謝飯禱：「上天」

[Alex]

我的母親是基督徒，每晚晚飯時，期望我帶謝飯禱。但是，我的神學已走向自然主義及人文主義。所以，以有神語言祈禱，令我有點為難。後來，我想到一個折衷辦法，就是採用中國文化中「上天」這個指向非位格超越性的抽象概念。我現在的謝飯禱是這樣的：

上天，感謝賜給我們今日的食糧及每日生活的所需。以上祈禱，誠心所願！

這樣的禱文，無須假設有神；這裡以「上天」稱呼的大自然完全可以「賜給」我們人類食糧及每日生活的所需。亦已去除「奉主名求」或「奉耶穌基督名求」此等狹隘的宗教概念。而結尾的「誠心所願」，只是表達意誠，比「阿們」少基督教色彩（雖然「阿們」的意思實在就是「誠心所願」）。

[Alex]

Beginning with grace
Saying grace doesn’t make food into a blessing; it already is one. But saying grace can remind us that every meal is holy
By Kate Braestrup
Spring 2011 2.15.11
UUWorld
http://www.uuworld.org/spirit/articles/175403.shtml

..."To the hungry, God's love can only reveal itself in the form of bread," Gandhi said...

...For millennia, and for too many of our brothers and sisters today, hunger is the first pain and the final agony of human life. The hungry, therefore, have no problem whatever grasping the sacredness of food.  ...

...Jesus offered thanks before he broke the bread—thanks to God, no doubt, but I’ll bet he also thanked the person who had baked the bread and poured the wine. Perhaps, being Jesus, he also considered the farmers who scythed the wheat and cut the clusters from the vine, the millers and vintners and those who gathered salt or crushed the olive for its oil.

I don’t think it’s far-fetched to imagine him acknowledging the gift of the earth itself, broken by the plow and nourished by the rain that poured so the seeds could sprout and the grapes grow plump.  ...

(From Beginner’s Grace: Bringing Prayer to Life by Kate Braestrup. © 2010 by Kate Braestrup. Reprinted by permission of Free Press, a Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.)



Alex's comment:  A UU article on saying grace before meals; I found these two good suggestions on words:

1

We are thankful for the food
And for the hands that prepared it
And for our family and for our friends.
Amen.

為面前的食糧感恩，
為預備食物的雙手感恩，
為我們的家庭和朋友感恩。
阿門。

2

May the hungry be well fed. May the well fed hunger for justice. Amen.

願肚餓的得飽足，願肚飽的渴慕公義。阿門。

[Alex]

我的神學旅程，已從有神論的階段，走向無神論的自然主義及人文主義。在讀經、祈禱、唱詩、或與有神論者溝通和合作的時候，「神」、「上帝」、「上主」等詞語令我感到為難。後來，我想到採用中國文化中「上天」這個詞，它是抽象概念，指向非位格超越性。現在，我會以「上主」取代「神」或「上帝」，再最後以「上天」取替「上主」。「上天」與「上主」接近，不易被有神論者察覺，出現尷尬場面。

例如一首美妙的泰澤詩歌：

何處前有仁，何處有愛；何處前有仁，上主必常在。

自然主義/人文主義的版本將是：

何處前有仁，何處有愛；何處前有仁，上天必常在。