Tonight, around dinner time, the children of the family living upstairs were louder than preferred. So, I decided to drive to the Chipotle Mexican Grill restaurant (a favorite of mine!) to dine at the Table by myself and craft tomorrow’s invocation prayer for the Battalion’s formal dinner. I ordered salad & brown rice with chicken/beef along with all the goodies on top and asmall cup of unsweeten tea. Before I left the house, I quickly emailed my dinner partner the copy of Etiquette Overview (courtesy provided by the unit). For those who never attended a Military Ball, it can be nerve-wrecking with all the formality and military protocols. And so, hopefully, she will find this in her inbox and smile (reducing anxiety).
The table scene in the movie, “Shrek.”
Getting back to crafting the invocation prayer, I spent about two and half hours at Chipotle crafting the following draft of the invocation’s prayer, “Room @ the Table”:
Hospitable GOD, who invites ALL to Your Heavenly banquet table. We acknowledge in the menu of Army life, You GOD have truly blessed us with the abundance of friends and family. Sprinkle our table talk with seasonings of grace and life, so we may enjoy the flavor of friendship and family tonight. And so, GOD, I ask You to sanctify this toast to happiness for ALL here:
“May neighbors respect you,
Trouble neglect you,
The angels protect you,
And heaven accept you.” AMEN.
NOTES: The purpose of the prayer is to invoke God into the event using the purpose of the event as a springboard into some type of imagery; of which, this civic/military event’s imagery will be “Room @ the Table” fitting the occasion. Usually, I begin most military prayers with this statement: “Will you pray in your faith as I pray in mine.” So, this respects diversity while advocating my distinct spirituality. Typically, these military events arenot to be overly spiritual in nature but focus on military ceremony. Also, these civic prayers should be no less than 1-minute and no more than 2-minutes.
This prayer inspired, in part, by the biblical story Songs of Victory in Heaven; specifically this verse, “And the angel said to me, ‘Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding feast of the Lamb.'”–the Apostle John (Revelation 19:9, NLT).
QUESTION: Can anyone guess why I would import the picture of the table scene from the movie, “Shrek” into this blog???
