A silly story and a serious question

[LostGirl]

These days I tend to notice the quirky things more - the things that are just done as a matter of course but make no sense at all.

I was at an activity and a girl said the closing prayer but forgot to bless the supper. They actually made her say another quick prayer to bless the food, you know, so we couldn't get food poisoning from the crackers and cake. She was embarrassed and the whole thing felt rather awkward and unnecessary.

So my question is - what about all the people who bring their unblessed listeria-ridden food late to the ward pot luck???

Just kidding. What I was actually wondering is whether the blessing of food was historically to make it safe or whether it is really supposed to just be about showing gratitude? I should do some research because now I am intrigued.

[LostGirl]

Returning and reporting

Apparently the hebrews did NOT bless their food but gave thanks afterwards. Sounds far more sensible to me.

We have the greeks to thank for the practice of needing to make our food holy first.

http://acts242study.com/why-do-we-bless-our-food/

Wonder what DH would think about returning to the hebrew method??

[moksha]

Just be glad we do not have to give a recitation of Icelandic vowels and Zulu clicks with each prayer and then require that each prayer be repeated if the slightest mispronunciation occurred.

[fh451]

I'm not much help on the historical aspect, but I do know that many LDS believe that the prayer is indeed to "cleanse" the food in some fashion, even if it's just a spiritual cleansing. I've heard families that literally use the phrase "remove any impurities from it" when blessing the food. I think this is to be expected given early and modern practices of giving blessings of healing. When medical science was frankly not very scientific, and illness and death were prevalent, blessings were about all you could do.

fh451

[Snowdrop]

A lady I once worked with claims that blessing food before you eat it, specifically the "strengthen and nourish our bodies" line is a hangover from when the pioneers were crossing the plains and had craptastic food. I seriously wish that the removing impurities thing worked though; I always get sick after ward potlucks.

[Batman]

No amount of blessing can keep you safe from a ward potluck! Yuck. The worst is when you are not sure who actually brought what dish. That is when I go for the food that looks purchased or go hungry until I get home.

I don't mind being grateful for the food, but blessing it seems to be a formality/tradition. I was once asked to bless some donuts, juice, bagels, and muffins. I gave thanks and prayed that we would not get diabetes!

[LSOF]

My chemistry professor reports that there was pubic hair in one dish at a ward potluck once. No number of magic words directed to a plenipotent space alien will evaporate pubic hair or remove the result of little-factory tampering (how else did pubic hair get there?).

[MalcolmVillager]

Seriously?!!!

Poor priests had to bless the sacrament 4 times on Sunday and still screwed up. BP finally felt bad and gave up. So dumb!

We are the modern pharisees!

[2bizE]

I don't know if any other church that blesses the food. People are taught to give thanks for the food not cast a magic blessing upon it. I seriously doubt the first members blessed the food. They would not have that tradition. Think of the blessing in the food given by Jimmy Stewart on the show Shenandoah.

[Snowdrop]

I celebrated Thanksgiving with my Catholic extended family today and 2bizE is right; we gave thanks for the gifts we were about to receive without asking a blessing upon food. We did, however, ask that the lord bless us. I can't tell you how many times I've recited that prayer and not noticed the difference-thanks for pointing it out!

*edited for clarity

[TheRunningmom]

Check out this True Story from the September 1998 Friend:

Blessing the Food

Let's just say there is poison involved.

[Hagoth]

Check out this True Story from the September 1998 Friend:

Blessing the Food

Let's just say there is poison involved.

The timing is downright comedic:

Leta had just said, “amen,” and each child was raising a freshly licked finger in the air over the “food” to pick up the powder and eat it, when Mother’s shadow appeared in the doorway.

I bet the background music was rising to a suspenseful crescendo and there was a close-up of a finger slowly approaching a tongue just as Mother yelled "stop!"

[LostGirl]

That story is both awesome and insane!! Great find.