wfn.org | Table cards remind restaurant patrons to give thanks

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Nov. 26, 2001  News media contact: Tim Tanton7(615)742-54707Nashville, Tenn.
10-71BP{552}

NOTE: A photograph is available.

By Woody Woodrick*

JACKSON, Miss. (UMNS) -- Many folks pause before eating at home to thank God
for their food, but it happens less often in restaurants.

In Jackson, patrons of three popular restaurants have a reminder to say the
"blessing." Chimneyville Smokehouse, BoDon's and George's Cafeteria feature
laminated cards on their tables with a brief blessing. The cards were placed
by Epworth United Methodist Church.

The cards have drawn a positive response since being placed on the tables
four months ago. In fact, Deborah Kees of BoDon's credits the blessings with
improving business.

"We're Christians and believe in praying over a meal," she said. "Our
business has picked up since we started putting the blessings on the
tables."

The table blessings are an idea that the Rev. Tom Sorrell, pastor at
Epworth, has wanted to try for several years. "This has been my idea since I
was down on the (Gulf Coast), and it just never got instituted," he said. "I
had written most of the prayers down there. One of the problems was we
couldn't find a family restaurant that would do it. Chain restaurants won't
let you do it."

Recently, he suggested Epworth try placing the blessings. The church leaders
liked the idea.

"We contacted George's Cafeteria, and the guy leasing it at the time wanted
to do it, but we never got it all worked out," Sorrell said. "We went to
BoDon's, and they were the first. Then (the original owner) re-opened
George's and he has done it. Then we added Chimneyville."

Seven different non-sectarian prayers were written and printed on cards
about the size of an index card. They were laminated and placed in small
stands next to the salt, pepper and hot sauce. Church members who helped
prepare the cards include Susan Aalwine, Epworth's day care director, church
secretary Nancy Martin and B.B. Triplett, the church's family life director.

The prayers are placed so each table has a different prayer from the ones
nearby.
Sorrell said one of the most exciting aspects of the outreach effort is its
ecumenical nature. None of the restaurant owners involved is United
Methodist. Yet, when approached with the idea, none hesitated to go along.

"After it was all said and done, we put them in restaurants where the
ownership was not even Methodist," Sorrell said. "This makes it an
ecumenical effort, and that's very special to me."

"There are going to be all denominations in heaven," said Kees, who attends
First Pentecostal Holiness Church in Crystal Springs.

At Chimneyville, the blessings just added another aspect to the already open
Christian nature of the business, said Jimmy Morton, who owns the barbecue
restaurant. A message board behind the cash register carries a Bible verse
each day.

"It fit right very well with what we do every day," he said. "I view my job
as a ministry for Christ. I was very interested in participating. I think
believers, especially believers in business, need to use every tool we have
for Christ.

"We are a Christian business and we were vocal about that before," Morton
said. "This is another way to help let people know where we are focused."

BoDon's, which features buffet-style dining and specializes in seafood, is
located on Interstate 55 South in Jackson. George's Cafeteria is also in
south Jackson.

Sorrell said another goal of the blessings is to help people of faith be
more open about praying in public. The table blessings are designed to
promote thankfulness to God first, he said. They don't push a Methodist
philosophy, but Sorrell hopes they do help put Epworth United Methodist
Church in people's minds.

"With the way things have changed with communication and publicity, we have
to find new ways to get (our) name out there," he said. "If you're not
Methodist, you haven't ever heard of Epworth. It's a foreign word to
non-United Methodists."
# # #
*Woodrick is editor of the Advocate, the newspaper of the United Methodist
Church's Mississippi Area. This story originally appeared in that paper.

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United Methodist News Service
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