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We thank you for the food we eat...

In the days before the school I attended developed an anxiety about mentioning God for fear of exclusivity our kindergarten alternated between a said and a sung grace before snack. The sung grace I know was 'Thank you for the food we eat/thank you for the world so sweet' and while I cannot recall the tune off-hand I know if I eke out the Sneezepickle Songbook (lovingly crafted for us by our music teacher and pianist) I will find the melody three.

The other environment I knew that routinely said grace was the summer camp I attended for eight years; it had three graces, none too overtly religious but all lovely and grateful expressions of thanksgiving and, all three had hymns for their melodies. I particularly remember 'We
Sing Out In Thankful Chorus' to the tune of 'We Are Climbing Jacob's Ladder.'

Claire
All Saints'
St Andrews, Fife.
26 January 2015

 

I remember well our grace at home. It originated with the Scouts in France. Here it is, simply sung:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bh-C_g1FCxc

Bénissez-nous, Seigneur,
Bénissez ce repas,
Et ceux qui l'ont préparé
Donnez le pain du jour (our version — otherwise, Et procurez du pain)
à ceux qui n'en ont pas
Ainsi soit-il. (So be it, i.e., Amen)

One peculiarity: the one who did the dishes was also the one who sang the Benedicite. Often the call went up, "But I sang grace last night!"

Pierre Whalon
Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe
Paris, France...Province II
26 January 2015

I still love the grace I learned my first year of school (an Anglican school), and teach it to kids at church: "For good food and kind friends, thank you God. Amen."

Raewynne Whiteley
St James Episcopal Church, St James NY
St James, NY, USA
26 January 2015

 

My grandfather taught this to us by rote

I Jesu navn går vi til bords
At spise og drikke på ditt ord
Dig Gud til ære, oss til gavn
Sa får vi mat i Jesu navn

We still use it.

Ann Fontaine
St Catherine of Alexandria, Nehalem/Manzanita OR
Cannon Beach, OR USA
27 January 2015

 

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