When we all go out and our hands are tightly grasping the person on each side of us, forming a circle, I always want to start raising and lowering my hands and shouting "BE Aggressive! BE BE Aggressive!". LOL
Then I would have to excuse myself to go WASH my hands since I always seemed to be next to my FIL and I would remember all the times he used our bathroom and I DIDN'T hear the sink run after wards.
This reminds me of when we are at church and the pastor tells us to reach over and take our neighbors hand and pray. I try to put my hand on their shoulder instead. I can't pray while wondering where the hand has been washed.
This reminds me of when we are at church and the pastor tells us to reach over and take our neighbors hand and pray. I try to put my hand on their shoulder instead. I can't pray while wondering where the hand has been washed.
The grocery stores have those sanitizing wipes for the handles on the shopping carts now. Perhaps the emerging church will supply the saints with those foamy hand disinfectants like they have on cruise ships and in doctor's examining rooms. You know, in a font sort of like the Holy Water in a Catholic church.
It's become de rigeur to provide kleenex at the altar. We had one lady that always took a roll of toilet paper and put it right on top the pulpit. Whenever you walked in the church there was a roll of toilet paper on the pulpit. I recommended installing one of those toilet paper holders like the ones in the bathroom right on the side of the pulpit. I then demonstrated how it could be done aesthetically while I was preaching one Sunday morning. The toilet paper disappeared from the pulpit after that and the lady stopped coming to church. I guess I had a real "WPF" spirit in those days.
When I eat, I will mumble/think a quick "thank you" just before eating -whether it be a big formal meal or even a single cookie at some random time during the day. I don't differentiate.
Now my in-laws have been staying with us and THEY insist on a very long, very loud prayer being said, while everyone at the table holds hands, whether it be at home or in the middle of a restaurant. (This is bad enough but in addition, I don't think he has washed his hands in months -and that is not an exaggeration.) There is a bit of tension now because I told me wife that OUR tradition is to NOT do that, so we just stopped the other day when we went out and got glared at for several seconds as he 'thrust' his hand to us for the ritual, but we didn't 'take' it.
I am just curious if anyone else have a similar ritual or maybe are even MORE showy.
Not I am not asking anyone IF they pray before a meal. I am going to go out on a limb and assume that everyone here does in some fashion.
(You can vote for more than one selection)
What is the purpose of praying for our food? Are Americans really "thankful" for what they are eating or is it just a formality anyway?
Praying over my food took on a whole new meaning the first time I traveled to Africa.
My prayers focus on:
1. Thanking the Lord that He blesses my food and water and takes sickness and disease away from me
2. Receiving what is placed in front of me according to the Word and with thanksgiving so that it is sanctified by the Word and is good for me.
To me --- praying over our food is more about making sure that anything in it that shouldn't go into my body has no power over my health.
You also made a statement that I thought was good in that you pray over a cookie....good job! But I wonder how many people are taking medications that have the possibility of numerous side affects, yet they don't pray over their food?
How many think of this man when they think of praying for their food? Not to be showy, but to be genuinely thankful. Not to be SEEN or heard, other than by the Lord himself?
Randy, if your FIL doesn't wash his hands and bathe regularly, maybe he needs all the prayer concerning eating his food that he can give. Lord knows that sounds like a great way to get all types of bacterial and viral infections.
Maybe you should suggest the next time he's with you all that if he'd take more personal care toward his hygene, he wouldn't have to lay on the prayer so hard?
I'm now on my way to church to shake hands with a lot of people who don't wash their hands enough, I'm sure.
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In essentials, unity. In non-essentials, liberty. In all things, charity. Augustine
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