Saying Grace: Blessings for the Family Table

by David Dean (Illustrator), Sarah McElwain (Editor)

Offering thanks for our daily bread is just about universal. This collection of 120 mealtime blessings spans the globe and reaches back hundreds of years to include a wide range of sentiments, from the amusing to the heartfelt to the sacred. A Chinese proverb gives us this reminder, "When eating bamboo shoots, remember the man who planted them." The Irish lyrically ask that "the sweet light within you guide you on your way." And for those who like to cut to the chase, there's "Good bread, good meat, good God, let's eat." What they have in common is a joyous and heartwarming appreciation for life's bounty. Beautifully illustrated, these pages offer those gathered around the table time-honored words of gratitude. In the words of a 19th century blessing, "May others all these blessings share, and hearts be grateful everywhere."

Genres: Spirituality

120 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2003

Reviews

[Stella Causey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Saying Grace is an Eclectic collection of graces and food blessings from different centuries, cultures and geographic locations. It can be used both at holidays and for daily meals. It is small enough that it can be passed around a kitchen table. However, it has so many different prayers and blessings you'll never feel like you bored.

[Tiffany · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute book that reminded me of several forgotten childhood lunch prayers we would sing or chant at school.

[Diana · Rating 4 out of 5]

If there was an equivalent of a coffee table book, only for kitchen tables, this would be it. The art is simple, colorful, and well done, and the graces are simple enough to leaf through and smile at. It's a good one to use before meals and it sits on a little ledge in my dining room/nook right now. My only complaint is that I appreciate some deeper, more substantive graces (social justice and feeling connected to one's food) from time to time and this book is sometimes too simple for my mood... but it certainly serves its purpose and is quite enjoyable.

[Ami · Rating 3 out of 5]

A mixed bag of graces to say before meals. The illustrations were mediocre, as were some of the pieces, many of which were poems or quotes about food that did not necessarily work really well as a blessing. Still, there were enough to merit a flip-through and some to add to our family's notebook of mealtime graces.

[Aaron · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is our unorthodox prayer book. We clasp hands and recite a prayer or proverb from this book at every meal time.