Saying Grace
I don’t know if anyone has ever done a study, but I imagine
that a higher percentage of people and families say grace over their meal on
Thanksgiving than on any other day.
In fact, I expect that quite a few people say grace only on Thanksgiving and not at any other time or occasion.
If you think about it, it’s actually kind of a funny phrase:
to say grace. If you asked a ten
year old to say grace, wouldn’t the natural response be “grace?” What the phrase means, of course, is to
say “a” grace. And a grace is a
prayer. A prayer of thanksgiving
or praise. A prayer invoking God’s
blessing or grace.
Incidentally, the dictionary definition describes a grace as
a short prayer, something to remember
at the Thanksgiving table.
As I was browsing information on graces I came across one
that said: May God’s grace hover
at our table this day. Hover. I like that tangible, visible image of
God’s grace or blessing as something we can see.
Because, although we ask God to bless, to lend his grace, we
don’t really need to summon or conjure God’s grace. It is already with us.
What we are doing when we say grace is making ourselves
aware, opening ourselves to the action of God’s grace, tuning our ears to hear
and our eyes to see God’s blessing.
The action or change that we pray for is not in God, but in us. We are not saying: Hey, God, I know you weren’t going to
come to our Thanksgiving dinner, but now since we’ve said grace, we know you’ll
change your mind and show up. Rather,
we are saying: Change us, transform
our hearts to see your grace with us, that we may live more faithfully and more
gratefully.
It’s too bad that we say grace so infrequently. Think how gloriously we might be
changed if we said grace at more meals, or even at other times in our lives. If we could open ourselves to see God’s
grace hovering over us, enfolding us, in other daily activities as well as
eating.
I have a book that is an anthology of prayers (The Oxford Book of Prayer, ed.
Appleton). It contains a group of
prayers written by Chinese Christian women and men. I don’t know anything about the origin or history of the
prayers. But they are written to
accompany the tasks of daily life.
A prayer, a grace when opening a door:
A pray thee, Lord to
open the door of my heart to receive thee within my heart.
Help me to see your blessing and grace with me as I open a
door.
On pruning a tree:
I pray thee, Lord, to
purge me and take away my selfishness and sinful thoughts, that I may bring
forth more fruits of the Spirit.
A grace while posting a letter:
I pray thee, Lord to
add to me faith upon faith, that I may always have communication with thee.
When planting, or sowing seed:
I pray thee, Lord, to
sow the good seed of virtue in my heart, letting it grow by day and night and
bring forth a hundredfold.
When drawing water, or, as we would say, turning on the tap:
I pray thee, Lord, to
give living water to quench my thirst, and wash away the stains from my heart.
A prayer when boiling water for tea:
I pray thee, Lord, to
send down spiritual fire to burn away the coldness of my heart and that I may
always be hot-hearted in serving thee.
Think about saying grace more often. Praying for the awareness of God’s
grace and blessing with us and giving thanks in all of the activities
throughout our daily lives.
