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Meal Prayer


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1400:

During WW2 my father was briefly in command of a African American labor company (black soldiers, white officers). The battalion CO insisted that every meal be preceded with a scripture verse. One of the men in dad's company knew his Bible and knew what the shortest verse was. And so it was that before every meal the men shouted "Jesus wept, Amen".

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local1400,

The particular prayer you refer to is familiar to me as a common Catholic grace. Pardon my boldness (must be a Luther thing), but "Bless us for these gifts" makes no sense at all. It should be "Bless us AND these gifts."

Think about it. Look it up if you need to. Then teach your fellows.

Thanks, BDPT00

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OK, BDPT00,

 

John-in-KC wrote, "Come Lord Jesus, be our guest

And let these gifts to us be blessed. Amen"

 

Local1400 wrote, "Bless us O Lord for these thy gifts we are about to receive from the fruit of thy bounty through Christ our Lord, Amen."

 

Skimming the thread, the two quotes above are the only ones I find which would relate to your possible misquote, "Bless us for these gifts"? You are correct, that doesn't make sense, but then I don't see where anybody but you wrote those words. The two quotes above do absolutely make sense.

 

Also, as a Lutheran, I would stand up for the man who was humble enough to not want his followers to call themselves Lutherans and say that there is a difference between boldness, "Here I stand, I can do no other," and rudeness, "Think about it. Look it up if you need to. Then teach your fellows."

 

Just an observation,

Vicki(This message has been edited by Vicki)

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On another, more positive note, I would comment that Luther also had prayers for after meals in his catechism. I always thought that was just downright practical - eat it while it's hot and thank God for God's grace and blessings as it warms your belly and fellowship warms your soul. Now that's not just good scout theology.

 

Vicki (edited for typo)(This message has been edited by Vicki)

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Vicki wrote:

Local1400 wrote, "Bless us O Lord for these thy gifts we are about to receive from the fruit of thy bounty through Christ our Lord, Amen."

Skimming the thread, the two quotes above are the only ones I find which would relate to your possible misquote, "Bless us for these gifts"? You are correct, that doesn't make sense, but then I don't see where anybody but you wrote those words. The two quotes above do absolutely make sense.

 

I was paraphrasing the part that makes no sense. Sorry it made no sense to you.

Try this: the "Bless us O Lord for these thy gifts ... " should have the word "and" instead of "for."

 

That's all I was saying. One makes sense. The other does not.

If I sounded rude, I offer my apologies.

People learn things one way, and are positive they're right. I suggested the practice so that the old habit disappears. My in-laws are Catholic, and even at the prodding of my wife, the exact same habit won't die.

I offer the Back to Gilwell song as another example of the same thing. People sing it as they learned it. If the staff sets an incorrect example, then 48 more people will sing it incorrectly forever.

I questioned whether I should write what I did, because some consider my corrections to be rude. Didn't mean to be. Honest.

BDPT00

 

 

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No problem, BDPT00, thanks.

 

Local1400 wrote, "Bless us O Lord for these thy gifts we are about to receive from the fruit of thy bounty through Christ our Lord, Amen."

 

I was paraphrasing the part that makes no sense. Sorry it made no sense to you.

Try this: the "Bless us O Lord for these thy gifts ... " should have the word "and" instead of "for."

 

If I substitute "and" for "for" it changes the meaning - the meaning is "Thank you God for this food which you have given to us out of your abundance through Christ our Lord, Amen." Putting "and" in changes the meaning to "Bless us God and bless this food which you have...".

 

I think it's the archaic language that's throwing you off. But it makes perfect sense just the way it's written.

 

Vicki

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