Grace

The silver rain, the shining sun,
The field where scarlet poppies run,
And all the ripples of the wheat
Are in the foods that we do eat.
So when we sit for every meal and
Say our grace, we always feel
That we are eating rain and sun
And fields where scarlet poppies run
-Shaker Grace

One of the family habits on my list was encouraging us to say grace whenever we sit down to eat as a family. Breakfast, in our home, isn’t a family time. Most of us aren’t morning people, so even when we do eat together in the mornings, it is done with as little actual contact as possible. Now that my husband is working outside the home, lunches aren’t really all that family-oriented either. My son eats and then naps, my mother eats and isolates herself with the crossword puzzle. I tend to eat standing up, on my way to my next chore. So lunch isn’t really a time for family togetherness.

But dinner is another story. Like every family, we have nights when we don’t have dinner together or Daddy has to work late or runs into traffic on the hour-long commute he takes between home and the office. But we really do try to eat together, as a family, at least 5 times a week and we are trying to open that family meal with a grace. It is turning into a strong moment of family connection.

My family only used graces at formal meals like Thanksgiving or Easter and ignored them the rest of the time. My husband grew up in a devoutly Christian household, where blessings were an important part of family meals. His maternal grandfather’s family had a traditional grace that they used regularly, and that’s the grace we started using with our son. It is definitely Christian, but it has a family connection and we wanted to acknowledge the Christian part of our son’s heritage.

For the things we like to eat
Thy loving gift of food
We thank Thee, Lord, today
For Thou art kind and good.*

The grace my family used, when we used one, is well known. It is most often referred to as the Johnny Appleseed Grace, and I learned it because it was the grace my elementary school used at meals. In later years, I discovered just how fateful our use of it was. The words most people use are actually the first verse of a much longer hymn used in The New Church (or Swedenborgian Church), of which Johnny Appleseed was a member. It turns out that my maternal grandfather’s family were Swedenborgians and my grandfather remained on all his life, although he did not actively practice. We use that grace, especially when my sister is eating with us, because it connects to my family heritage and my sister really loves to sing it.

The Lord is good to me
And so I thank the Lord
For giving me the things I need
The sun and the rain and the apple seed.
The Lord is good to me.
- The Johnny Appleseed Grace**

But I have also been looking for a grace that will connect more strongly to my current Pagan path. Right now, we are using a modified version of the Reclaiming Harvest Chant most often. But it doesn’t quite fit our style as well as I’d like. I think we will most likely retire it from general use and use it on special occasions or when we eat in community instead of as a family.

Our hands will work for peace and justice
Our hands will work to heal the land
Gather round the harvest table
Let us feast and bless the land
- “Harvest Chant” by Thorn Coyle, Starhawk***

Graces seem to be a place where the Pagan community struggles. I’d read several books and looked at several websites and hadn’t really been inspired. But when I joined my UU congregation, they gave me a little book for my son that had several prayers and graces included in it. These included the Shaker grace that I used to open the entry and the grace I’m planning to try next as a more Pagan alternative.

Earth, who gives to us this food,
Sun, who makes it ripe and good,
Dear Earth, Dear Sun, by you we live.
To you our loving thanks we give
-from Sunday and Every Day: My Little Book of Unitarian Universalism

I’m hoping that this new grace will help balance out the more Christian offerings from the rest of the family. I want my family to be more connected to the food we eat and more aware of those we have to thank for it, whether we choose to thank a Deity, the grower, or the spirits of the plants and animals themselves. Remembering that our food is a gift that is shared with us daily brings us closer to our world and those with whom we share it. Maybe if we are more aware of where our food comes from, we will then become more aware of what we are doing to our planet and to our fellow creatures, and seek alternatives to our current path. Wouldn’t it be great; if, some time in the not-so-distant future, we all--no matter what our religious path--remembered to thank; not just the Divine, but the people who grow our food and the living things that give their lives to provide it?

*I have not been able to find the author or divisor of this grace. I know it comes from my husband’s maternal grandfather’s family, but nothing more. If anyone has a clue where it might have come from, please let me know so I can attribute it properly.

**For a more earth-centered grace, replace “Lord” with “Earth”.

***When we use this grace outside of the harvest season, we replace “harvest” with “dining” and “feast” with “eat”.