blessings of the day and the gift of life represented by the food.

As for the church I grew up in, church events, like Lenten soup suppers, always started with the Lutheran table grace in five part harmony, sung to the Old Hundredth. Our version of the lyrics went

Be present at our table Lord
Be here and everywhere adored
These mercies bless and grant that we
May strengthened for thy service be
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaameeeeeeeeeeeeen.

 

[thispoorman]

The Moravian version is: Come Lord Jesus our Guest to be / And bless these gifts bestowed by Thee / Bless our loved ones everywhere / Keep them in Thy loving care. Amen.

 

[Lprdgecko]

I'm LCMS, but my family has always said, "Come Lord Jesus, be our guest, and let Thy gifts to us be blest. Amen. Oh give thanks unto the Lord for He is good and His mercy endures forever. Amen." When my brother and I were really little we used to add "Abba, Jesus. Amen" at the very end.

We still pray this at home, as well as with my dad's side of the family which is mostly Lutheran. However, I haven't been praying before meals now that I'm "on my own." Though if I have children some day, I will teach them this prayer.

My mom's side of the family is mostly Catholic and they say the same prayer you originally posted only with "In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen" at the beginning and end.

 

[Izdaari Eristikon]

I have no particular personal or family tradition, since I don't come from a religious family and have been unchurched most of my life, even after becoming a Christian. However, I've been blessed with very good churches for the past few years.

I often forget, but when I remember I do say grace, very simply and to the point. Something like: "Father, thank You for this food. I ask Your blessing on it in Jesus' name."

 

[violinp]

My family always said grace, even though my dad's agnostic.

Our grace was, "Come, Lord Jesus, be our guest, and let these gifts to us be blessed. Amen. God bless Daddy and Mommy and [Sister's name] and [my name]. Amen. We still say that grace, though Sister and I are 21 years old.

When we're at our grandparents' house (they're LCMS), we say, "Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. His mercy endures forever. Amen."

 

[IrishBay07]

We never did around the family dinner table, except for holidays. I picked up the habit in smeinary, though, and usually take a silent moment or two to reflect on the blessings of the day and the gift of life represented by the food.

As for the church I grew up in, church events, like Lenten soup suppers, always started with the Lutheran table grace in five part harmony, sung to the Old Hundredth. Our version of the lyrics went

Be present at our table Lord
Be here and everywhere adored
These mercies bless and grant that we
May strengthened for thy service be
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaameeeeeeeeeeeeen.

Funny, at the ELCA summer camp that I attended for 13 years, we used this as our prayer before every meal. But it was put to every tune under the sun, including the Flintstones, the littlest worm, doxology, fast paced and super slow. Certainly made getting into the dining hall more interesting. We also added a very loud "LET'S EAT!" after the amen.

I grew up saying a very short and simple prayer before meals. Probably at one point was said in Penna Dutch in my family. "God bless our daily food, Amen."

My FI grew up using the "God is great" prayer.

 

[DreamsUnderstood]

I grew up saying "Come lord Jesus, be our guest, and let these gifts to us be blessed."
My family hasn't been praying before meals lately; I think it was due to the fact we had to get rid of our table when we moved to an apartment from a house.

 

[gingeandhales]

Praying before meals is the toughest habit for me to get into. For the past few months not a morning has gone by that I haven't prayed upon waking, then I do a formal prayer while I walk to dog in the woods. I use an Episcopal podcast that goes through the Daily Office which is great except the readings are different than the Lutheran Daily Lectionary. Even before I returned to Christianity I said multiple prayers (or conversations with God) throughout the day automatically and I continue to do that now, but I am more mindful of it now. But I always forget to pray before I eat. Often times, half way through I will stop and say a quick thank you if I remember, but I just can't get myself into the habit.

Why is this so hard for me? Being thankful for food should be a no brainer, but maybe food has just become such a mindless activity, either eating on the run, snacking when I'm bored, or just wanting to get dinner over with so I can get everyone (including myself) to bed. I feel like it is such an insult to continue to ignore such an obvious blessing as having more than enough to eat but yet I take it for granted. Here I am having so much to eat that I have to force myself to stop, while others are starving and have no idea when their next meal will come. If that isn't a reason to give thanks than I don't know what is.

Starting tomorrow I am going to hold myself accountable for prayers before meals. Maybe I will go back to keeping a food journal like I did when I was on a weight-loss program, that will force me to be more mindful of meal times and will hopefully make it easier to remember to pray before eating.

 

[redphantom]

Growing up we said "God is great. God is good. Let us thank Him for our food." When I got married my husband used to say an impromptu grace each meal. When our son started to join us we started to use the Come Lord Jesus one so that we could all be participants. (Due to developmental delays it would have been a long time before my son have could participated in impromptu prayers.) My son has OCD and so would pray before he'd eat anything including snacks. That lasted until he started school. They didn't pray before eating so he stopped for snacks, but is faithful to pray before and meal with the family. He is also very attached to the Come Lord Jesus prayer and has adapted it for bed time. He says "Come Lord Jesus, be out guest. Let this sleep tonight be blessed."

 

[SeekerOfChrist94]

My family didn't pray much when I was little, but I do remember the 'Come Lord Jesus, be our guest' prayer. Nowadays I say: Christ our Lord, bless this food we are about to receive. Let it strengthen and nourish our bodies and let it be good to us, as You are good to us. In Your name we pray, Amen.