SCL

When I am out eating with my family, we do a fun thing. We all put our hands in to the center of the table on top of each other like some kind of super-hero team, and we pray. If we are dining with friends we invite them in on our team.

We don’t view praying before meals as any kind of rule or requirement, it just seems like a good transition point to take advantage of and to be able to naturally have a minute for corporate prayer.

It is true that it’s all about your heart and relationship with God. I’ve been a waiter and had all kinds of people pray before a meal then be rude and not even tip, and I’ve had awesome Christian people that didn’t pray before they ate and during the meal showed a lot of love and care for me – THEIR WAITER!

Man looks on the outside, but God looks [clap][clap] on the heart.
-peace

Happened today at work.

On the flip side, I have been known to bow my head anytime I am in a large group of people for a meeting. Like at staff meetings at the public school I used to work for. Oops!

Well, it’s definitely a SCL post, because I can’t imagine a Buddhist, or Hindu or Jew waffling over such a thing; I think they would just follow whatever ritual or custom is common to their home, regardless of who was present.

This was your home and in your home you pray before you eat. Simple as that.

(laughing) I love the one about “All my friends know I’m
Christian so it’s not a problem.”

We’ve really never wondered about this. It’s what we do. It’s our home. Just because we pray, doesn’t mean someone else has to pray. They are in our home and it’s okay if they see how we live.

And this one, too, deserves a repeat:

“…I can’t imagine a Buddhist, or Hindu or Jew waffling over such a thing; I think they would just follow whatever ritual or custom is common to their home, regardless of who was present.

This was your home and in your home you pray before you eat. Simple as that.”

michele

If dinner was on the table, we prayed, no matter who was there or what was happening, it was what we did, no question, and if the guests started eating first we would just fold our hands and stare in silence until they got the hint. lol.

If we’re at someone else’s place we would wait for someone else to eat and just bow our heads and pray silently, it works in restaurants too.

My father is the king at the silent prayer head bow. My mother is the queen of “guilt into prayer”. Always entertaining.

Whenever people say, “I hate the Bible so much” I usually point to my “God deosn’t believe in Athiests” bumper sticker. Then my husband takes them in the street for a smack down. Depending on who wins, looser has to take communion or drink a beer. We’ve saved nearly half our neighborhood so far and only been drunk like, 2, 3 times tops.

Um, wow. Stacy, that was highly prejudicial and insensitive.

I don’t understand the need to ‘atheist-bash.’ What is that about, anyway?

Christians in the US and Canada have the privilege of living in a Christian nation that is based on Christian values, where your religion is never questioned on a systemic or institutionalized level. No one else is afforded that privilege, whether you recognize it or not.

It’s not funny. It’s oppressive. “God Doesn’t Believe in Atheists.” Clever. Totally ineffective, though if you really are trying to ’save’ people.

Tay

Tay,

Well I for one thought Stacy’s comment was very funny. But then I think I know her heart well enough to understand that she loves people because Jesus loves people and commands us to follow suit – regardless of their religious affiliation or lack thereof. She wasn’t making fun of atheists, she was making fun of herself – as a Christian. Trust me – she is VERY FUNNY and a super awesome person, and I know she didn’t mean what she said the way it came across to you.

TJ Turner said…
"I guess anyone that is uncomfortable with that would be uncomfortable with me."

Mo, I think that's the serious part of his point. Part of our calling to preach the gospel to the whole world is to do so lovingly and graciously. Making people comfortable, even at the expense of my own comfort, is a great way to love people. The gospel makes people plenty uncomfortable without us adding to it.

To TJ: I was saying if my being grateful & thankful to God for providing makes them uncomfortable.

Who told you that I was not reaching "the world graciously & lovingly"? Who told you that I don't make people comfortable at the expense of my own comfort? That I am not loving?

Why would my thanking God for His blessings & goodness make them feel uncomfortable?
Why should I feel uncomfortable being grateful to God?

WV: sibigene
A common gene siblings have.

Oh my word. That was great.

“Invisible prayer seal.”

We pray for our food coming out of the grocery store. This alleviates the pressure..and saves time as well!

On a totally different note: The kids praying thing can totally backfire. Sometimes, especially if there is something that is not pizza or spaghetti on the table…my kids can set the S…L….O….W…E…S…T… beat EVER to their song blessing. This is especially inconvenient if you are trying to “get it done” between the time the waitress gets and comes back with your drink orders! ha ha!
Either I have to help them start to set the pace, or we could be here for literally entire MINUTES before they are done!
God……ourrrrr…..Fa——ther….. Goooooooood, ourrrrrr. Fa—ther…..

YES!

I work in the admissions department at my college and go to lunch with prospective students and their families all the time. It’s a Christian college, but I still never know if it will weird them out.

I totally got judged for not praying in this situation at a lunch just last week. I could see it in the mom’s eyes.

I think I’ll pull the third suggestion next time this happens to us…

Tay,
I’m glad I caught your comment and I hope you get my response. Sarcasm is hard to translate in written form so please let me clarify. I think bumperstickers that say “God doesn’t believe in Athiests” are stupid, over the top, and insulting. I would never, ever have one because I think they are completely ridiculous. In Jon’s post he said soemthing about people who say, “I hate the Bible so much”. That is equally ridiculous and I don’t think people say that, which is why it’s funny. My sarcastic response was meant to make fun of stupid stuff Christians do – like that bumpersticker, or fighting someone in the street to make them take communion. Or, the idea that Christians can’t drink even one beer or they will become drunk. Tay, it’s all completely tongue in cheek. I have nothing against Athiests and respect their right to believe as they do. I sincerely apologize for any misunderstanding.

Stacy

so i dont get it.. is stacey being sarcastic in BOTH of her notes??? or just the first.

zzz this is why you can never trust anything that comes out of a womans mouth.

wait… am i being sarcastic… or am i a woman>?? hmmm questions

Stacy, I thought your comment was hysterical. Cracked me up. Hello??? humorous Christian site??

Seriously, folks. Leave your hypersensitivity and shoes at the door. Thank you!

Actually, cross stitch is easy. Especially if you get the pre-printed patterns.

We have the problem of when to pray — do you do it with appetizers, once you sit down to table? After you’ve munched on the supplied bread that comes before the salad? (I’m talking restaurants for this last one)

This is hilarious!

Being single, this was a problem on first dates because you don’t really know the person. Now, I simply bow my head and say a silent prayer for the table. You get one of three reactions:

Non-faithful: Will start to eat or wait for you to finish.

Faithful: Will say their own prayer.

Very faithful: Will chastise you for saying an individual prayer.

“those little ringers” – awesome. that’s all I can say

I’ve had the awkward moment before at a business lunch meeting new clients.
I just blatantly asked, “Do you pray before meals?”
When they were awkwardly silent, I just offered up, “Let’s just all say our own silent prayer.”
I later found out they were indeed Christians, so I guess saying something was a bonus for me!

I once heard a woman tell a story about how she had been away to a Christian week away type event, and when she got back to work, she had a meeting to attend. She stood up to give a presetation and accidentally started with ‘Let’s start by praying…’ There was nothing she could do but continue with a short prayer for the meeting. Surprisingly, people came up to her afterwards and thanked her for praying!!

We’ve recently started breaking bread symbolically, and silently, in awkward situations..especially when in a restuarant. Occasionally when we were praying the waiter would come back with the pepper mill and stand there embarrassed, or try to interupt. Nowadays, the elevation of a piece of bread/poppadom is our way of saying thank you, without making anyone feel awkward.

Hmmm. My non-religious family holds hands and has a moment of quiet reflection before dinner, but my evangelical family pretty much never prays/says grace so far as I know (except once on Easter).

I figure it’s part of being a good guest to respect the beliefs of the hosts and bow your head and part of being a good host not to make your guests feel like infidel heathens.

After a pre-meal prayer, my parents have always kissed, just as Dad’s parents did. My older brothers both got married and also picked up that tradition with their wives.

One Christmas break, I invited a friend to our home for the evening. She’d never been there before and was unfamiliar with the whole thing. Imagine the setup — my dad and mom, brother and his wife, other brother and his wife, me and my friend, all around the table.

As was custom, we sat at the table and reached out to join hands; she saw what we were doing and joined in. As was custom, we bowed our heads as Dad led in a brief prayer of thanks; she saw what we were doing and joined in. As was their custom, everyone else at the table leaned over to the person in the next chair for a kiss, right on the lips; my friend suddenly looked pretty uncomfortable. I realized quickly that the ritual had likely been misinterpreted, and reassured her that I wasn’t about to kiss her.

Turns out the prayer wasn’t the awkward part

Way to stir up a hornets nest with this one.

I’m always looking to jazz up my own prayers so I like listening to different people pray and then quickly pull my journal from my purse to jot down a few notes.

I grew up Catholic and my Dad still has a hard time with the hand holding and “Protestant-longwindedness” when we eat with people from my church.

He’s a very efficient man.

I was raised to always pray before meals, so I’m afraid if I don’t, I’ll get either struck by bears or mauled by lightning.

However, I also have a paranoid fear of praying out loud. I can’t even pray in front of my boyfriend of 2 years. My awkwardness always comes when I’m in a restaurant with someone and the food comes when we’re in the middle of conversation. How do I interrupt the conversation to bow my head long enough to pray without getting weird looks for not praying.

Whenever we eat together, my boyfriend says the mealtime prayer now, rather than my awkward silent-head-bowed prayer.

Honestly, I don’t mind prayer before meals, but even though I’m a Christian, I don’t always remember to pray before the meal.

I don’t think God is angry at that. I make mistakes and forget my keys all the time. That’s why I thank God that He doesn’t mind. What matters is that I follow Jesus.

My family is not Christian. I don’t believe this bars them from happiness in afterlife or being with me in the afterlife. I’ll be in Heaven, and Nirvana will be connected to Heaven.

My grandparents always said grace before Christmas dinner, but they don’t do that for everyday meals. I’m confused as to whether they are truly Christians, or just claiming it to appease me. I don’t want them to not be in Heaven with me, but my mother says she’s a “lost cause” to convert. She is too set in her ways, and while I pray for her and for my close friends, I doubt she will change because of me. She doesn’t like me “evangelizing” because she doesn’t believe in it. I’m not sure what to do. Other than to change my beliefs about Heaven. This actually was something that bothered me so much that I was depressed for several months, though eating habits also had something to do with that. I’m not always the best “Christian” but God forgives and though I fail a thousand times, His mercy is still upon me. Though I do the same thing like forgetting my keys, He is faithful to forgive and not be angry.

“A thousand times I’ve failed, still Your mercy remains…”

~Hillsong

OK, I'm sure this will never be read, but for all of the holy ones who insist on praying obviously and pointedly before their meals, without regard to others' feelings, I hope that you can also tell us you bow your head in the bank, when your balance is where it needs to be, as well as pray when you get your paycheck, when your kids bring home A's, for each gift you receive at Christmas, etc. et.

What is it about meals that seems to bring out the Pharisee in Christians?