Each year you and your family are to eat them in the presence of the LORD your God at the place he will choose. – Deuteronomy 15:20

Today’s Scripture Reading (November 1, 2015): Deuteronomy 15

In my family it has always been a tradition to thank God for our food before we eat. The prayers are often memorized and repeated. Even the original thoughts and prayers of the adults are often not all that original. But before a bite of food is consumed, God is thanked. An added element of the practice is that we often hold the hand of the one sitting beside us while we thank God. My three year-old granddaughter will often watch around the table as people join their hands and as soon as the circle is complete she will launch into her own quiet rendition of “God is Great, God is Good, Let us thank him for our food – Amen.” If you aren’t watching and listening, you might miss it. So we tend to get real quiet as the hands are held. We are a musical family, so sometimes when the entire family gathers the blessing is sung by all. But in some way, thanks is always given

I know that not every family, and not even every Christian family, holds to the traditional meal prayer. And I think that the problem is that we have lost touch with why it is that feel it is necessary to thank God for our food, and added to that is the fact that the prayers tend to be repeated over and over again so that the prayers themselves sometimes seem to lose their meaning. And so we throw the blessing away because who among us needs more meaningless traditions in our lives. But maybe instead of throwing the practice away, we need to restore the meaning and realize that everything we have comes from God.

For Israel, the practice may have been even more ritualized. Early in the year it involved taking the first born of the animals and setting them apart. They were not to be put to work. A firstborn sheep was not to be shorn, a cow was not kept long enough that it could become pregnant, and in the end replacing itself and maybe even giving to the family the gift of its milk. The entire animal belonged solely to God. The practice was that the animal would be taken to the Tabernacle, and then later to the Temple, and be given to the priests. The priests would then sacrifice the animal according to the laws of God, the blood would be drained as prescribed in the law, and then the animal would be cooked. And, finally, the meal would be shared, likely at a later date because of the time that was necessary for the preparation of the animal, with the family that brought the sacrifice in the first place. The priests and the family members would gather together at a place of God’s choosing (the tabernacle or temple) and together they would share the meal.  In this sharing they would celebrate all the ways that God had blessed them – and they would thank God for all of the animals which had been put to work or consumed as food by the family. But this time of celebration, just like our modern day meal time ritual, served as a reminder that everything that the family possessed actually belonged to God. And thanks was due to him for every bite of food that the family enjoyed.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Deuteronomy 16