Feed Thy children, God most holy; Comfort sinners poor and lowly. O Thou Bread of Life from heaven, bless the food Thou here has given! As these gifts the body nourish, may our souls in graces flourish till with saints in heavenly splendor at Thy feast due thanks we render. – LSB 774
The Psalmist declares: “The eyes of all look to You, and You give them their food at the proper time. You open Your hand and satisfy the desires of every living thing” (Psalm 145:15-16). Indeed our Lord gives us every needed thing, and often more than we could ever hope for. Take a moment and consider all of the many blessings God has provided you with in just the past month, let alone the past year. Even when God sends us sorrows, He sends us many (often overlooked) blessings along with them.
This hymn was written by Johann Heermann, a German Lutheran pastor and prolific hymn writer of the 17th century, and was first published a decade after his death under the title: Little Table Prayer. My family frequently sings this prayer as our table prayer at the request of the children. We sing this prayer in order to teach our hearts to recognize that all good gifts come from God, and that we must give thanks to Him for all that we have.
We are His little children, pleading with Him to feed us according to His good and gracious will. But notably, we pray not just for the blessing of food, but for comfort amidst our sins. So Jesus is the Bread of Life that comes down from heaven, and with His body and blood He nourishes our souls in graces until we depart this life and flourish in heavenly splendor with all the saints in glory. The food we eat at our dinner tables God uses to nourish our bodies, but that food points us beyond the merely physical benefits and brings us to realize the greater gift of heavenly food that we feast on from the Sacrament of the Altar.
This hymn has a long tradition of being sung at the dinner table, whether at home, in church, or in school. I would commend this prayer to you as a most lovely way to begin a meal, leading you to give thanks to God for the food set before you, and to instill in you a hunger for the Bread of Life that our Lord Jesus feeds us from His own body. While our earthly food shall give us life for the day, the Bread of Life shall sustain us until we recline at the Lord’s table and dine with Him at the heavenly banquet feast.
May this new year be filled with prayer and thanksgiving for all of God’s good gifts. Happy New Year!
Pastor Koopman