Table Graces
This selection of spoken and sung table graces on food and hunger themes work well on their own or if you plan to eat a
ration meal—a simple way to remember on the needs of people experiencing hunger, reflect gratefully on our abundance, and give to help people who don’t have enough to eat.
Spoken Graces
***
For food in a world where many walk in hunger;
for faith in a world where many walk in fear;
for friends in a world where many walk alone;
we give you humble thanks, O Lord.
***
Loving God,
we thank You for food and remember the hungry;
we thank You for health and remember the sick;
we thank You for friends and remember the lonely;
we thank You for freedom and remember the enslaved.
May our gratitude stir us to service,
that Your gifts to us may be used for others. Amen.
***
In a world where so many are hungry,
may we eat this food with humble hearts.
In a world where so many are lonely,
may we share this friendship with joyful hearts. Amen.
***
To those who have hunger, give bread;
to those who have bread, give a hunger for justice. Amen.
***
We feel hungry, but we do not starve.
We eat until we are stuffed, but still have empty hearts.
Grant that our fellowship of food may also be a banquet of the Spirit.
Fill us with Your love and compassion,
so that, through our lives, others may also be fed. Amen.
***
The bread is on our table.
Bless those who have no bread.
And give us grace in sharing
this bounty ‘round us spread. Amen.
***
Blessed are You, Lord God of all creation.
You hold in Your care all that You have made.
Bless us as we share this meal,
and touch our hearts to serve all whom we meet,
through Christ our Lord. Amen.
(Traditional, based on the Hebrew blessing Berakah Attah Adonai)***
We will eat today and be fed.
So in thankfulness we share in this feast.
But Lord we pray, do not curb our hunger for love.
Do not curb our hunger for justice.
Instead, use the satisfaction of this meal to increase our hunger for equity—
so that all can eat and be fed.
Amen.
—Willard Metzger, Thanking God with Integrity, Volume I, published by World Vision, 2008.***
When Your disciples were unable to feed the hungry crowds,
You fed them, O Lord.
With the little they had You satisfied many.
We come to You with much more.
As we share this food together,
may You multiply our strength and our resolve to offer to others,
so that once again, the many who are hungry can be satisfied.
Amen.
—Willard Metzger, Thanking God with Integrity, Volume I, published by World Vision, 2008.Sung table grace: We Thank You for Food
We thank you for food and remember the hungry,
we thank You for health and remember the ill,
we thank You for homes and remember the homeless,
May our thanks lead to service, to doing Your will.
Click here for words and music in pdf fileWords copyright © Christine Longhurst/Canadian Foodgrains Bank