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© Hanwell Methodist Church
Composed, designed and published by Ray Garnett

Having a page of Graces said before a meal first came
to mind in January 2011 when, during checking my
email on Burns Night, someone had sent me a copy of
the Selkirk Grace prayer. At that particular time our
Church was raising money for our Masonry Appeal
following stonework falling from the roof a couple of
months earlier. The Church was therefore coming up
with various initiatives in an attempt to raise £10,000 of
the estimated £40,000 needed for repairs.

As an idea, it thought that individual Church members
could compose a Grace with a view to having it
published on the Church website for a donation
towards the masonry appeal fund. To avoid
copyright issues the work would have to be their own
and it must be suitable for publication. The brief suggested that the Graces should consists of 4, 6 or 8-lines, preferable rhyming, so that they were easily remembered by someone saying Grace before a meal.

If writers wished to add a commentary like where they wrote it, why they wrote it, a title or what it means to them, then they were free to do so. Writers were welcome to have a credit for their work if they wished.

To help raise funds and not be forever reliant on our Church members, it was thought that the initiative could be taken outside our Church and into our Methodist Circuit, District and beyond.  If sufficient contributions were forthcoming then one may even record and publish them in a small book.

For those published on the website, anyone is welcome to use the Graces before a meal to remind us of the food that God has provided for us, to say thank you and to remind us of those less fortunate.

The Selkirk Grace that received and that started all this off is given below.

 Some hae meat and cannot eat

 Some cannot eat that want it

 But we hae meat and we can eat

 Sae let the Lord be thankit.

Let’s Say Grace

Our Masonry Appeal Fund

The prayers of Grace on this page have been written and contributed by our Church members and beyond. Some who have contributed have also given a donation to our Church Masonry Appeal Fund in return for publication of their prayer on this page.

If you would like to read more Prayers, Poems and Reflections that have been contributed by our Church members then click on the button below.