Do you pray before eating? Why?
If you pray, what kind of a prayer do you say? Is it like other prayers that you say?
Do you change your behavior when you are in a public place? When eating with non-Christians? When eating with people who are members of other religions?
What should Christians do when they are about to eat?
Tim asked “What should Christians do when they are about to eat?”
My Mom always said “wash your hands, and sit up straight ” :)
“Do you change your behavior when you are in a public place? When eating with non-Christians? When eating with people who are members of other religions? …What should Christians do when they are about to eat?”
These are some good questions for which the answer might have been assumed as *yes* in a Christendom culture but in our post-Christian culture, I am not sure if there is such an easy answer or a ‘one size fits all’ answer.
With that being said…I do pray, my wife prays, and we are trying to teach our children to be people who pray.
Grace and peace,
Rex
After the Jewish fashion, I bless God for being the Perfect Provider, and give thanks for the food. Since it came from him, the food is already blessed! :)
In public, my wife and I try not to draw attention to ourselves with our piety. Her mom, though, insists on the same behavior around the table at Qdoba as we would have in her home — heads bowed, everyone holding hands around the table, etc. It makes me uncomfortable because I feel like we’re trying to tell everyone at the restaurant, “This is how you *should* be acting.”
I haven’t broken bread with a member of a different religion in a while, so I don’t have a default setting for that.
At home..we all take turns praying at each meal before eating.
public…as nick mentioned not drawing attn to ourselves…I lead a short prayer.
A different religion?…..let it be..love em…say my own silently as we share journeys…unless they ask me to do so…and willfullly participate in their tradition as well if need be.
Nick that is our public practice too. Also, last year I ate in a restaurant owned and ran by a Somolian family who are all Muslim. I did not pray in the restaurant but instead prayed before I went in and my prayer was not just an offering of thanksgiving for my meal but also a prayer of petition that God would give me the wisdom necesarry for my words and actions to be a witness of Jesus Christ. I was told by someone else in the very populated Christian culture that I was probably one of the few, if not the first, white person to eat in that restautant (and hence, one of the few Christians).
Grace and peace,
Rex
We have almost always prayed before eating, at home or in public. There are times when prayer in public just isn’t expedient, such as a large group spread out at a large table and no one can hear any one person. I recently read a rabbi’s thoughts on prayer and he said the Jewish custom was to pray after a meal, not before. Reason? (According to his understanding) It is easy to eat the meal and then forget God’s blessings on a full stomach, so the Jews ate first and then stopped to thank God for the blessing. Whatever … we were simply taught to always pray before a meal. I think Paul says when we do, we actually sanctify the food. I’ve eat many meals that needed some sort of sanctification. Or salt.
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