\u2731<\/sup> I remember hearing of one woman who wanted to know how much food she there needed to be for her to have to give thanks. She was told that no grace was required for a cookie, but a coffee and doughnut required it.<\/p>\nThose of us who have come to enjoy God\u2019s grace and understand that we are no-longer living under an Old-Testament legal system sometimes react in the opposite direction. We are so afraid of a formal religion that giving thanks for food is reduced to a brief \u201cthank you God\u201d, if we do it at all.<\/p>\n
When I recently studied \u201cthankfulness\u201d in the New Testament, I was shocked to see how many of the references were to giving thanks for food. If you leave out the general prayers of thanks, there are more specific prayers of thanks for food than all the others put together!<\/p>\n
In some places thanks is mentioned even when is seems unnecessary to the storyline, e.g. John 6:23 \u201cOther boats from Tiberias came near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks<\/span>.\u201d<\/p>\nLet\u2019s look first at the times Jesus gave thanks. Two major events were the feeding of the five thousand and of the four thousand, In both cases there seems to be an emphasis on the thanks\/blessing. Matthew and Mark recount the first event:<\/p>\n
\n\n\n| Matt 14:19 <\/th>\n | Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass, and taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing<\/span>. Then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n| Mark 6:41 <\/th>\n | He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks<\/span> and broke the loaves.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n When John tells it, he interchanges \u201cthanks\u201d for \u201cblessing\u201d, and then repeats this fact later in v.23:<\/p>\n \n\n\n| John 6:11 <\/th>\n | Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks<\/span>, he distributed them to those who were seated. So also the fish, as much as they wanted. <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n| John 6:23 <\/th>\n | Other boats from Tiberias came near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks<\/span>. <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n Matthew and Mark tell us of the feeding of the four thousand<\/p>\n \n\n\n| Matt 15:36 <\/th>\n | he took the seven loaves and the fish, and having given thanks<\/span> he broke them and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n| Mark 8:7 <\/th>\n | And they had a few small fish. And having blessed them<\/span>, he said that these also should be set before them. <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n In three of the Gospels we read how Jesus instituted \u201cBreaking Bread\u201d. (The New Testament rarely calls it communion or the Lord\u2019s Supper.) Every time giving thanks\/blessing the food is to the forefront:<\/p>\n \n\n\n| Matt 26:26 & 27 <\/th>\n | Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it<\/span> broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, \u201cTake, eat; this is my body.\u201d
\nAnd he took a cup, and when he had given thanks<\/span> he gave it to them, saying, \u201cDrink of it, all of you, <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n| Mark 14:22 & 23 <\/th>\n | And as they were eating, he took bread, and after blessing it<\/span> broke it and gave it to them, and said, \u201cTake; this is my body.\u201d
\nAnd he took a cup, and when he had given thanks<\/span> he gave it to them, and they all drank of it. <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n| Luke 22:17 & 19 <\/th>\n | And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks<\/span> he said, \u201cTake this, and divide it among yourselves. \n For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.\u201d
\nAnd he took bread, and when he had given thanks<\/span>, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, \u201cThis is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.\u201d <\/p><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n| 1Cor 11:24 <\/th>\n | and when he had given thanks<\/span>, he broke it, and said, \u201cThis is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.\u201d <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n And in fact, it was at the point that Jesus broke the bread and said the blessing that the two disciples recognized him:<\/p>\n \n\n\n| Luke 24:30 <\/th>\n | When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed and broke it<\/span> and gave it to them. <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n The early church continued this practice. Sometimes we are embarrassed to give thanks in a public place such as a restaurant. Paul didn\u2019t have a problem doing this in front of a group of pagan sailors and soldiers! <\/p>\n \n\n\n| Acts 27:35,37 <\/th>\n | And when he had said these things, he took bread, and giving thanks to God<\/span> in the presence of all he broke it and began to eat\u2026 (We were in all two hundred seventy-six persons on the ship.)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n What is really interesting is that the freedom that the Christian has to eat all foods seems to be based on the fact that we are giving thanks:<\/p>\n \n\n\n| Rom 14:6 <\/th>\n | The one who observes the day, observes it in honour of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honour of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God<\/span>, while the one who abstains, abstains in honour of the Lord and gives thanks to God<\/span>. <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n| 1Cor 10:30 & 31<\/th>\n | If I partake [of meat] with thankfulness<\/span>, why am I denounced because of that for which I give thanks<\/span>? \n So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. <\/p><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n| 1Tim 4:3 & 4<\/th>\n | who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving<\/span> by those who believe and know the truth.
\nFor everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving<\/span>, <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\nFar from being a legalistic ritual, in these verses \u201cgiving thanks\u201d is the very basis for our New-Covenant freedom.<\/p>\n Why food? Of course God wants us to be thankful for everything, but there is something special about the way food is both enjoyable and necessary to sustain us, which makes it uniquely suitable as an opportunity for thankfulness. \u201cSaying Grace\u201d is not so much a ritual as a trigger for joyful and vocal thanksgiving.<\/p>\n So how did doing this study affect me? Following Jesus\u2019 example in this way is much more important in my life and now I love to give thanks for my food!<\/p>\n \u2731<\/sup> This was not my personal experience but I know many for whom it was.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This post comes from my friend Andrew Fountain, pastor of New Life Church Toronto: Some of us were brought up in a legalistic environment where it was a fearful sin to eat food without first \u201csaying grace\u201d.\u2731 I remember hearing of one woman who wanted to know how much food she there needed to be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1268,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[482],"class_list":["post-9447","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-prayer"],"yoast_head":"\n Giving thanks for our food - Guest post by Andrew Fountain<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This post comes from my friend Andrew Fountain, pastor of New Life Church Toronto: Some of us were brought up in a legalistic environment where it was a\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/2010\/08\/giving-thanks-for-our-food-guest-post-by-andrew-fountain\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Giving thanks for our food - Guest post by Andrew Fountain\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This post comes from my friend Andrew Fountain, pastor of New Life Church Toronto: Some of us were brought up in a legalistic environment where it was a\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/2010\/08\/giving-thanks-for-our-food-guest-post-by-andrew-fountain\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Adrian Warnock\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/adrianwarnockpage\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-08-28T17:18:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-10-28T09:32:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Adrian Warnock\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@adrianwarnock\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Adrian Warnock\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/2010\/08\/giving-thanks-for-our-food-guest-post-by-andrew-fountain\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/2010\/08\/giving-thanks-for-our-food-guest-post-by-andrew-fountain\/\",\"name\":\"Giving thanks for our food - Guest post by Andrew Fountain\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2010-08-28T17:18:51+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-10-28T09:32:43+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/#\/schema\/person\/4dc7481b9baa3553d9a7698715084eaa\"},\"description\":\"This post comes from my friend Andrew Fountain, pastor of New Life Church Toronto: Some of us were brought up in a legalistic environment where it was a\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/2010\/08\/giving-thanks-for-our-food-guest-post-by-andrew-fountain\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/2010\/08\/giving-thanks-for-our-food-guest-post-by-andrew-fountain\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/2010\/08\/giving-thanks-for-our-food-guest-post-by-andrew-fountain\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Giving thanks for our food – Guest post by Andrew Fountain\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/\",\"name\":\"Adrian Warnock\",\"description\":\"Patheos Evangelical\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/#\/schema\/person\/4dc7481b9baa3553d9a7698715084eaa\",\"name\":\"Adrian Warnock\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e5ff2076e287d1578e3b13fc015d78be?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e5ff2076e287d1578e3b13fc015d78be?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Adrian Warnock\"},\"description\":\"The resurrection of Jesus changes everything. Just not all at once. Healing takes time. Compassion and patience carry us over a lifetime of change. These are the themes I explore in my books and in the articles I have written for Patheos since 2003. My writing draws on my scientific training as a doctor and psychiatrist, my work in the UK's National Health Service and the pharmaceutical industry, alongside more than twenty-five years as a member of a growing church where I served on the leadership team offering pastoral care. My perspective has also been shaped by chronic illness since 2017, when I developed life-threatening pneumonia that caused lasting damage to my body, triggered several further conditions, and uncovered a diagnosis of blood cancer. This was successfully treated, although doctors expect it to return in the future. Out of these experiences I founded Blood Cancer Uncensored, an online patient-led support community. I am the author of the Transformed by Jesus: Spiritual Renewal series of books, which ask: \u2192 Is the Easter story true, and what does it mean? Raised With Christ: How the Resurrection Changes Everything \u2192 Why is change so difficult? What causes the resistance? The Traitor Within: Understanding and Healing Our Deceitful Hearts \u2192 How does transformation happen over time? Amazing Grace: How Faith Grows in the Human Heart \u2192 What are the first steps on a journey of faith? Hope Reborn: How to Become a Christian and Live for Jesus These books bring together medical, psychological, social, and faith-based insights, advocating for a biopsychosocial\u2013spiritual model of wellbeing. My qualifications and training reflect this integrated background: \u2192 British MB BS medical degree (equivalent to an MD in the USA) \u2192 Postgraduate qualifications in Psychiatry (MRCPsych) and Pharmaceutical Medicine (MFFM, DipPharmMed) \u2192 Theological training courses run by Newfrontiers\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\",\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/adrianwarnockpage\/\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/adrianwarnock\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/author\/awarnock\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Giving thanks for our food - Guest post by Andrew Fountain","description":"This post comes from my friend Andrew Fountain, pastor of New Life Church Toronto: Some of us were brought up in a legalistic environment where it was a","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/2010\/08\/giving-thanks-for-our-food-guest-post-by-andrew-fountain\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Giving thanks for our food - Guest post by Andrew Fountain","og_description":"This post comes from my friend Andrew Fountain, pastor of New Life Church Toronto: Some of us were brought up in a legalistic environment where it was a","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/2010\/08\/giving-thanks-for-our-food-guest-post-by-andrew-fountain\/","og_site_name":"Adrian Warnock","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/adrianwarnockpage\/","article_published_time":"2010-08-28T17:18:51+00:00","article_modified_time":"2019-10-28T09:32:43+00:00","author":"Adrian Warnock","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@adrianwarnock","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Adrian Warnock","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/2010\/08\/giving-thanks-for-our-food-guest-post-by-andrew-fountain\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/2010\/08\/giving-thanks-for-our-food-guest-post-by-andrew-fountain\/","name":"Giving thanks for our food - Guest post by Andrew Fountain","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/#website"},"datePublished":"2010-08-28T17:18:51+00:00","dateModified":"2019-10-28T09:32:43+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/#\/schema\/person\/4dc7481b9baa3553d9a7698715084eaa"},"description":"This post comes from my friend Andrew Fountain, pastor of New Life Church Toronto: Some of us were brought up in a legalistic environment where it was a","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/2010\/08\/giving-thanks-for-our-food-guest-post-by-andrew-fountain\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/2010\/08\/giving-thanks-for-our-food-guest-post-by-andrew-fountain\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/2010\/08\/giving-thanks-for-our-food-guest-post-by-andrew-fountain\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Giving thanks for our food – Guest post by Andrew Fountain"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/","name":"Adrian Warnock","description":"Patheos Evangelical","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/#\/schema\/person\/4dc7481b9baa3553d9a7698715084eaa","name":"Adrian Warnock","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e5ff2076e287d1578e3b13fc015d78be?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e5ff2076e287d1578e3b13fc015d78be?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Adrian Warnock"},"description":"The resurrection of Jesus changes everything. Just not all at once. Healing takes time. Compassion and patience carry us over a lifetime of change. These are the themes I explore in my books and in the articles I have written for Patheos since 2003. My writing draws on my scientific training as a doctor and psychiatrist, my work in the UK's National Health Service and the pharmaceutical industry, alongside more than twenty-five years as a member of a growing church where I served on the leadership team offering pastoral care. My perspective has also been shaped by chronic illness since 2017, when I developed life-threatening pneumonia that caused lasting damage to my body, triggered several further conditions, and uncovered a diagnosis of blood cancer. This was successfully treated, although doctors expect it to return in the future. Out of these experiences I founded Blood Cancer Uncensored, an online patient-led support community. I am the author of the Transformed by Jesus: Spiritual Renewal series of books, which ask: \u2192 Is the Easter story true, and what does it mean? Raised With Christ: How the Resurrection Changes Everything \u2192 Why is change so difficult? What causes the resistance? The Traitor Within: Understanding and Healing Our Deceitful Hearts \u2192 How does transformation happen over time? Amazing Grace: How Faith Grows in the Human Heart \u2192 What are the first steps on a journey of faith? Hope Reborn: How to Become a Christian and Live for Jesus These books bring together medical, psychological, social, and faith-based insights, advocating for a biopsychosocial\u2013spiritual model of wellbeing. My qualifications and training reflect this integrated background: \u2192 British MB BS medical degree (equivalent to an MD in the USA) \u2192 Postgraduate qualifications in Psychiatry (MRCPsych) and Pharmaceutical Medicine (MFFM, DipPharmMed) \u2192 Theological training courses run by Newfrontiers","sameAs":["http:\/\/patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/adrianwarnockpage\/","https:\/\/twitter.com\/adrianwarnock"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/author\/awarnock\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9447","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1268"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9447"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9447\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9447"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9447"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9447"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}} | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |