"How do you handle saying grace before the meal when non-Christians are present, one or more of whom may be hostile to Christianity? We want to make them feel welcome, not by discarding the practice of our faith, but by practicing it with an integrity that attracts them to the Light. All of our non-Christians will be a friend of one or more of us."
~ Question posed to me by another Pigfest moderator
Great question about the meal prayer. Totally your call. Your event, your rules. We do not pray before ours.
I do not pray at the Pigfest for two reasons. One, the event is less about food and more about conversation ... it does not have a dinner feel to it ... it is more like a discussion night with lots of food around. Two, we are intentional about making the occasion feel as little like a Bible study as possible. We definitely integrate our Biblical world view into the discussion, but we do it in a way that does not typically involve quoting verses while we are doing it. That is by design. I want the Christians at the table (including myself) to gain skill in making prudential arguments ... iow, ones that do not employ arguments like "well Paul says in Romans that homosexuality is a sin and therefore ..."
That said, if your Pigfest is more of a dinner format, then go ahead and pray and thank God for the food. In our culture, this is natural and expected. I would keep your prayer fairly simple if you know what I mean. I would avoid praying for the "unbelievers at the table that they might see the truth" etc.
Make sure your guests know beforehand that the Pigfest is an occasion for frank, open and friendly discussion involving topics like religion and politics. Let them know the moderator is an evangelical Christian and that religion will come up since topics include religion, current events, culture and truth.
If a person is really put off by a brief prayer before a meal, his heart is probably so hardened that he'll never be converted anyway.
Posted by: John M. | July 03, 2007 at 12:29
John M:
It's not necessarily the presence of a brief prayer that is off-putting, but the sort of prayer. Many prayers are considerably more sectarian than those who offer them often realize.
A good compromise might be rather than leading a prayer, offering a moment of silence in which people may privately pray in their own way, or not do so, as dictated by their conscience.
Posted by: tgirsch | July 13, 2007 at 01:12