2.
Food Prayers
Humankind’s First Act of Worship
Prayer is how human beings relate to God, nature, and their place in the Divine order of things. Prayer is the principal channel we use in our search for the ultimate meaning of life and the fulfillment thereof.
Expressing thanks for food is humankind’s first act of worship. In every culture there are sacred beliefs or divine commandments that require honoring the giver of life - God or the Divine principle - through acknowledging the sacred gift of food.
All civilizations and all religions through all ages associated food with God or gods; all primitives associate food with a supernatural power or spirits. All recognize the earth’s bounty (crops and food) as a reflection of Divine goodness.
A grace is the thanks-to-God utterance before or after a meal. Food has always been recognized as the unmerited gift from God. Grace is the Divine reality underlying all religion and faith--that is, God’s loving generosity.
Whether that expression of thanks (gratia) for the gift of food is voiced in a tribal ritualized saying or uttered silently or sung eloquently, a person’s intrinsic spiritual nature imposes a recognition that the very food before him or her is sacred and comes
to him or her from the beyond. In fact, our very table is sacred as the
saying goes, “One eats in holiness and the table becomes an altar.”
Expressing thanks for food is humankind’s first act of worship. In every culture there are sacred beliefs or divine commandments that require honoring the giver of life - God or the Divine principle - through acknowledging the sacred gift of food.
All civilizations and all religions through all ages associated food with God or gods; all primitives associate food with a supernatural power or spirits. All recognize the earth’s bounty (crops and food) as a reflection of Divine goodness.
A grace is the thanks-to-God utterance before or after a meal. Food has always been recognized as the unmerited gift from God. Grace is the Divine reality underlying all religion and faith--that is, God’s loving generosity.
Whether that expression of thanks (gratia) for the gift of food is voiced in a tribal ritualized saying or uttered silently or sung eloquently, a person’s intrinsic spiritual nature imposes a recognition that the very food before him or her is sacred and comes
to him or her from the beyond. In fact, our very table is sacred as the
saying goes, “One eats in holiness and the table becomes an altar.”
"... the way we eat represents our most profound engagement with the natural world. Daily, our eating turns nature into culture, transforming the body of the world into our bodies and minds."
~ Michael Pollan
Expressing Mankind’s Profound Debt To God
The Supreme Lord commands prayers of thanks for food. According to Adrian Butash, there are many ways to analyze and classify food prayers: by country, by culture, by language, by religion, by God, by food, by sacred imagery--to name a few.
In the ancient esoteric Jewish sect Essene, the members attributed highest sanctity to food. They never ate anything cooked by others, to the point of preferring to starve instead.
Before their meals, they bathed themselves in cold water and after this purification, they assembled in a special building as though into a holy precinct.
When they were quietly seated, the baker served out the loaves of bread in order, and the cook served only one bowlful of one dish to each man. Before the meal the priest said a prayer and no one was permitted to taste the food before the prayer. Afterwards they lay aside the garments which they had worn for the meal, since they were sacred garments.
In India’s Vedic system, food cannot be eaten unless it is first offered to God. It then becomes prasadam, the mercy of God.
In religions of the Far East, food and associated prayers play a central role. The modern Chinese expedient gratia before the banquet meal, Duo xie, duo xie (a thousand thanks, a thousand thanks), is merely the cultural evolution of worship chanted to the many food gods of Chinese antiquity. In cultural circles, the grace is - Ren Yi Shi Wei Tian’ which translates as `people perceive food to be almost like God.’
Shinto is the old native religion of Japan that reveres ancestors and nature spirits. Amaterasu is the most eminent of the Shinto deities. She is the beneficent sun goddess who taught mankind the cultivation of food. Inari is the grain god. Norito prayers petition
the gods for good harvests. The Setsubun ceremony celebrates the start of a new season of seeds and planting. These rites, expressing thanks for the bounty of the earth, are popular even today.
The Bible has several citations: “And thou shall eat and be satisfied, and bless the Lord your God” (Deut. 8:10). Then there is The Lord’s Prayer, “Give us today our daily bread” (Mat 6:11). These famous words are recorded in what is known as the “model prayer” that Jesus gave to his disciples instructing them how to pray.
“Bread” in the Bible and in the Middle East represented life itself, as grains used in bread making were the staple food. When people say this prayer, they are acknowledging that all sustenance comes from God, and that we are dependent upon him to give it to us every day.
A verse from the Koran instructs Muslims on the sacred origins of food and the requirement of food prayers: “Eat of your Lord’s provision, and give thanks to Him” (34:15).
Buddhism’s history is rich with reverence for food and thankfulness for its nourishment. Buddhists have used prayers of blessing and offering in everything from the cultivation of crops to the dedication of each plate of food to the betterment of humanity.
According to them, food can be truly blessed only when the one giving thanks has lived a life of service to both the universe that has given the food and those who suffer and are without food. Buddhism commands thankfulness for food by its “vow to live a life which is worthy to receive it.”
Native American Indian tribes share a common reverence for the earth and all that is given from its bounty. Animals, harvests and water must be accepted with thankfulness in rituals and prayers. Respect for the food gift is often expressed by asking a plant or animal that must be used for food for its forgiveness in taking its life and explaining why its death was necessary. In Native American thought, human beings are dependent upon the earth, not master over it.
In the ancient esoteric Jewish sect Essene, the members attributed highest sanctity to food. They never ate anything cooked by others, to the point of preferring to starve instead.
Before their meals, they bathed themselves in cold water and after this purification, they assembled in a special building as though into a holy precinct.
When they were quietly seated, the baker served out the loaves of bread in order, and the cook served only one bowlful of one dish to each man. Before the meal the priest said a prayer and no one was permitted to taste the food before the prayer. Afterwards they lay aside the garments which they had worn for the meal, since they were sacred garments.
In India’s Vedic system, food cannot be eaten unless it is first offered to God. It then becomes prasadam, the mercy of God.
In religions of the Far East, food and associated prayers play a central role. The modern Chinese expedient gratia before the banquet meal, Duo xie, duo xie (a thousand thanks, a thousand thanks), is merely the cultural evolution of worship chanted to the many food gods of Chinese antiquity. In cultural circles, the grace is - Ren Yi Shi Wei Tian’ which translates as `people perceive food to be almost like God.’
Shinto is the old native religion of Japan that reveres ancestors and nature spirits. Amaterasu is the most eminent of the Shinto deities. She is the beneficent sun goddess who taught mankind the cultivation of food. Inari is the grain god. Norito prayers petition
the gods for good harvests. The Setsubun ceremony celebrates the start of a new season of seeds and planting. These rites, expressing thanks for the bounty of the earth, are popular even today.
The Bible has several citations: “And thou shall eat and be satisfied, and bless the Lord your God” (Deut. 8:10). Then there is The Lord’s Prayer, “Give us today our daily bread” (Mat 6:11). These famous words are recorded in what is known as the “model prayer” that Jesus gave to his disciples instructing them how to pray.
“Bread” in the Bible and in the Middle East represented life itself, as grains used in bread making were the staple food. When people say this prayer, they are acknowledging that all sustenance comes from God, and that we are dependent upon him to give it to us every day.
A verse from the Koran instructs Muslims on the sacred origins of food and the requirement of food prayers: “Eat of your Lord’s provision, and give thanks to Him” (34:15).
Buddhism’s history is rich with reverence for food and thankfulness for its nourishment. Buddhists have used prayers of blessing and offering in everything from the cultivation of crops to the dedication of each plate of food to the betterment of humanity.
According to them, food can be truly blessed only when the one giving thanks has lived a life of service to both the universe that has given the food and those who suffer and are without food. Buddhism commands thankfulness for food by its “vow to live a life which is worthy to receive it.”
Native American Indian tribes share a common reverence for the earth and all that is given from its bounty. Animals, harvests and water must be accepted with thankfulness in rituals and prayers. Respect for the food gift is often expressed by asking a plant or animal that must be used for food for its forgiveness in taking its life and explaining why its death was necessary. In Native American thought, human beings are dependent upon the earth, not master over it.
"The world’s quest for happiness operates within a context of reverence for God through an inimitable link to food. In this uncertain age when ethnic differences divide people, we should strive to embrace our common humanity that is expressed so succinctly in food prayers. These prayers talk to us with the wisdom of the ages and teach us that we are all one family, all part of one mystical soul. Food prayers throughout history may be seen as evidence of our profound sense of awe in the face of The Infinite."
~ Adrian Butash
People go to church and say, "God, give us our daily bread." Actually, if He did not give it to us, we would not be able to live. That is a fact. The Vedas also say that the one Supreme Personality supplies all the necessities of every other living creature. God is supplying food for everyone. We human beings have our economic problem, but what economic problem is there in societies other than human society? The bird society has no economic problem. The species of life, and out of that, human society is very, very small. So they have created problems -- what to eat, where to sleep, how to mate, how to defend. These are a problem to us, but the majority of creatures -- the aquatics, the fish, the plants, the insects, the birds, the beasts, and the many millions upon millions of other living creatures -- do not have such a problem. They are also living creatures. Don't think that they are different from us. It is not true that we human beings are the only living creatures and that all others are dead. No. And who is providing their food and shelter? It is God. The plants and animals are not going to the office. They are not going to the university to get technological education to earn money. So how are they eating? God is supplying. The elephant eats hundreds of pounds of food. Who is supplying? Are you making arrangements for the elephant? There are millions of elephants. Who is supplying? |