Table Grace

I have been thinking a bit lately about the table grace that is often taught to children:

God is great, God is good,
Let us thank Him for our food.
By His hand we all are led;
Give us now our daily bread.

I think that it is sometimes limited to just the first two lines, but I have been thinking only about the very first line – that is good theology, is it not? “God is great, God is good.”

To continue, I have also been thinking about the table grace I was taught as a child:

Come, Lord Jesus, be our guest.
Let these gifts to us be blest.

This is a bit convoluted, but I thought about this because of my new Yahoo friend, Tori, who is from Germany. A few years ago, a lady from our church lent me a copy of a (very small) book about Christian doctrine, etc., written in German, and it contained a number of prayers (I copied some portions of this). There was one small section on table graces, and what do I first see but:

Komm, Herr Jesu, sei unser Gast
Und segne, was du uns bescheret hast.

There was another one that caught my eye:

Segne, Vater, diese Speise
Uns zur Kraft, und dir zum Preise.

I never thought much about the possibility that my father ever used memorized prayers, at the table, or elsewhere (except on the few occasions when the congregation in our church recited The Lord’s Prayer), but, invariably, when he said the table grace, included in it would be the words, “Father, bless this food to our strength and to your glory.”

(Originally posted November 16, 2007)