A Prayer For A Meal Together

A Prayer for a Meal Together

O Jesus Christ, who says take, eat,

And do this in remembrance of Me,

We give thanks

For the gift of Your presence

And the gift of gathering at the table,

Sharing in our humanity and breaking bread

In the sacred space of together.

At worn wooden tables

Or tiny kitchen islands

Or trays in front of the TV,

We give thanks.

For access to abundance

And the hands that farmed each field

And picked each fruit and each vegetable,

We give thanks.

For clean water to scrub the dirt away,

For soil that helps good things grow,

And for sun that shines its face upon the earth,

Revealing Your glory,

We give thanks.

For the growing bodies and minds

Gathered around the table,

Hungry to be nourished and nurtured,

Never knowing what it’s like to have hunger pangs,

We give thanks.

For the cupboards full of breads and boxes,

Cans and containers,

For the cool refuge of a stocked refrigerator,

We give thanks.

For the chopping and the stirring,

For the measuring and the baking,

For the eager hands that make more mess than not,

We give thanks.

For the stained cookbooks with smudged pages,

For the lingering aromas dancing in the air,

For the meals that turn out nothing like the blog said,

We give thanks.

For the frozen chicken nuggets

And the bakery-fresh donuts,

For the boxed macaroni and cheese

And the backyard tomatoes,

We give thanks.

For the crust-off sandwiches,

For the grapes sliced four ways,

For the squeezed juice boxes,

And the accidental milk spills—

We give thanks for these, too.

For the spirited discussions,

For the exasperated sighs,

For the dramatic eye rolls,

And for the monosyllable answers,

We give thanks.

For the kitchen sink full of dishes,

For the cluttered counters,

For the table littered with crumbs,

For the floors waiting to be swept,

We give thanks.

For hands that are plunged into warm water,

Slipping into the routine of the holy ordinary

Of soap and bubbles

And “You wash; I’ll dry,”

We give thanks.

As we eat with our family,

May we throw open doors

To share our food with our neighbor,

For what is ours is really Yours.

May we be mindful of the foods we purchase

And how the choices in our cart affect another.

May we remember those who work long hours,

Stocking shelves or tending fields,

For their fingerprints line our shelves.

May we give out of what we have,

Even if it’s just a few loaves and a few fish,

For You desire for all to eat,

And we need not hoard

Our daily bread.

For this, we give thanks.

In all we prepare

In times of harvest

And times of lack,

May we remember

That we belong to one another,

Connected by our mutual need

For the Bread and Wine

That feeds our souls.

We give thanks for all these things

In the name of Jesus Christ our Lord,

Amen.

Matthew 26:26-29; John 6:1-14