So, what should I pray for when I give the invocation/grace

[Critters2]

at the Jefferson-Jackson dinner? I'm in debate....do I just make it a meal grace, or do I mention things like justice and peace, the war, anything partisan?

So, I turn to my friends at DU for your thoughts...what should I mention?... keeping in mind it'll be a brief prayer--not a sermon

I am MOST excited about doing this, btw!!

[Fresh_Start]

1. Its a sad day when

Americans believe that praying for peace and justice is partisan.

[Critters2]

9. I know. But you'd be amazed at how people get offended, and

hear such prayers as political. It is sad, indeed.

[GreenPartyVoter]

2. Peace is good. So is thanking the animals for giving their lives, but some

people are squeamish abt that too.

[jody]

3. Consider the following.

God please bless this food that nourishes our bodies, bless this friendship that nourishes our spirits, and please God send peace to this world.

[Critters2]

7. That's very close to what I usually do at church potlucks, etc.

Thank you.

[ourbluenation]

4. here is a prayer for peace...and enjoy the dinner.

Baha'i Prayer for Peace

Be generous in prosperity,
and thankful in adversity.
Be fair in judgement,
and guarded in thy speech,
Be a lamp unto those who walk
in darkness, and a home
to the stranger.
Be eyes to the blind, and a guiding light
unto the feet of the erring
Be a breath of life to the body of
humankind, a dew to the soil of
the human heart,
and a fruit upon the tree of humility.

[Critters2]

8. I like the Bahais

But that's really more an admonition to those listening, than a prayer to the Creator, dontcha think? Good advice, nonetheless.

[ourbluenation]

12. I'm married to one. I like them too....

I like the prayer too, but you'll know what to say when the time comes.

Have fun!

[Critters2]

18. A woman who worshipped at my church for several years, but never joined

because she just had some struggles with Christianity, was in the world religions class I taught. When we got to the section on Bahai, she knew that was what she'd been looking for. She did a bit more research, found some other Bahais in the area, and joined.

Now she tells people "I'm Bahai because of Pastor Critters". :yoiks:

And we have lunch about once a week.

[Warren DeMontague]

5. "hooray, hooray, it's the first of May

outdoor fucking starts today!"

Well, I like that prayer, but it probably wouldn't be appropriate for a few reasons.

[Critters2]

6. Starting with it'll be the 24th of February

Not that I don't appreciate the effort. :)

[Warren DeMontague]

10. Yeah, that crossed my mind.

I'm not really up on my prayers.

[PassingFair]

11. I'm against public prayer to a captive audience, so I'm NO help here.

I resent it.

I especially resent it at Democratic meetings.

If I want to pray, I go to church.

So......whatever you do, consider that 14 to 50
percent of your audience will be secular, and
BE BRIEF!

[ourbluenation]

13. I'm secular and have no problem with a prayer. but to each his/her own I guess.

:)

[Critters2]

15. They issued the invitation. I won't be too specific in terms of which religion

In this town, most in the room will probably be Catholic--traditional, union worker types, many very devout.

And I will be brief.

[Jacobin]

14. Here's my favorite before meal prayer

"Good bread, good meat, good God, let's eat."

[tinfoilinfor2005]

16. I love this children's prayer.

We pray for the children who put chocolate fingers on everything, who love to be tickled, who stomp in puddles and ruin new pants, who eat candy before supper and who can never find their shoes in the morning.

And we also pray for those who stare at photographers from behind barbed wire, who have never bound down the street in a new pair of shoes, who never played "one potato, two potatoes," and who are born in places that we would not be caught dead in and they will be.

We pray for the children who give us sticky kisses and fistfuls of dandelions, who sleeps with their dog and who bury their goldfish, who hug us so tightly and who forget their lunch money, who squeeze toothpaste all over the sink, who watch their fathers shave, and who slurp their soup.

And we pray for those who will never get dessert, who have no favorite blanket to drag around behind them, who watch their fathers suffer, who cannot find any bread to steal, who do not have any rooms to clean up, whose pictures are on milk cartons instead of on dressers, and whose monsters are real.

We pray for the children who spend all their allowance by Tuesday, who pick at their food, who love ghost stories, who shove their dirty clothes under the bed and never rinse the bathtub, who love visits from the Tooth Fairy, even after they find out who it really is, who do not like to be kissed in front of the school bus, and who squirm during services.

And we also pray for those children whose nightmares occur in the daytime, who will eat anything, who have never seen a dentist, who are not spoiled by anyone, who go to bed hungry and wake up hungry, who live and move and have no address.

We pray for those children who like to be carried and for those children who have to be carried. for those who give up and for those who never give up, for those who will grab the hand of anyone kind enough to offer it and for those who find no hand to grab.

For all these children, we pray today, for they are all so precious.

Ina J. Hughs

[Critters2]

19. We used this on Children's Sabbath last October

Some were moved to tears.

[tinfoilinfor2005]

20. Well, that's not a bad thing,

but I've been to those J/J dinners and the ladies in the very fancy dresses may not want to run their make-up! :)

[Critters2]

21. It's not at all. I may use it. Thanks

and...Fancy dresses?! I hadn't even thought about what to wear. How fancy, exactly?

[tinfoilinfor2005]

23. Pretty fancy, if it is for the dinner.

Although I've seen some tailored suits as well, but the material is more suited for evening, such as silk. I am in South Florida though, and the weather here allows for more variety. Very bare for the younger crowd. The guys are all in suits.

The breakfast and lunch meals are casual.

Knock 'em dead (oops, well, not literally), and have a great time!

[Critters2]

24. Thanks.

Last year, I bought a dress for the annual dinner of a progressive non-profit I used to work for. That annual dinner is also very "dress-up", so I'll assume it's similar.

Of course, now we have a winter storm watch, so I may wear a snow suit!!

Thanks for your help!!

[Warren DeMontague]

17. Hey- how about a reading from the Tao Te Ching

We put thirty spokes together and call it a wheel;
But it is on the space where there is nothing that the usefulness of the wheel depends.
We turn clay to make a vessel;
But it is on the space where there is nothing that the usefulness of the vessel depends.
We pierce doors and windows to make a house;
And it is on these spaces where there is nothing that the usefulness of the house depends.
Therefore just as we take advantage of what is, we should recognize the usefulness of what is not.

If nothing else, it'll make em think.

[JNelson6563]

22. Good bread, good meat, good God, let's eat!

Always worked for my grandpa. ;-)

[RiverStone]

25. Can it be a secular, yet a general affirmation?

For good will and hope toward a better, peaceful, a more unified world (your words -keeping it easy).

It is very possible to say a prayer, and keep anything with religious reference out of it. That way, it will be 100% inclusive for all. Heartfelt thoughts can apply to any belief system.

Best wishes!


peace~
:)

[Critters2]

26. Yeah, that would work.

The vast majority of these folks will be Catholic, but their priests won't do it because of the choice issue. But I'll be as "non-denominational" as possible. Your words would work.

Thanks!

[frogcycle]

27. How About

Dear God, please let this all be a bad dream.

[Czolgosz]

28. Try this one to see how it goes over:

In the name of God, the infinitely Compassionate and Merciful.
Praise be to God, Lord of all the worlds.
The Compassionate, the Merciful.
Ruler on the Day of Reckoning.
You alone do we worship, and You alone do we ask for help.
Guide us on the straight path,
the path of those who have received your grace;
not the path of those who have brought down wrath, nor of those who wander astray.
Amen.






































http://muslim-canada.org/salaat.html

[onethatcares]

29. GI beans and GI gravy,

gee I wish I joined the Navy.