Sarah McElwain - Saying Grace: Blessings for the Family Table

The graces and table blessings in Saying Grace are like stuffing recipes. There are many different kinds, and everyone has a favorite. Some, like celery, onion, and bread crumbs, are simply traditional. Passed from one generation to another and repeated daily or yearly at holidays, they are as familiar at the table as the traditional foods they share. Other blessings in Saying Grace are exotic, like recipes that call for unusual fruits and spices. The graces found here are drawn from a variety of great religious books and connect us to our ancient pasts.

Some are regional. Like a recipe for Louisiana Crayfish Jambalaya stuffing, they evoke a certain time and place. The ceremonial Native American corn-planting chants, for example, take us for a moment to the early American Great Plains, while 17th-century fishermens prayers hark back to the rugged coast of Scotland. Most blessings collected in Saying Grace address some form of the sacred, but also included are those like the cowboy blessings and singing graces that say thanks in a slightly more irreverent and humorous manner. All of the selections are intended to inspire thoughts of gratitude. Many traditions call for spontaneous expressions of thankfulness spoken by those present around the table.

Others simply sit together in a moment of shared, silent thankfulness. Since many of the worlds greatest writers, poets, humanitarians, and philosophers have composed poems or words of gratitude for their daily bread, Saying Grace includes quotations from St. Francis of Assisi; Zoroaster, the late 7th century Persian philosopher; Josephine Delphine Henderson Heard, the African-American poet; and Dorothy Day, cofounder of the Catholic Worker movement. A number of the entries are anonymousblessing and graces that have outlasted our knowledge of their authors. Much research was done in the compiling of this book to trace the origins of these blessings, but in many cases their sources may no longer be available. Saying Grace is an eclectic collection of graces and food blessings from different centuries, cultures, and geographic locations. Saying Grace is an eclectic collection of graces and food blessings from different centuries, cultures, and geographic locations.

Intended for holidays and every day, it can be passed around the table or enjoyed silently, opened every night or whenever the spirit moves you.

PROVERB Father, we thank Thee for this food, For health and strength and all things good. May others all these blessings share, And hearts be grateful everywhere. TRADITIONAL AMERICAN BLESSING,
CIRCA 1800s For each new morning with its light,
For rest and shelter of the night,
For health and food,
For love and friends,
For everything Thy goodness sends. RALPH WALDO EMERSON (1803-1882),
AMERICAN ESSAYIST Without Thy sunshine and Thy rain;
We would not have the golden grain;
Without Thy love wed not be fed;
We thank Thee for our daily bread. ANONYMOUS Great God accept our gratitude,
For the great gifts on us bestowed
For raiment, shelter, and for food.
Great God, our gratitude we bring,
Accept our humble offering,
For all the gifts on us bestowed,
Thy name be evermore adored. JOSEPHINE DELPHINE HENDERSON HEARD (1861-1921), AFRICAN-AMERICAN POET, DOXOLOGY Though our mouths were full of song as the sea, And our tongues of exultation as the multitude of its waves, And our lips of praise as the wide-extended firmament; Though our eyes shone with light like the sun and the moon, And our hands were spread forth like the eagles of heaven, And our feet were swift as hinds, we should still be unable To thank thee and bless Thy name.

O Lord our God and God of our fathers, for one thousandth or one ten-thousandth of the bounties which Thou has bestowed Upon our fathers and upon us. THE HEBREW PRAYER BOOK Blessed are we who can laugh at ourselves,
For we shall never cease to be amused. ANONYMOUS Now this day, My sun father, Now that you have come out standing to your sacred place, That from which we draw the water of life, Prayer meal, Here I give to you. Your long life, Your old age, Your waters, Your seeds, Your riches, Your power, Your strong spirit, All these to me may you grant. ZUI PRAYER This ritual is One. The food is One.

We who offer the food are One. The fire of hunger is also One. All action is One. We who understand this are One. HINDU BLESSING Been out on the range, All dusty and tired. Been ridin and ropin all day, Around the chuck wagon.

We bow down our heads, And sing out the cowboys grace. Allelujah, Amen, Amen. Allelujah, Amen, Amen. A COWBOY GRACE Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all the lands! Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into His presence with singing! Know that the Lord is God! It is He that made us, and we are His; We are His people, and the sheep of His pasture. Enter His gates with thanksgiving, And His courts with praise! Give thanks to Him, bless His name! For the Lord is good; His steadfast love endures forever, And His faithfulness to all generations. PSALM 100