Dinner with the Atheists

July 20, 2008 /

The other night, for some reason, we got to talking about saying grace at the dinner table, and how it is often just saying thank you to God for the nourishment and the family, and leaving it at that. I was reminded of a post on my mom’s blog that I came across the other day. It’s a long post, and well worth reading, but the part I remembered was about hearing grace as a child, and how different it was from just, ‘thanks for the food’:

At meals with my great-grandfather, he always said grace and always blessed at least the farmer and the cook. Sometimes he would list one or two others, like the merchant who sold it or the trucker who transported it. We certainly knew most of the trail from farm to table in our house.

I told Ted that I liked that idea, the idea of knowing where your food comes from, and of being thankful to everyone who helped to bring the food to you. So Ted asked me, if you were saying grace for your dinner tonight (a steak fajita burrito from High Tech), what would you say?
So I said, “Thank you to the cow who died for my steak, to the vegetables that went into my burrito, the cooks at High Tech, and to my husband for buying it and bringing it home for me. Amen.”
Ted said, you can’t say ‘Amen’, you’re an atheist.”
“What should I say, then?”
“The End.”

I don’t know why, but that just cracks me up. “Thank you everyone, for bringing me this food. The End.” HA!

10 Comments

  • C

    July 20, 2008 at 8:06 am

    LOL! You and Ted had me laughing at the end of this post! That was too cute.

    I also like the idea of giving thanks to all those involved in bringing our food to us. When Hubby says grace, he sometimes remembers to thank the cook for preparing the food! *ahem* 9 out of 10 times, that would be me! LOL!

  • Michelle at Scribbit

    July 20, 2008 at 2:58 pm

    Oh that’s FUNNY! I’m sorry I didn’t get a chance to get together, I’m hanging out at the airport right now before the flight leaves and it was rather crazy the three days I was here that I couldn’t break away. It was fun and I enjoyed it but I”m really ready to relax and decompress. Miss the kids and Andrew.

  • hellomelissa

    July 20, 2008 at 5:22 pm

    whenever someone else cooks or buys, i’m sure to say thanks. but i’ve honestly never considered an atheist form of grace! thanks for the good idea, especially for the ending 🙂 the atheist amen. love it.

  • MRMacrum

    July 21, 2008 at 7:46 am

    It cracks me up also. Excellent. I always felt uncomfortable being singled out to say grace at a friends or relative’s house when over for a meal. They wanted me to thank God for the food, but it was the cook who put it on the table. I always felt God should be given second billing.

  • joan

    July 22, 2008 at 4:22 pm

    I never give “Amen” much thought. I guess I felt it was kinda of a closer. So after reading your post, I looked it up in wikipedia and still remain confused.
    Even with your humor interjected, it is important to be thankful.

  • J

    July 22, 2008 at 4:38 pm

    Joan, amen to that! 😉

    I believe that being thankful is one of the most important things a person can do. If we remember our blessings in life, we’re bound to be happier people, right?