Saying Grace

Growing up in a Catholic family, my parents did what they could to instill a sense of reverence and a prayer life in us. We had a bedtime prayer routine, and we said grace at any meal we sat down together for at home. When my brother and I were youngest, the grace before dinner was simple, and had the benefit of some rhyme and rhythm to it to aid in the learning.

God is great
God is good
Let us thank him
for our food
Amen

As we got older, we grew into the “grownup” grace my parents used:

Bless us, O Lord, in these your gifts
Which we are about to receive
From thy bounty
Through Christ our Lord
Amen

When I left home for college, a young know-it-all adult, I shed the idea of grace over meals pretty quickly. Part of it was latent teenage rebellion. Part of it was not wanting to stick out amongst my peers. And part of it was the general frantic pace of college life. As a theatre student, I moved most days from daytime classes to evening rehearsals. Days could be long, mealtime was often the spare minutes us thespians could grab in the between times. Who has time for grace? I gotta eat this cup-o-noodles in the next two minutes so I won’t be late.

Fast forward through the life events that led me first to a UU church and then into UU seminary. Grace over meals hadn’t been a part of family life for many years, and in UU circles it would be easy to assume that grace wasn’t a typical practice.

And you know what they say about assuming.

Once I’d assumed the role of “Rev,” I found UUs were very interested in having the minister “say a few words” before a potluck or a circle supper. I had to think about grace for the first time in a long time. And just what would a Unitarian Universalist grace sound like?

I’d like to say that I went on some grand, spiritual, soul-searching adventure to come up with the answer. That would make a great story for a newsletter column. But the truth is it didn’t take much time at all to find the words. Grace is a moment of gratitude before a meal. What, at the heart of it all, are we grateful for in that moment?

And then the words were just there:

Before we eat, we give threefold thanks:
For the earth that has brought forth this food
For the hands that have prepared it
And for the hearts that gather together now to share it

I offer these words as a part of your Thanksgiving gatherings.

Peace,

❖

By now, I hope you’ve seen and/or heard the announcements about out Covenant Team’s small group listening sessions. Right now, the team and I are hoping to gauge people’s attitudes towards the idea of covenant and some of the hard concepts that come along with it, such as accountability and reconciliation. We’ll be holding six sessions throughout November and December, with a limit of twelve people per session.

Please see the announcement in this issue of the Univoice for the link to sign up for a group. I hope to see you in one of them. I’m looking forward to your contributions to the covenant process as we move towards a final statement.