Prayer Guidlines in a Tex-Mex Restaurant

I recently had the pleasure of eating at Chuy's in Austin, one of my favorite restaurants. One thing they have always done, as far as I know, is to set their tables with flatware in little wax paper bags. People love to take the colorful sticker off and put it somewhere fun on their bodies, part of the festive atmosphere; but I digress. This last time, I took out my silverware and looked at the back of the bag. On it were three prayers, marked Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish. There were no instructions as to what to do with these little quotes, but reading each one seemed like a little unconscious insight into each group. Here they are, in order of appearance on the little wrapper (left-to-right, top-to-bottom, the classic Western order):

Protestant "Bless, O Lord, this food to our use, and us to thy service, and make us ever mindful of the needs of others, in Jesus Name. Amen"

Catholic "Bless us, O Lord, and these Thy gifts, which we are about to receive from Thy Bounty. Through Christ our Lord. Amen."

Jewish "Lift up your hands toward the sanctuary and bless the LORD. Blessed art Thou, O Lord our God, King of the universe, who bringest forth bread from the earth. Amen."

Now, in way of full disclosure, let me say that when I give thanks before eating, something I often forget to do, it takes a form like this: "Thank-you Father for bringing us together and providing us this food, and bless the many hands that worked to bring it to us to enjoy."

Well. I guess I fall into the Protestant camp in asking God to bless the food, which indeed I do in many other ways. And I can maybe take some credit for thinking of others too. So we have a utilitarian sort of prayer here, bless the food.
The Catholic one makes the food secondary and says bless ME and all that nice bounty that we Catholics have been in control of for a thousand years. Okay, I don't mean to be so bitchy about it - I've come a long way in my attitude toward the Roman Catholic Church in these forty some years of following Jesus, and now they've got themselves a real live Christian for a pope, judging by the things he says. Cool.
But the one that blows me away is the Jewish one. Their request is not to God, at first, but to each other. This is an occasion for worship and they take it, the occasion of remembering that He brings forth food from the earth. It's all about HIM. To me it looks like good evidence that the Jews think Jesus was right in saying the greatest commandment is that you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your mind, all your strength. I have harped on this before, but I think it worth saying again. The more you follow the Lord Jesus, the Son of the Living God of Israel, the more you come to love Him. And the more you love Him, the easier it is to follow Him. Talk to Him and listen. Hear and obey. Read the scriptures and meditate on what they say. Learn to know His voice. Loving Him is the source of all power and dominion in the Kingdom of Heaven.