Blessed Be Our Table

Blessed Be Our Table integrates thankfulness with a burning passion for justice, both of which are central to our relationship with a bountiful provider God, with the whole wondrous creation, with each other, and with our sisters and brothers throughout the world who, because of greed and injustice, will not receive their daily bread today.

This book invites us to recommit ourselves to act for justice each time we join in the simple sharing of a meal. It is also very much a celebration ­ of food, of diversity, of community and sharing, of Creator and creation.

The graces, prayers and reflections come from a wide range of contributors: Iona Community members, associates and friends; other religious communities and houses of welcome; humanitarian organisations; various faiths and traditions.

Sections include:

Our Daily Bread
Family, Friends, Fellowship
Getting Our Teeth into Things
Graces for Eating Alone
Christ our Host, Christ our Guest
God's Creation
Seedtime, Harvest, Feasting
Graces from Different Traditions
Creator, Son, Holy Spirit
God of Community
Silent Graces
One Body in Your Name
Body and Soul
All-Humorous Mother and Father
Each Time We Eat
Special Occasions
Dessert
Graces, Prayers and Readings for the End of Meals

An appreciation by Richard Boeke, Secretary of the World Congress of Faiths:

How to sum up a collection of prayers?
How to use words to convey the taste of a meal?
Yellow green pears grace the cover.
The closing words are from Meister Eckhart:
‘If the only prayer you ever said was THANK YOU,
you would have said all the prayers.’

Behind this book we sense the ongoing life of the Iona Community. There is a sense that every meal is a ‘communion’. Breaking bread together is a sacrament, both Christian and universal.

I especially enjoy the section, ‘Getting our teeth into things’, which includes the short blessing, ‘Take, eat, digest, do justice. Amen.’

There are songs. There is a section of blessings from different traditions.

One is thankful to a community that produces such a book.

Richard Boeke
Secretary, World Congress of Faiths