Logo

 

Banner Image:   Baptist-Times-banner-2000x370-
Template Mode:   Baptist Times
Icon
    Post     Tweet

Pause and be thankful

The custom of saying grace is dying out and that's a shame, writes Colin Sedgwick

 
For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer. 1 Timothy 4:4-5

Do you “say grace” before meals?

Sayinggrace250When I was converted, 50 years ago now, it was the normal thing among Christians. Every time you sat down to eat - your main meal, anyway - somebody would offer a short prayer of thanks for the food. Often this would be a set formula: “For these and all your mercies we give you thanks, O God”, or “For what we are about to receive may the Lord make us truly thankful”.

Other times it would be extempore, though variations on such a limited theme were bound to be equally limited.

Saying grace, or “giving thanks” as perhaps we might call it today, can throw up some interesting situations.

 

my impression is that this custom is dying out, and I think it’s rather a shame



I remember a young people’s weekend away when, on the last evening, we decided to treat ourselves to a meal at a restaurant in the nearest town. After we had all piled into this unsuspecting place, about 20 scruffy teenagers plus equally scruffy leaders, one of my fellow-leaders (I could have cheerfully strangled her on the spot) brightly suggested “Why don’t we sing grace instead of just saying it?”

To my horror and dismay (I am a pretty buttoned-up person!) everybody seemed to think this was a great idea, so a not terribly tuneful “Praise God from whom all blessings flow” rang out loudly across the restaurant.

And you know what? Initial surprise gave way to friendly smiles from the other customers. All right, they probably thought we were a bit loopy, but no one seemed to mind.

I remember too when our children were little and started to insist on saying grace. Mark, our younger son, didn’t like to miss anything out, so off he went: “Thank you, Jesus and God [his grasp of the doctrine of the trinity was somewhat limited at that stage], for the cars and the houses and the trees and the people...” I think he usually got round to the meal in the end, but not before we had been metaphorically drumming our impatient fingers on the table while the food got cold.

 

any opportunity to bring God consciously into our lives is to be seized


Well, my impression is that this custom is dying out, and I think it’s rather a shame. This isn’t just me being a hide-bound traditionalist; I don’t think Paul’s words about “receiving food with thanksgiving” necessarily imply a legalistic habit. But I think there are good reasons for obeying them at certain times.

For one thing, we read that Jesus gave thanks, as was the Jewish custom, before meals. It’s there in John 6:11and 1 Corinthians 11:23-24. (Matthew 14:19 adds the detail that he “looked up to heaven”, which surely sums up nicely what “saying grace” is about.) Jesus gave thanks: you might think that fact alone should be good enough for the rest of us.

But still more, isn’t there value in making space, however tiny, for focus on God in the busy-ness of our lives? He is very easily squeezed out, and as long as we don’t reduce “giving thanks” to a mere formula trotted out mechanically, why shouldn’t it be a moment of encounter with God?

Let’s not forget that it is possible to be at least a little creative: “grace” doesn’t have to be exclusively about the food. You’ve heard of someone taken into hospital a couple of hours earlier? Well, why not say a prayer for them first? Someone’s starting a new job tomorrow? facing a difficult exam? worried about a child’s health? Not to mention a few pretty grim issues in the world news. All right, this isn’t the moment for a full-blown prayer-meeting, but...

It can be a bit tricky, of course, when you have guests, especially if they aren’t Christians. You don’t want to embarrass people. But equally, this is your home, after all. My wife and I have adopted the practice of simply saying something like “We usually say a short prayer before we eat, so we hope you will bear with us for a moment”. If we’re in someone else’s home we’re happy, of course, to respect their customs.

Every prayer offered from the heart is precious to God, however brief. And any opportunity to bring God consciously into our lives is to be seized; in Jesus even the most “secular” moments are also “sacred”. He is always there, of course we know that.

But why not make a point of acknowledging the fact?


Lord God, help us to recognise your holy presence even in the ordinary situations of everyday life, not least when we are receiving food from your generous hand. Amen.

 

Colin Sedgwick is a Baptist minister living in north-west London, with many years’ experience in the ministry.

He is also a freelance journalist, and has written for The Independent, The Guardian, The Times, and various Christian publications. He blogs at
www.sedgonline.blogspot.co.uk

Picture: Tacluda/RGB Stock
Baptist Times, 15/09/2014
    Post     Tweet
Collaboration, and our worship of Jesus
Notes from the two keynote addresses from Dave Ferguson and Alex Harris at the first Everyone Everywhere national conference on 8 October
Israel-Palestine: I can’t keep up
Baptist church member David Nelson has travelled to Israel and the West Bank on three occasions in the past 24 months. He offers this reflection on events in the region
Dwelling in scripture
Anne Le Tissier outlines the practice of remaining in just one or a few Bible verses for an entire week or more, which is explored more fully in her new book 'Dwell – Inviting God’s Word to make a home in our lives, one day at a time'
Protests or race riots?
Justice enabler Wale Hudson Roberts reflects on this summer's race riots. In doing so, he asks: what role can Baptists Together play in addressing the voice of the far right, Islamophobia, and racism in church and society?
Should your faith rely solely on the Bible?
For many of us, the Bible is by far and away the book that has most influenced our lives. But as Baptists, Jesus is our number one authority, writes Chris Goswami
The Church, the far right, and the claim to Christianity
The far right has grown in prominence in recent years - with some cynically employing Christian-sounding language. Helen Paynter highlights the current context - and how the Church can respond
     The Baptist Times 
    Posted: 14/10/2024
    Posted: 02/10/2024
    Posted: 22/07/2024
    Posted: 07/05/2024
    Posted: 12/02/2024
    Posted: 22/12/2023
    Posted: 16/12/2023