Who says Grace before meals (including at restaurants)?

As long as you stop half way through and turn half way around.

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Just a few months ago, I heard a guy at the next table over from us at Chick-fil-A really get carried away (in my opinion) with the saying of his grace. This guy turned his grace into a near-ranting sermon about the sinners of America, and mentioned "America is being lead to the pitfalls of sin by the liberals." All of this was loud enough to be heard by virtually everyone in the place.

The guys tone of voice kept changing, and his voice grew ever louder. He literally sounded like a Sunday morning revival sermon and lasted at least 5 minutes.

If that is what floats your boat when you pray in a public restaurant, then go for it.

I was embarrassed for the guy, however.

Clove

Nope. Wasn't raised with religion. I also don't say "Amen" when others say grace, because it would be disingenuous. While I don't partake of religion, I do not wish to disrespect others' sincerity of belief by tossing in a fraudulent Amen.

I don't but it is something I really should commit myself to doing. We generally did when I was a kid. It is definitely something I will want to do when I have a wife and kids.

In a public restaurant it should be done quietly and respectfully. It isn't a display to be put on for the benefit of others. A few times I've seen people praying before their meals in a restaurant and it was painfully obvious they were putting on a show for everyone. Even as someone who was at least nominally of the same faith it made me uncomfortable and it made me embarrassed for them. You know, the kind of cringing embarrassment one gets when you watch anything on the TBN network especially in front of others.

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"Dear Lord, please bless this food for the nourishment of our bodies and keep us ever mindful of the needs of others. Please bless our nation and guide our leader's decisions, so they may follow Your will. In Jesus name we pray. Amen." We say this at ever meal, at home and away.

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Yes and Yes. I am the family head and take that position seriously. I was reared as a Christian and if it offends so be it. At home I ask the others around our table to ask the blessing. Not guests unless they are believers and it feels right. In the public IT DOES NOT HAVE TO BE LOUD. IT DOES NOT HAVE TO BE LONG.IT JUST HAS TO BE.

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Yes and Yes. When we go out to eat,we still say grace. Try not to be the center of attention or try to act like everybody else is going straight to hell for not boughing their heads,and if they are not really listening or looking real good,they will never know it was said. Eddie

We are not Christian, but we ask a Blessing, of Our Gods, and make a symbolic signing, on our food, at each meal, quietly, even in restaurants. Usually, it's me.
At home, even if we have guests. I still do the Blessing.
But, we don't bow our heads or bend our knees.
No fear.

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We do regardless of where we are. I also teach no hats on at the table and my boys must wear a shirt while eating!

Yes to both..especially at resturants!!!!! You don't really know what all you will be eating! Jesus prayed before his meals and we are following His example.

no and no never

My Parent's do but my brothers, sisters and I don't. We had a huge religious upheaval in our family 25 years ago and one sister who hasn't spoken to the family since due to us leaving the church we grew up in and she stayed. We all respect our Parent's desire to say grace and, in fact, ask them to when they are at the table knowing they want to anyway.

We had about 25 people at Christmas Eve dinner at my Parent's. One of my sister's boyfriend is from India and one sister's boyfriend is from Sri Lanka, they both respectfully bowed their heads while my Dad said grace. If they had wanted to say a little something according to their beliefs we would have respected that. More respect and tolorance for others beliefs would solve a lot of the world's problems, IMHO. I personally have a very dark view of organized religion but I respect other people's rights to follow whatever spiritual path they choose.

I think saying grace before a meal should be limited to being thankful for the food and the company. If someone wants to get into all sort of personal and political issues they should save it for before they go to bed or in the morning.

We pray every meal. Different people at different times. Usually our DS recites a memorized prayer, but he's learning how to pray from his heart now, so I don't think he'll be doing the "God is great, God is good" one we taught him for much longer.

In our own home we will say grace regardless of who is visiting. They are not obligated to join in. Guests in our home know us and if they are uncomfortable they would not be having dinner at our home. We do not expect others to join in but we do expect them to sit quietly out of respect. We have never ran into a problem with this. When in someone else's home we respect their prayer by sitting quietly with our hands in our laps. While we believe that many Christian believers in many different denominations are true believers and joint heirs in the Kingdom of Heaven, our religion rejects what we call "unionism". We do not believe in praying with people who believe in different doctrines. We base this on the Scriptures such as, 1 Corinthians 1:10, "Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that their is no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and the same judgement." This does not mean that we don't pray for others if we are moved as individuals to offer up prayers on other's behalf but we do make a public testament of our faith by not praying with others who we are not in doctrinal agreement with.

I agree about being uncomfortable offering up public prayers in a restaurant. I do, however, understand and respect others who wish to offer a public prayer within their family at a restaurant. Even if I personally have never been comfortable with it because, for me, my relationship with my God is personal and private, I don't mind other people doing it. I do understand how it can potentially make people uncomfortable at the next table who are visiting and enjoying their meal. I wouldn't want to cause someone to feel they have to stop chewing, eating or talking at their dinner while I pray. My mother in law was raised differently though so I show her respect and we make a point to try and sit away from others when we pray with her and do so as quietly and meekly as possible. I don't think it is the end all to someone's dining experience and I don't think it is so offensive or damaging to judge people or be offended when they pray in public. When dh, the kids and I are out we have taught them to quietly bow their heads and offer up a silent prayer in public but I think there are worse examples of offense in a public restaurant. I can put up with a family saying a brief prayer out loud much more than those who talk on their cell phones in public, get drunk in public, speak loudly and boisterously in public, interrupt others while they are chewing, stare or point in public, allow their children to run around or make a disgusting mess at the table and underneath, and use foul language in public. (Don't even get me starte on rude people at buffets...ugh! I try and avoid buffets because they seem to be bring out the worst offenders.)

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I fold my hands, bow my head, and pray regardless of where I am. I wouldn't feel comfortable eating someplace that didn't respect that.

Very intersting topic here.

Our family prays all the time, we pray even at places out in the public to eat. The other day our family went out to a certain place to eat and when we all sat down to eat we first bowed our heads, everyone around our table held hands and a certain person at our table was picked to say grace. While we was saying grace you could hear people asking what is those crazy nuts doing over there at that table. I thought to myself how rude of them so we even added them in our prayers. It doesn't matter were we are all of us says grace, it doesn't matter if it is for a meal or for getting up out of bed this morning we all say thanks to our lord above for all he has done for us. We even include all the homeless an many others.

There needs to be lots more people to say grace for what all they have.

We ask God to bless every meal we eat. Dh asks someone to say the prayer. It is a very common thing here to see families in restaurants praying before they eat. It is one of the things we really appreciate about this area.

I've been a waitress, and I will have to say that by the time you are halfway through a shift, you are almost on auto-pilot. When I was setting food down I would ask my questions to make sure everyone had what they needed, see if anyone wanted extra condiments, that sort of thing. I'd always feel awful if someone started right into a prayer while I was too into my routine to stop myself! I would cut myself off, and apologize, but I still felt crummy about it.

Then there were some times where you couldn't tell a group was saying a prayer, because no one at the table seemed to be paying attention but the speaker. Those made me feel bad too, but not as bad since the only person I had to apologize to was the speaker. Everyone else wasn't listening any closer than I was as I walked up from across the room!

And Clovis-I have seen people do the exact same thing. They use their loud "prayer" as a chance to say nasty things about everyone within sight, and not as a thank you to God. If you want to tell the kid at the next table to pull his pants up, just do it.

Kayleigh

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Norman Rockwell, who had more honest insight into the common American soul than most, gave us a picture of the circumstances this thread speaks to. Like most, I am touched by the powerful effect those Saying Grace have on the other nearby diners. It is an interesting and meaningful fact that this was the most popular cover painting ever with the American public. I hope we havent changed so much. Have a good, true 2009...Glen

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Yes, at home and when eating out.

We have a rotational system. Oldest ds is Mondays, all meals. Second son is Tuesdays. Oldest dd (next in birth order) is Wed, youngest dd is Thursdays. Sometimes dh or I say it on Fri and Sat and sometimes he lets the boys have one day together and the girls have one day together. Each child has their own blessing they say, not the same.

Usually dh is the one who says the blessing/grace when with my family as my father is deceased.