Thanksgiving Thoughts on Saying Grace

Do you bless the food before you dig in? “Saying Grace” is a religious tradition that spans most faiths. The idea is to give thanks to God for our food, and ask Him to bless it. In my religious experience, few call it “Saying Grace”. Usually, it’s either “Blessing the Food,” or “Saying the Prayer.”

I prefer “Saying Grace.”

Eons ago, I had a missionary companion who took the idea of “blessing the food” to a much more literal level than I had seen before. We would bow our heads at the table, and he would pronounce the blessing on the food, which would be something like this:

“In the name of Jesus Christ, and by the power of the priesthood, we bless this food for our use.  Amen.”

As a junior companion, I never took it upon myself to say, “Are you nuts?” but I did gently broach the subject once, as I was curious about the appropriateness of his mealtime prayer.  He responded that it was similar to a priesthood ordinance, and we had the priesthood.

This idea was new and strange to me, and I didn’t pick up on it.  Partly because he did not use the specific word required for all food blessings. That word is:

nourishandstrengthenourbodiesanddousthegoodthatweneed.

He didn’t even try to incorporate the word into his prayer – let alone run it together correctly. Heretic! I just stuck with the tried-and-true that I had been raised with. Yep. I was comfortable with my own vain repetitions, and I was gonna use them. Still do.

When we “bless the food”, are we “blessing the food?”  Aren’t we really asking God to bless the food? I will admit that sometimes it feels a bit silly. I have smiled many times while listening to someone “bless” the donuts or cookies to make us “healthy and strong.”

To me, the most important part of “Saying Grace” is “Grace.”  The word itself teaches us a lot. “Grace” comes from the Latin “gratia,” which means praises, favor, or thanks. (In Spanish, gracias comes from gratia, too.)

We use the word “grace” in our worship. It means an unmerited sanctification through divine assistance. Christ gives us grace. We are saved by grace. (Ephesians 2:8)

Could it be that our saying grace brings about God’s grace and sanctifies our meal? Doesn’t coming to God with humility and gratitude sanctify us as well?

Kidding aside, the part of my companion’s prayer that bothered me was the absence of gratitude – the complete lack of grace in his edict. Even though I say the words “We are thankful for this food,” most of the time, my prayers lack grace as well. On occasion, I will feel the words, but far too often, it is merely repeating a tradition for tradition’s sake.

If I had to choose, I would be more comfortable with a prayer over the food that is only about gratitude, than asking for blessed food devoid of gratitude.

I know, there are only so many ways to pray over a plate of food, and I’m not suggesting this is a big deal that will keep us out of heaven – but I am suggesting that every little bit of sincere gratitude we express to our God is a good thing.

Our family sits at the table to say grace. We kneel for family prayers and keep the two distinct. (We like warm food) Family prayers are much more detailed, involved, and longer. We like to keep mealtime prayers short. Not ridiculously short – but on topic.

On Thanksgiving, if you’ve ever peeked and seen the gravy congealing on your plate during the sermon – I mean prayer – you understand.

Blessing a table of cheesecakes so that God will nourishandstrengthenourbodiesanddousthegoodthatweneed can feel silly, but I have no problem at all expressing gratitude to God and the people who provided the cheesecake. Cheesecake is delicious, and God should be thanked for inspiring whoever invented it.

As for the importance of saying grace, I found a wonderful quote:

“The holding of family prayer is a powerful influence for good in every home where it is a regular practice. Morning and evening prayers, as well as the blessing on our food, bring us a sense of unity in our family as well as a closeness to our Father in heaven. Family prayer is indeed a stabilizing influence in our lives.” (Franklin D. Richards)

Don’t even get me started on the importance of having dinner together, seated around the table. (But if you want info, read this.)

It is easy to find things to be thankful for, and to express gratitude during this holiday season. It is harder when you are eating leftover whatever, and you know you are going to be late for your kid’s ball game…

On Thanksgiving, as you gather around the table, pause for a moment and think about “Saying Grace.” The question may not be about what you are going to say, rather… do you mean it?

Happy Thanksgiving! I am thankful for you, my loyal readers who still keep coming around.