Grace is a small ritual to help prepare the person for mealtime. Most societies, even those who don't say grace to a particular deity, at one point have had a form of "grace" to accomplish the same thing.
Many primitive tribes of Africa and America have a feasting ritual where they thank the animal(s) for their sacrifice so that they might live. Others pay homage to nature as she provides us with sustenance. More religious "graces" are simply derivative of these, their archaic predecessors.
Many Hindus have an extended grace ceremony where they thank Brahman (who is all things) for "being" the food, as well as being the people eating it (themselves), being the sacrifice and the circle of life. It is intended to remind them of the divine in everything, and how that divine aspect is sacrificed to itself in order to sustain life.
Rituals are intended to prepare the inititate for whatever they are about to experience. We have small ones like grace, and larger ones for, say, marriage. The wedding ceremony is simply a prolonged ritual to help the couple make the transition in their lives.
Same principle as grace, just on a much larger scale.
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Personally, I take a moment to settle myself and to remind myself to chew thoroughly (don't want to be a neanderthal, after all). It accomplishes much the same thing, just without the actual reference to a deity.
Re: Grace before a meal
Originally posted by WrathfulDwarf
I'm curious to see how many of you still do it. What do you say? On occasions when I remenber to say grace I say something like this:Thank You Lord for this meal and Bless us all with food everyday...amen
I make small prayers through out the day, like "Hey God, thanks for that," or "God, I need you help on this test that I didn't study for," and sometimes, "Okay, I know I didn't do my homework and I have a History essay due tomorrow. Any chance you can whip up a small hurricane?" Anyway, my big, public prayer infront of my family is during a mealtime
Originally posted by WindDancer
I'm curious to see how many of you still do it. What do you say? On occasions when I remenber to say grace I say something like this:Thank You Lord for this meal and Bless us all with food everyday...amen
Originally posted by Council#13
In someways, yes, but there's nothing wrong with asking God for a bit of help
Nothing wrong at all..
Last ThanksGiving my family ate a huge dinner, and my mom wanted me to lead in saying Grace (my mom is not religious, but she deeply beleives in God)
I didn't want to say Grace, because it felt fake. I don't beleive in God, and I actually am not a big fan of religious ceremonies...so for me to say Grace would never be sincere.
But for the sake of the day, I said Grace as best I could...but it was kinda cheap and too the point. I feel bad, because I had no intention of disturbing the mood or creating any awkwardness.
I could tell my mom didn't appreciate my input, but she just held a smile as if nothing was odd, and i really felt bad about that. But how could I say, "Thank you God for these gifts we are about to recieve, for all you have done for us, for blessing our family, for making us strong and united, etc...when I really don't beleive in any of that ? I hate pretending I beleive something that I don't beleive.
Originally posted by DigiMark007
Grace is a small ritual to help prepare the person for mealtime. Most societies, even those who don't say grace to a particular deity, at one point have had a form of "grace" to accomplish the same thing.Many primitive tribes of Africa and America have a feasting ritual where they thank the animal(s) for their sacrifice so that they might live. Others pay homage to nature as she provides us with sustenance. More religious "graces" are simply derivative of these, their archaic predecessors.
Many Hindus have an extended grace ceremony where they thank Brahman (who is all things) for "being" the food, as well as being the people eating it (themselves), being the sacrifice and the circle of life. It is intended to remind them of the divine in everything, and how that divine aspect is sacrificed to itself in order to sustain life.
Rituals are intended to prepare the inititate for whatever they are about to experience. We have small ones like grace, and larger ones for, say, marriage. The wedding ceremony is simply a prolonged ritual to help the couple make the transition in their lives.
Same principle as grace, just on a much larger scale.
...
Personally, I take a moment to settle myself and to remind myself to chew thoroughly (don't want to be a neanderthal, after all). It accomplishes much the same thing, just without the actual reference to a deity.
Thank you Digi for that great post. 🙂
Originally posted by WrathfulDwarf
Thank you Digi for that great post. 🙂
😎
Originally posted by Lord Urizen
I could tell my mom didn't appreciate my input, but she just held a smile as if nothing was odd, and i really felt bad about that. But how could I say, "Thank you God for these gifts we are about to recieve, for all you have done for us, for blessing our family, for making us strong and united, etc...when I really don't beleive in any of that ? I hate pretending I beleive something that I don't beleive.
I had the same problem once, but I simply use the Christian grace the same way I'd use a simple meditation. If it reminds me to change my mindset to one of thankfulness, the belief itself is secondary to the inherent purpose of the saying.
Refusing to participate may cause hard feelings, and you have to decide if it' s worth it. Among family, it' s probably not. You can say something secular and devoid any religious overtones, but acknowledging the value of nature and the human effort which has gone into bringing both food and family to the occasion.