Session 11: Bless This Meal

Beautiful orange sunset over a deep blue ocean. — Tapestry is Sunsetting

The UUA is no longer updating Tapestry of Faith programs.

Part of Creating Home, Kindergarten-1st Grade

In This Section

Introduction
From Creating Home

Once the guest has eaten and drunk at your table, the guest becomes kin… beggar or enemy, friend or chief, if they knock on your door, it will open; if they seek your shelter, it will be given, and if they ask for hospitality, give them your bread and wine… for who knows when you may need the…
Session-at-a-Glance
From Creating Home

ACTIVITY MINUTES Opening 5 Activity 1: Making Table Tents 15 Activity 2: Story — The Best Meal 10 Activity 3: Graces and Blessings 10 Activity 4: Breaking Bread Together 15 Faith In Action: Families Help at a Food Bank — Long-term 10 Closing 5 Alternate Activity 1: Family Time 10…
Spiritual Preparation
From Creating Home

If you could share a meal with anyone you chose, who would you invite? What would you serve? Would the occasion be quiet and reflective, or joyous and raucous? Think about your perfect meal with the perfect guests in any setting you like. Now ask yourself: What would be the appropriate grace for…
Opening
From Creating Home

Activity time: 10 minutes Materials for Activity Chalice candle or LED/battery-operated candle Lighter and extinguisher, if needed Labyrinth Basket of name stones Newsprint, markers, and tape Preparation for Activity Write the chalice-lighting words on newsprint, and post. Memorize the…
Activity 1: Making Table Tents
From Creating Home

Activity time: 15 minutes Materials for Activity…
Activity 2: Story - The Best Meal
From Creating Home

Activity time: 10 minutes Materials for Activity A copy of story, “The Best Meal” Optional: “The Best Meal” coloring sheet, and crayons Preparation for Activity Review, download, and print out story, “The Best Meal.” Optional: Print the coloring sheet and copy for all participants. Place…
Activity 3: Graces And Blessings
From Creating Home

Activity time: 10 minutes Materials for Activity A copy of Leader Resource 2, Four Graces Four table tents, each with different grace words, from the table tents children made in Activity 1: Making Table Tents Optional: Copies of Leader Resource 2, Four Graces for each child to take home Preparat…
Activity 4: Breaking Bread Together
From Creating Home

Activity time: 15 minutes Materials for Activity A large loaf of bread Water or juice for all participants Tablecloth(s), paper plates, paper cups, and napkins A chalice for each table A table tent with the grace you will say, made in Activity 1: Making Table Tents, for each table Optional:…
Closing
From Creating Home

Activity time: 5 minutes Materials for Activity Chalice candle or LED/battery-operated candle Lighter and extinguisher, if needed Labyrinth, with participants’ name stones placed on it Basket for name stones Optional: Index cards or post-its, bold marker, and tape Preparation for Activity Review…
Leader Reflection and Planning
From Creating Home

Remember that saying grace will now become a regular spiritual practice for the group. Keep at least one table tent somewhere in the meeting space where it will not get lost or tossed. Think about other graces you know that you would like to share with the children. The story for this session was…
Faith In Action: Families Help at a Food Bank - Long-term
From Creating Home

Activity time: 10 minutes Preparation for Activity Identify a food bank, the kitchen of a homeless shelter, a food recovery program, or another organization or service in your area that welcomes families, including young children, to assist in their work….
Alternate Activity 1: Family Time
From Creating Home

Activity time: 10 minutes Materials for Activity Newsprint, markers, and tape Star stickers Preparation for Activity Post a sheet of newsprint and draw one line down the middle, to make two columns. Label one column “Family Home” and the other “Faith Home.” Be ready to post additional sheets of…
Taking It Home: Bless This Meal
From Creating Home

Once the guest has eaten and drunk at your table, the guest becomes kin…beggar or enemy, friend or chief, if they knock on your door, it will open; if they seek your shelter, it will be given, and if they ask for hospitality, give them your bread and wine…for who knows when you may need the help…
The Best Meal
From Creating Home

Inspired by a story in Tales for the Seventh Day: A Collection of Sabbath Stories by Nina Jaffe (New York: Scholastic Press, 2000). Once a there was a great chef who was famous throughout the land. She was so good she taught other people how to cook and their food was almost as tasty as hers….
Leader Resource 1: Snack Recipes
From Creating Home

If you have time, you may like to extend Activity 4: Breaking Bread Together by engaging the children in preparing a more complicated snack together, by inviting another group to break bread with the children, or both. One easy snack recipe is to make your own snack mix….
Leader Resource 2: Four Graces
From Creating Home

Grace #1 For each new morning with its light, For rest and shelter of the night, For health and food, for love and friends, For everything your goodness sends, Thank you! adapted from a grace of Ralph Waldo Emerson by Reverend Phil Lund. Sung to the tune of “Praise God from Whom All Blessings…
Find Out More
From Creating Home

Graces and Blessings There are many resources for graces and blessings online, and here are two books to peruse: Rejoice Together: Prayers, Meditations and Other Readings for Family, Individual and Small-Group Worship, 2nd edition edited by Helen R. Pickett (Boston: Skinner House, 2005) Earth…