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I am not a great author. You will probably never read a major piece of literature with my name on it. But I do feel that I have been granted certain gifts, one of which is the ability to help and assist others. My reason for writing this book is to provide the reference guide that I never had when planning my first Christian Passover Dinner. And, please remember that this book is only a guide. Your Passover Dinner should be yours; an event that is the fruit of your family’s or congregation’s planning and prayer. This is not a "How to..." book. If it were, I might have been tempted
to name it Passover for Dummies. And that would have been
a terrible title. While there may be far too many immature Christians,
there are no dummies in the Body of Christ. We all have the ability to
be guided, instructed and led by the Holy Spirit of God, and it is my prayer,
my earnest expectation, that this will be the case as you plan for your
Christian Passover.
It is my experience that most people who approach a book like this one have at least six questions in mind: Who? What? Where? When? Why? and How? And, not being a great author, I am just going to follow a simple course and address these questions one at a time, though not in this order. So that we all start on an equal footing and are all clear about our subject, let’s first address the question
Most of your planning and preparation for the Passover Dinner will be no different than if it were just another fellowship dinner. It is a family gathered around the dinning room table or a congregation assembled in the fellowship hall. This dinner has a name. It is called the Seder Dinner. And like another dinner in our culture to which we give a name, it is something like a Thanksgiving Dinner. It has been said that Seder teaches us the obligation to express gratitude. The first Seder could be considered our first Thanksgiving Dinner.
Almost every facet of this dinner exists in order to pass on important Bible stories and Biblical Truth using all five senses of the participants. We don’t just hear the Word, we see, smell, taste, and feel the Word. We don’t just inform our children, we involve and encourage and reward them as they discover the Word of God. This is a dinner and a story. The story is about God keeping promises. The story is about redemption and salvation. The story is about God’s work in our history. In the Jewish culture, the story stops at the River Jordan. The story stops before the Hebrew Kingdom is established. The story includes Faith, includes Hope for the future, and includes the Love of God. A Christian Seder, just like a Jewish one, embraces all of this ancient story. After all, it is our story. But the Christian Seder also adds to the story. It adds those things that Jesus added as He sat at Seder, the Seder we call the Last Supper. And, for Christians, it no longer stops at the River Jordan. It has become the very personal story of our redemption and salvation. It has become the story of the Kingdom of God. It has become a story for all of God’s children. There should be no surprise that Jesus instructed us to eat this dinner, tell this story, and remember Him.
God spoke to Moses And Moses said unto the people, Remember this day, in which ye came out from Egypt, out of the house of bondage; for by strength of hand the LORD brought you out from this place.
This traditional dinner that Jesus must have hoped would continue until the end of time was where He, with bread and wine, offered us the New Covenant. I believe that Jesus asked us to do this in remembrance each and every time we celebrate Seder.
But let us not forget that we are not celebrating just a seder, we are celebrating The Seder. We are celebrating a Christian Seder, the Last Supper of our Lord and Savior, Christ Jesus. We are celebrating the occasion on which Christ Jesus established a new agreement, a new contract between God and Humanity. We are celebrating not only salvation from the Egyptians and from all forms of slavery, the release to the captives, the liberty those who are oppressed, but also redemption into the Kingdom of God, the recovering of sight to the blind and the acceptable year of the Lord. The very first Seder Dinner presupposed the Promised Land, but our Seder Dinner guarantees the Kingdom. "Thy Kingdom come" is not a wish but a fact to celebrate. I think that we will see that this dinner is the very basis, the very foundation of our Christianity.
This is both the simplest and the most complex question about Seder. It is simple for me. I look at any good calendar, circle the day I celebrate Easter, count back three days, and choose this as the date—even if it is not the same date used by our Jewish brothers and sisters. In my culture, Easter is always on Sunday and the Last Supper is most accurately celebrated on the previous Wednesday or Thursday. But even if this also seems simple to you, remember that there are thousands of Christians who do not celebrate the Resurrection on the date marked on an a Western calendar. Many hundreds of years ago, the simple act of trying to set a common date for the celebration of the Resurrection was cause for Christians murdering Christians and Churches splitting apart. Even with these different dates selected for the celebration of the Resurrection, I still feel that counting back three days from your celebration of the Resurrection will be adequate. In my opinion, this is all the information necessary in order to schedule a Seder. It seems to me that getting the experience and the lesson of Seder is far more important than when it occurs on a calendar. For the Jew, Passover begins at sunset on the 14th day of Abib or Nisan, two different names for the first month in the Jewish calendar. As the new day started at sunset, the actual date would be the 15th. And the festival continues for 7 or 8 days. The Seder Dinner is eaten on the first, or the first or second day of the festival. While this may seem confusing, it becomes clear when we consider a bit of Jewish history. As to two names for the same month, Abib was changed to Nisan, meaning the beginning, during the Babylon captivity. Before the captivity, only the name Abib was used. It did not automatically begin like January 1st does for us, directly after December 31st. The first of Abib had to be determined by the Jewish religious leadership. This was done by having certain trusted people watch the skies during and after the last month of the year, and reporting the occurrence of a full moon. The religious leaders then studied this full moon, determined that it was genuine and, if so, issued a directive. A signal fire was lit in Jerusalem which the people for miles around saw and then lit other signal fires until all the residents of the Promised Land knew that the New Year had begun. But when the Jews were held captive in Babylon they could not just reproduce this same tradition. They had to know when the new year started in Jerusalem, not Babylon. During the captivity, these signals would extend from Jerusalem to Babylon, but because of the time involved and the possibility for error, the Festival of unleavened bread was extended from seven to eight days for all Jews not residing in the Holy Land, and the Seder Dinner could be observed on the first or second day. From the Babylon captivity onward, there were always more Jews living outside of country of Israel than within its boundaries, so that this tradition of eight days remained, even after the Jews adopted a astronomical and mathematic calendar after the destruction of their Temple and the diaspora. Early Christians celebrated the Last Super, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus under the name of Passover, and in some countries that name or an equivalent of it is still used rather than the name Easter. It was much later in Christian history that we divided Passover into Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday. Our word "Easter" is not a traditional Christian term. It comes to us from the Germanic tribes and was their name for the goddess of spring. Easter became the combination of Passover with the celebration of new life as seen in celebrations of Spring throughout the world. Again, in the early days of our Church, the Last Super, death, burial and resurrection of Jesus were celebrated under the name of Passover. Like Passover week, the first and last days were considered equal to the Sabbath, regardless of the day of the week they begin. But later in Church history, most of the Church agreed that Resurrection Day deserved its own celebration. And it was decided that Resurrection Day should occur on The Lord’s Day, or Sunday. The Jewish Sabbath begins at sunset on Friday and continues until sunset the following day. The Lord’s Day, so named because of our Lord’s Resurrection, occurred on the day after the Jewish Sabbath. But the weekly celebration of our Lord’s resurrection and Resurrection Day, as determined from the first day of Passover seldom occurred on the same day. It was then decreed that the celebration of Resurrection Day would occur on The Lord’s Day closest to the appropriate time, and was determined by the Gregorian calendar. Sometime later, Rome adopted the Julian calendar and the two calendars began to diverge. The Roman Church required all Churches under its authority, sometimes forcibly, to observe Resurrection Day on the first Sunday after the first full moon on or after the spring equinox. Today, in the Western world, that is when we celebrate Easter, sometimes weeks away from our brothers and sisters in the Eastern world. I know almost nothing about celestial mechanics, but I do know that there is exactly one year between two Spring Equinoxes. Therefore, there is not exactly one year between two Easter Sundays as we determine the date in the U.S. This does not bother me, but as I mentioned, this issue has been the cause of much religious intolerance. So, when should we celebrate our Seder? As I hope you can see, it is a totally academic question. The important thing is that we participate in that particular and important part of Holy Week. That we come to realize the place our covenant, as given us by our Lord at the Last Supper and how it relates to the work of redemption and salvation. If you are in any way concerned about the question, "When?" I invite you to spend some time with the following scripture.
Use your fellowship hall or rent a hall. Have one Seder attended by all of your Church or have many small Seders held in various members' dinning rooms. Jesus, knowing His life was in danger, had to send His disciples like Cold War spies into Jerusalem to find a place. We should have no trouble.
St. Francis of Assisi is reported to have told his disciples to go into all the world and preach the Gospel, and to use words only if they must. Seder Dinner can be the single greatest Teaching tool and it can be the single greatest Evangelical tool we will use this year. But it is a tool and, to be effective, we must use it. If your Church hosts a Seder, you will of course invite the entire congregation. But remember, like that famous congregation we find in the Letter to the Hebrews, inviting might not be enough. We may need to encourage and exhort. Getting them to come the first time might be difficult. Stopping then from attending the second time might be impossible. At the first mention of Matzah in the traditional Seder, the Jewish leader states that all who hunger are invited to table. My first Seder experience was in a Jewish home, and my hunger was not for food. I think that it was probably the theology of Seder that led Jesus to ignore the ban on eating with sinners and gentiles. Invite! Invite without regard. Invite Jew and Gentile, slave and free, men and women, Christian and non-Christian. Invite and share. Preach the Good News and don’t use words. At my Church’s Seder, we did not stress invitation. We felt that few in our congregation really understood what we were doing and would not be comfortable inviting others. Still, we left that option open and did have some visitors. But, once our congregations understand and experience Seder, they are going to let others know. And I believe that there are many, many people who are not regularly attending Church, and many non-Christians who are still seeking, that will respond to this sort of invitation. Perhaps this is an opportunity to dig out the addresses of those who have not been in Church for a long time and send them a special invitation. When your congregation is ready, give them printed invitations. Encourage
them to let down their guard and invite co-workers and friends. And be
prepared for a huge response.
Why should we celebrate a Passover? There are many good answers to this question, and we will look at every one that I am aware of. I believe that once we truly understand why we should celebrate Passover, the How? will become almost automatic. As I will keep mentioning, this book is meant to be a guide, not a "How To" book. It is a biography of a Seder. In other words, it is the life and times of one particular Seder, the story of my Church’s first Christian Passover Dinner. We have noted that the Passover Dinner is a ceremony, and as such, has no life of its own. Its life and meaning and relevance come from the participants. So, my starting point for the answer to both the question How? and the question Why? needs to begin at my church. The story begins about a year ago from this writing. I had finished my formal religious and biblical study, moved to Dallas, Texas, found an apartment and a job and began looking for a Church home. Somewhat close to my new apartment was a church named Northway Christian Church, and one Sunday I stopped in to see what they were about. I thought, because of the name "Christian Church" that it was a non-denominational church but, instead found an upper middle class, mainline Protestant denominational church with an average Sunday attendance of about 500. I am ashamed to admit that I carried with me a certain prejudice against this kind of church. My personal conversion occurred as an adult and was accompanied with a great deal of interest in all things Christian. My studies included a look at contemporary American denominations and few authors and commentators are very enthusiastic about what they see. Main line Protestantism is on the decline and, through adherence to tradition, do not appear as if they will reverse this trend. Demographics show that these churches were being attended by older adults and senior citizens and were not attracting younger Christians, which does not bode well for their future. Today I am amazed that I could have carried such bigotry with me without even realizing its nature. I know now that this condemnation by some Christians toward different denominations and practices is a cancer in the very heart of the Body of Christ, and I am ashamed to admit that I had this cancer on that Sunday morning I first attended services at Northway Christian Church. I thank the Lord for the chemotherapy of the Holy Spirit. This is my confession. I make it for two reasons. The first reason is Biblical, and is for my own benefit. The second is for you. It was in this environment and with these attitudes, that I was allowed to participate in one of the most moving spiritual experiences of my life, sharing the Last Supper of Our Lord with Our Lord. If you have any doubts about your congregation and their acceptance of this very different Christian tradition, your doubts can not be greater than mine were. So, join with me as we attend that first Sunday service and enter together, the environment of my Christian Seder. Northway was a very attractive, expensive, contemporary facility. There was an official greeter at the door which led to a spacious area just outside the sanctuary. Coffee and donuts were available and a large number of people were partaking and socializing. The one compliment I did give this Church was that it was welcoming. I was approached and welcomed many times, both in this entryway and in the sanctuary. During this time, I was made aware that this Church was in the process of selecting a new Pastor, as the previous one had joined the Lord about six months before. There was to be a congregational meeting right after services to vote on the search committee’s recommendation. This first service lived up to all of my negative expectations. The hymns were from my grandparents’ day and were accompanied by a very expensive pipe organ. And though many of the old hymns can still move the spirit, these were sung with the enthusiasm one might have for reheated turkey a week after Thanksgiving. The order of service was performed so automatically that I was sure many participants were planning their afternoon schedules. When time for the homily or lesson arrived, an older gentleman who had not been involved in the service came to the podium. My assumption, based on my prior experience, was that this was the search committee’s selection for pastor and he was to deliver the message before the final vote of confirmation. I became doubly sure of this when the message, which had no Biblical content, became a message praising the denomination and praising this particular church, Northway Christian Church, as one of the jewels of the denomination. Needless to say, I left that day with no plans of returning. That evening, when I came home, there was a package at my door. Home visitors from Northway had stopped by and left a plastic bag on my doorknob. It contained some information about Northway and a very nice coffee cup. And again, I thought about how welcoming this church was. About a week and a half later I received a newsletter. The lead article was written by the new pastor, the Reverend Doctor Douglas B. Skinner. This article was a surprise. Rather than the expected first article from a new pastor, it went directly into creed. I have come to know that Doug is a very gentle man who seems to get his way almost effortlessly, but I still can not help thinking that his first newsletter article should have been titled "Listen Up Church." The article was about the necessity of a Biblical foundation for any Church and the importance of Biblical knowledge for the maturity of any Christian. And the article went on to announce that, because of this belief, the new pastor would be teaching a Bible class each Sunday at 6:00 p.m., beginning next Sunday with Paul’s letter to the Galatians. Anyone who knows me will know that if there is a Bible study within reasonable distance, and this one was 5 minutes away, I will attend. And even though I expected that elderly minister, the one who had delivered a sermon without scriptural reference, the one who had not exactly impressed me, I still felt called to attended the following Sunday at 6:00 p.m. It was there that I discovered that the minister who had given that Sunday morning talk was only the interim minister appointed by the denomination to help with the transition. His talk was an expression of his heartfelt thoughts about his six months of temporary service. He was saying goodbye. And the man in front of this class of about 40 people was the man who wrote that article that I just called "Listen Up Church." This was a man who had a deep personal belief in the power of scripture and a profound personal relationship with the Holy Spirit. I soon discovered that Doug was the finest and most knowledgeable Biblical teacher I have ever encountered, and I say this after just completing a five year period of study. He not only knew the Bible, but had a way of expressing it that would be understood and accepted by any classroom of lay people. I am only now realizing that this class was a church within a church. Each of these people had a special relationship with God, and, as a group, were very much a New Testament Church. I found among these people the elders and deacons, the prophets and evangelists that I believe I would have found in a church of 2000 years ago. So, why didn’t I see these same people on that first Sunday morning? Why didn’t I realize that they were part of that Bible class until about a year later? To answer that question, I have to refer, once again, to Luke’s story of Jesus at the house of Mary and Martha. We hear more about Mary and Martha in the four Gospels than we hear about most of those we now call the Apostles. Any reading of the Gospels will show that Jesus had many disciples. And, if we don’t happen to come from a tradition that makes disciple a masculine noun, we soon realize that Mary and Martha were two of Jesus’ best loved disciples. In Luke’s story, Jesus is at the house of Mary and Martha. We can assume that, as always, word was out and many people were about to gather in order to listen to the Teacher. Both Jewish culture and practical considerations indicated that certain preparations should be made. Guest would expect a place made ready so they could wash, as their culture dictated that cleanliness was a law of God. And, they would expect food and wine at the end of their journey. We should also understand that this culturally accepted hospitality, once provided, would also predispose everyone to better understand and accept the Words of Jesus. We know that Martha complained to Jesus. We should also understand that Jesus did not say Martha was, in any way doing wrong in preparing for guests. He did point out, however, that Martha was so involved in worries that she was missing the big picture. Martha was preparing so that the many disciples expected could relax and learn at the feet of Jesus. She knew His was a valuable and necessary ministry. But, in her worry over providing this auxiliary function, she finally saw Mary as a problem and complained to Jesus. Some might say that Jesus rebuked Martha, But I believe that all He did was remind her why the preparations were needed. They were needed so that disciples, just like Mary, could sit at the feet of Jesus and learn. I also believe that if the story continued, we would have seen Martha going back to her preparations with a smile on her face and Mary continuing at the Master’s feet. After all, both these women were His disciples. I am reminded of a story I heard that carries the very same message. The property committee at some church decided to carpet the entryway where the members and guests gathered for coffee and fellowship before and after services. The carpet was beautiful and very expensive and the property committee voted to remove the coffee machine so that the carpet would not be accidentally stained. The pastor meet with the property committee, and after a short prayer, agreed that there was a problem. He admitted that as long as members and guests were milling about, drinking coffee and talking, that the carpet would certainly become stained. "There is only one solution," the Pastor said. "The carpet must go." But don’t get me wrong. And, more importantly, don’t get the Gospels wrong. We should often give thanks to the Lord for the presence of Martha in our congregations. Martha is an important disciple. Every time I drive into a Church parking lot and don’t encounter pot holes that could swallow my car, every time the door is unlocked, the lights are on, the temperature is adjusted properly, the sound system is working, and many other functions we take for granted, Martha has been at work. But I am not a Martha. I have had some of my best experiences under a tent with hay bales as seats. And, yet, the hay bales and tent were provided by Martha. I am not a Martha, but, perhaps, I am not Mary either. I have left services chilled to the bone or perspiring, wondering, not about the message, but about why someone hadn’t regulated the temperature. Do they care about me? I have strained to hear the message, wondering why someone had not fixed the sound system. Do they care if I can hear? When I enter a new church, like I did at Northway that Sunday morning, I look for Marys. And it is not surprising that I usually see Marthas. After all, it is Martha who is concerned with the comfort of guests and visitors. Let us remember that this long story is to answer the question; Why? As I mentioned at the start, there are many answers, but the one we are about to arrive at is, in my opinion, the most important and it is an answer I was not aware of until I began this guide. I am sure that you can guess that it is a Mary/Martha sort of answer. By the time I began to consider this answer, I knew that there were many Marys in this congregation, and I had to ask myself why I didn’t see them that first Sunday morning. My first response was to consider the scripture. Mary was at the feet of Jesus, and perhaps, when I entered that Church, I wasn’t looking toward Jesus. Perhaps, like so many others, I had entered a new Church looking for what it could give me. What I could get out of it. I have since realized that perhaps the most important and symbolic act of Sunday worship is the passing of the plate, the acceptance of the offering. I now believe that the whole of the Sunday worship is an offering. It is not a time to get, but a time to give. Worship is about what we bring to God, and not about what God can do for us. That first Sunday, I was assessing the Church for its ability to meet my needs, not focusing on Jesus, not bring what I had and offering it in worship. And, not seeing Jesus, I would never see those at His feet. But when I changed course, when I attended the Bible study, I had a different focus. It was through scripture and prayer that I was most accustomed to focusing on Jesus. So it should be no surprise that it was at Bible study that I found that "Church within the Church," that I found the Marys. The funny thing was that almost every Mary at Bible study had been at services that first Sunday, I just didn’t notice them. The reason was that, until recently, I believed that it was an either/or type of thing. Either Mary or Martha. I hadn’t realized that there are two functions at Church; bringing to give and coming to get. Two ministries for every Christian, Marthas giving and Marys getting. And I didn’t realize that even within the most worrying Martha, there was a Mary waiting to get out. And in the most steadfast Mary, there was still a Martha who wanted to give. As we narrate the story of my first Christian Seder, we will see many almost miraculous occurrences of Marys and Marthas emerging from the most unexpected places. It was during the planning, preparation and performance of the Seder that I noticed people feeling comfortable following as the Spirit led and giving and receiving in untypical ways. This has to be the ultimate reason to perform this 3000-year-old ceremony that was so important to Jesus. To provide the forum for a congregation or family to grow in their own unique ways. To try something new that has a 3000 year history of bringing people closer together and closer to God. And finally, to help Christians to step out and take pride in their own unique method of growing in Christ. Bible study finally brought me back to Sunday service, and Sunday service brought me into other Church activities. It was about this time I made the firm decision to have a Christian Seder during the next Passover season. While I would have been content to have this celebration at my home, it seemed only logical to suggest to the Church, the people who were becoming my new family, that we, as a Church, as a family, sponsor this event. From the moment of that suggestion, I had to be prepared to answer two questions. What is a Seder? We’ve tried to answered that. And, why should we, as Christians, have one? Fortunately, I was in a Church that believed that if there was convincing scriptural evidence for doing something, then we should do it. So, naturally, I quoted, "this do in remembrance of me." Luke 22:19 The problem with using that scripture, as any English Major will point out, is that we are not sure what the word "this" is referring to. At Northway, like so many other Churches, The Lord’s Table, elemental communion, was celebrated at every service. And even those Churches which choose to do this only on special occasions or have another, symbolic way of celebrating the New Covenant, say that "this" refers to the breaking of the bread and blessing of the wine. But, let’s take a prayerful look at what was going on. First, Jesus had told His disciples "With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer," Luke 22:15 and we can be relatively certain that Jesus celebrated every Passover of His life on earth. We can also be reasonably certain that Jesus felt that tradition was important enough that He went to Jerusalem for each of these Passovers. (Luke 2:41) Passover was very special to Jesus. We seem to focus on those parts of Jewish culture and religion that Jesus seemed to oppose. And we seem to downplay those aspects of Jewish culture and religion Jesus supported. Jesus was a Rabbi, not a guru. Jesus was circumcised and Jesus had His Bar mitzvah. Jesus went to the Temple to pray, and Jesus went to the synagogue to teach. And while Jesus had problems with some of the Jewish leadership, Jesus loved, choose to preach to, and drew His disciples from Jewish audiences. Jesus chose one of the most sacred and the oldest Jewish celebration, a celebration of redemption, to establish His New Covenant. He traveled to Jerusalem where He knew He would be killed, because He had a "fervent desire" to eat this particular Passover Dinner with His Disciples. And, as Jesus ate that Passover Dinner, He knew that very shortly, He would be dead. At one point during that dinner, Jesus spoke His Last Will and Testament. And then He requested that the disciples, and through them, all of us, do this in remembrance. I have a strong feeling that Jesus assumed that we would all be celebrating Seder. The Apostolic Church, the congregation of Christians who were still being guided by those who lived with Jesus, felt that "this" was the Seder Dinner. Part of the very first Lord’s Day services included the Agape, which translates as Love Feast. It was a fellowship meal that the Christian Churches were known for. It was a dinner at which those who had the resources brought food for all. In one way, it was a method of complying with the dictum to feed the poor. And it was during the Agape that Eucharist or Communion was also celebrated. It was about 300 years after the death of Jesus that the Agape and Eucharist were separated and almost another 300 years before the Agape was banned from the Church building. A new tradition of fasting before Eucharist was adopted. No one can tell us why this departure from the Agape occurred, but some suggest that it was because of certain abuses that I Corinthians, Chapter 11, verses 17-34 allude to. But Paul, who preached against circumcision and dietary requirements, celebrated Seder, and I can’t even imagine that the Church of Peter and James ignored Seder. It is only logical that if the Agape was celebrated each week, the annual event, the Seder, was held in much esteem. But the Church of the Middle Ages or Dark Ages, where hatred of Jews was almost a sacred obligation and their celebration of the Seder an ideal time for persecution, decided that "this" meant the bread and wine alone. I do not say this to condemn that Church. After all, it is also our Church. I believe that they understood that we are saved by Faith alone. But they were faced with the opportunity and obligation of saving the entire Greco-Roman world. As this Church focused on converting an entire population, it lost, in my opinion, much of the meaning of Christianity. It began confusing a Roman concept of organization, proof of membership, rules and regulations, and conversion with the simple Christian concept of salvation and individual guidance of the Holy Spirit. After hundreds of years, it began to look like the dominant Christian doctrine became salvation by sacrament and law. When scripture finally became available again, many errors of the past were recognized. But one of the greatest errors is only now coming into view. Scripture reserved some of its harshest words for those who had been saved and stopped there. In the Letter to the Hebrews, the author blasts the congregation for its lack of knowledge and understanding. You should be teachers, Hebrews says, yet you need to relearn the ABC's of Christianity. (Hebrews 5:12) Yon Kippur is the Highest Holy day of the Jewish year. It is the day when atonement to God was made for our sins. Why didn’t Jesus make use of that day for His New Covenant? Why the festival of Unleavened Bread? And why does Yon Kippur go almost unnoticed in our document of atonement, the New Testament? At Seder, there are five recognizable cups of wine, each with its own symbolism. Which one did Jesus pick up and declare to be His Blood? And Why? Matzah is blessed, broken and distributed a number of times during Seder, each time a symbol. Which piece of Matzah did Jesus use when He said "this is my body?" And Why that one? If only one out of every 1000 Christians could answer these questions, I would not feel the need to write this book. But, for now, how can we be teachers as we are instructed to be in Hebrews, how can we explain the New Covenant, the Good News to others, how can we convey the meaning of that bread and wine when as a group, we don’t understand even the ABC’s of that eventful evening so long ago? I think this is a powerful answer to the question Why? There are other answers to our question, "Why?" that aren’t quite so Biblical. One of them is based on my understanding of miracles. To me, even the smallest miracle is in every way equal to the parting of the Red Sea. One occasion where I often notice miracles is a Church social function. It may be an ice cream social, a rummage sale or a carnival fund-raiser. I greatly enjoy watching a group of people come together calling themselves a family in Christ, and realizing that they truly are. Working together for a common cause, strangers get to know one another and acquaintances become friends. Friends become family and, because this happens under the umbrella of the Church, people seem comfortable talking, not just about the usual things of the world, but about spiritual things. In this environment, they will talk about Christ and what that means to them. A Seder is a similar structure. There are things to do and the Church needs to work together. Everyone brings particular abilities to bare. But the unavoidable focus of this social occasion is not fund-raising or community involvement or social time together. The only focus is Christ Jesus, His dinner, and His Promise. I believe that even the blind will see miracles in this environment. When we first lift and bless our bread at the Seder, we make the statement "Let all who are hungry come and eat." In Jewish culture, that meant exactly what is said. Those without food were invited to join. But there is another, equally horrible hunger in our land; a spiritual hunger. I don’t know of many Churches that don’t have a few lost lambs. Semi-members on the periphery who are hungry but don’t seem to be able to find their spiritual food. Many Church members feel somewhat uncomfortable about inviting their friends to Sunday service, and many have friends and co-workers who might decline an invitation to Sunday service. But these same members, planning to go to the local Greek festival sponsored by the Orthodox Church, would almost casually invite their friends to join them. And their friends would usually feel comfortable accepting. Remember, Seder is a festival. And it is a dinner. The fact that it also feeds us spiritual food is only an added benefit. And the fact that it makes Bible study fun doesn’t appear to be its main purpose. Let us ask our friends to join us on a Wednesday or Thursday night for dinner. And what a dinner! Not just bread alone, but by the Word of God. Another answer is that the Seder is a method of complying with the great commission. Not in the sense of bringing people to Christ, but in the equally important, and sometimes overlooked part of that commission, bringing Christians to maturity in Christ. We have found harsh Biblical words for those who remain as infants in Christ, and like our own children, adolescence comes through taking responsibility. In order to have a successful Seder, many people will have to take leadership roles. These are not difficult roles. You will see that they are done by some of the least in your congregation. During Northway’s Seder, some took leadership without even realizing that they did until after the fact. But you should also see that once an uninvolved member becomes involved, their lives are never the same. All to the benefit of Christ’s Church. So now, I’ve tried my best to answer the question "Why?" I may not have done the best possible job of answering that question because I very seldom ask it of myself. You see, my favorite book in the Old Testament is the Book of Job. It was that part of scripture where I was first sure of the Holy Spirit’s guidance. It is the story of a man who sat in the desert, asking one question over and over; Why? Almost the whole book is that question and attempt after attempt to answer it. Until finally, on the last page, Job stumbles on to the right question; What next? There will be more answers to the question "Why?" as we go on, but go
on we will. Let’s now began our journey through Northway’s Christian Seder,
and if we need more answers, let’s allow the Holy Spirit to supply them.
Once again, this is a guide, and only a guide. This book should be used as a reference and an idea generator so that you may form your own vision of your own Seder. The purpose of this book is to assist anyone, pastor or priest, elder or deacon, nuclear family or church family, in sharing a Christian Seder celebration Nothing in this set of instructions and recommendations should be considered mandatory. Everything contained herein should be considered as a framework on which you build your Seder celebration. And, much like the toy that you purchased for some child, some assembly is required. The main difference is that this package contains more parts than you will need. Do not feel discouraged if you find a bag full of parts left over after you have assembled your Seder. The main point is that this is YOUR Seder. Not only will you find parts left over that do not belong in your Seder, you will find additional parts on the shelves of your church or in the back of closets at home, which are ingredients of your heritage and style. Make use of as much or as little of what is available, and create a celebration that has at its core, an understanding of our Living God for you. And understand that if you had access to a video tape of every Seder celebration for the last 3000 years, and the time to view them all, you would be hard pressed to find two that were the same. For example, today some Jews eat lamb at the Passover dinner and others consider it forbidden because the Temple is no longer available as a place to sacrifice the lamb. And yet, if you were to walk into any room where a Seder was in progress, Jewish or Christian, you would have no doubt about what was happening. From Joshua, to Jesus, to today, the framework of the ceremony is the same. From this point on, we going to walk through the entire process that I experienced while I was involved with my Church’s first Christian Seder. We will be together observing what happened as my Church began to plan, prepare for, promote and implement their first Christian Seder. You will join me and other Church members as we discuss various plans and activities. You will see that we rejected some ideas. Don’t assume that you need to reject them. We postponed some ideas for following years, and a successful Seder will become an annual event. And you will be with us as we finally decided on our complete order of service. You will also notice, during our walk through this Seder, that I will share some of my attitudes, assumptions and thoughts. Some of these were not of the most positive nature, and resulted in problems, particularly for me. I have organized many large functions in my life. And in the course of doing so, I have stepped on a few toes and hurt a few feelings. But, until this Seder, I have considered that one of the costs of moving forward. This Seder was different for me because I did not really know much about most of the volunteers. It was like a family reunion I attended quite a while ago. At that reunion I started a conversation with someone I had never met before and found out that he was a sixth or something cousin. As I began working on the Seder, I realized that I was in the same position as that young man. I was my Mother’s brother’s wife’s sister’s daughter’s new husband. I was family, and I belonged here, but I didn’t really know many people here. As I share some of my attitudes, I know that they will be nothing more than detours for some. But, as I was able to learn so much about myself and my place in the Body of Christ during this planning process, I pray that many will have the same opportunity. I like to think that hosting the Seder at the Church was my idea. I say, "like to think," because, now that I have gotten to know Doug, the new Pastor at Northway, I sometimes think it was his plan and he prayed it into being. He had hosted Seders at his previous Churches and I know that he sees the celebration of the Last Supper as one of the most important aspects of the Christian life. But, for the purposes of our conversation, I am going to continue in my belief that it was my idea. Even before I was attracted to Northway, I had been thinking about the Seder. For the past many years my social life revolved around like-minded Christian seekers. And it became apparent to me that I learned as much while I was having fun in social settings as I did in class. As I began thinking about the Last Supper and the act of Communion, a rite preformed in the sanctuary of many Churches, I also thought of the Seder, a family social gathering, and I began to realize that these were of the same substance. I began to see that these were not either/or, not religious vs. social, not joyous festival vs. solemn sacrament, but one in the same. And I began to see why Jesus so eagerly looked forward to the Seder even while the shadow of His death stood right behind it. I finally decided that I would Host a Seder, probably in my own home. That was just before my first Sunday at Northway. That was before Doug’s first Bible class. And that was before I started to attend Sunday services and move toward making Northway my Church home. Between the early and regular Sunday service there is about an hour and 20 minute period when some 300 of our members attended one of dozens of Church classes. These are relational classes, composed of people of similar ages and marital status. At that time my experience was with subject oriented classes rather than relational based classes. Most of the classes were described as couples classes, usually for a certain age group and I wasn’t a couple. There was a singles class but I have a tendency to avoid singles classes. So I started to make the rounds, visiting quite a few classes. I finally came to rest in a couples class called Koinonia. After about five weeks, I got a telephone call late one Saturday night from Mark, the Koinonia class leader. He explained that a scheduled speaker had canceled and asked if I would teach a Bible lesson. I had not really made any connection with Mark before this, so after agreeing to attempt the class, I continued to chat. Seder had been on my mind, so my conversation seemed to drift in that direction. The more I talked, the more interested and enthused Mark got. I finally suggested that we might discuss the idea with the class and see if they would like to take it up as a class project. Mark agreed, but said that he would rather discuss it first with our pastor, Doug. I agreed that that was a logical first step. From that point on, I knew that the Seder was going to happen. And I also knew that, in a very short time, someone was going to turn to me and ask, "what next?" I consider "what next?" to be an inspired question, but at that time I didn’t have an answer. Having attended Seder, I searched my memories, only to find that I could recall a great deal about the people and places, but only a little about the rites and ceremonies. But I did remember that every participant had a little booklet with the order of worship and some prayers. So, after services the next day, I drove to the local Jewish book store. (By the way, they are open Sunday and closed Saturday). I explained to the clerk that my Church was going to host a Seder and that we needed help. The clerk, a young man of Spanish-Jewish heritage, was very helpful. He explained that many of the local synagogues provided people who would come to Christian Churches and conduct and explain the Seder. He also took me to the section of the store where the Seder needs were on display. It was here that I learned that this order of service was called a Haggadah, and two weeks latter I learned to pronounce it correctly. Haggadah (H_ - gah - d_) translated from Hebrew to English, simply means "the telling." It is the telling, or the story of God’s redemptive work through and for the people of God. The Haggadahs on display were priced from $1.98 to over 100 dollars. They went from the bare bones to beautiful engraved and lithographed works of art. Also, on display were many Seder plates. These are the traditional plates which hold the ritual food of Passover. These were priced from 15 to well over 200 dollars. I purchased some various editions of the Haggadah, including about 5 copies of the $1.98 bare bones edition, and I spent the next week reading and thinking. I gave both Doug and Mark a copy of the $1.98 Haggadah and we decided to meet in about a week to discuss the Seder. The Sunday before this meeting, it had been decided to use the Koinonia class hour to announce the upcoming Seder and begin planning. The Koinonia class was composed of a high proportion of what I would call Church activists. Most members of this class were involved in various aspects and activities of the Church. After Mark opened the class with a short prayer, he announced the upcoming Seder and told the class that they, as a class, were asked to sponsor this event. From this point on, I began a remarkable, personal learning experience. As we began the class discussion of the Seder, I recall that no one asked what I thought to be the obvious question; why? And, of course Who? and When? had already been answered. A few members had some knowledge of Seder and were interested in the how, but most wanted to know what? I came to class prepared to discuss a profound religious and spiritual experience of a combined Agape and Eucharist. Please remember, my idea grew from 12 or so people in my dinning room into a Church function. I thought that we would have a very successful Seder if we had 50 to 60 people in attendance. In my dinning room, I would have done everything needed. Making it a Church function didn’t seem to me to make it that much more difficult. I felt that our most important function was to convince those 50 to 60 people to attend. But as soon as the announcement was made, the class began discussing logistics. As I reflect upon that meeting, I am impressed at the faith of the membership. If Doug and the Church had decided to have a Seder, than there seemed to be no reason to ask why. There must be a good spiritual reason. On the other hand, "What is it?" and "Can we do this thing?" were the questions of the day. "What is it?" As you may have noticed from my previous answer, this is not an easy question to answer. Think, if you will, about trying to explain Christmas to a person who knew nothing about it. We might say that it was a season and a day, an event from history and an activity going on today. We might speak of Advent and a birth in Bethlehem, or we might speak of a special birth within ourselves. But could we ever be complete in our answer? I have had months to think about my answer. But on that day in the Koinonia class, my answer was far from clear. I am not a detail person, and having come to class in order to discuss the religious significance of Seder, I had some trouble answering, first "What?" and then "How?" I was completely lost when the conversation turned to table arrangements and settings, child care and food. This class turned into a committee. An environment I do not belong in. It was some time before I realized that they were not quite sure what this function was. I wanted to assign tasks and they wanted some kind of picture of what was going to happen. This is another side to that Mary and Martha issue. The people in this class were the Church activists. They were the people who organized many of the Church fund raisers and made sure that they were successful. They were the people who put together the food drives to feed the hungry and organized neighborhood outreach. These were the ushers and greeters, the choir and the committee members, These were many of the people who took the plans and visions of the Church and made them a reality. These were task-oriented people. But it became clear to me that these task-oriented people did not really understand the task. And the fault was not theirs. I was causing some fear in these people. I think it was like the fear I felt the first time I was with a group of people and the leader of that group turned to me and asked, "Would you please lead us in prayer." Even today I cannot completely describe the terror I felt at that moment. Part of me was in fear that I would stammer and stutter and make a fool of myself. Another part of me asked, who am I to speak to God for this group? And all of me was almost paralyzed. I realized that while I was, indeed conveying the spiritual importance that I ascribe to a Christian Passover, I was not conveying the simplicity of it. I was speaking of it as such a Holy moment that I was causing this same sort of fear. Jesus was not criticizing Martha for preparing for His guests. I’m sure He expected and perhaps even encouraged it. He was drawing the line. He was pointing out how preparation can take on more importance than the message. And isn’t that a problem that has always been with the Church. Perhaps it was that problem that led to our modified Eucharist, instead of the Agape and Eucharist of the early Church. And, perhaps this is the reason that so many Churches have become so bland and predictable. Standing before both God and our congregation for the first time can be scary and so we have only a few appointed people to do this task. Martha may have been worried about many things, but at least Martha knew exactly what was expected. But, if we took Martha to another time and another culture, she would be lost. I believe that Jesus is always with us and that He has proven that He can feed the multitudes. But, I also know very few Christians would plan a major event and leave the logistics to Christ. In order to realize many of our spiritual dreams, we need to structure the physical setting. On Seder evening, Christ will surly be with us. And in every Christian Church there will be Marys who will be content just to sit at our teacher’s feet. But for every Mary, there will be dozens of Marthas who, just as fervently, wish to be involved, and their way of involvement is to make sure every need is met. Before this first class was over, I came to the decision and announced that I would produce a written word picture of the Seder for the next Sunday class so that everyone could began to see what a Seder looked like. And now I knew that it needed to be a picture of the physical Seder and not the Spiritual one. It needed to show "How?" and not "Why?" It was also during that first class that a member, Brett, volunteered herself and her husband to do the advertisement and promotion for the Seder. I found out later that Brett and her family would be in Colorado skiing during Holy Week and would not be able to attend. But if I were to make a list of the ten most important people in making our Seder a success, Brett, who was not even able to attend, would be high on that list. Through her commitment and diligence and talent, many things were done during the following weeks that would have otherwise been overlooked. And her first act was to place an announcement in the Church newsletter to the effect that the following week Koinonia class would be host to everyone who wished to be involved in this event. That afternoon I did two things. The first was to return to the Jewish book store. On my previous visit, the clerk told me that he might be able to get a copy of a Christian Haggadah and to check back with him. However, when I arrived he was not on duty. It was at this time that I met an older Jewish gentleman and we started talking about my Church’s plans for Seder. I was amazed as he told me that though Jewish, he believed that Jesus was Messiah. He also told me that though he attended a Jewish synagogue, he knew of a Messianic (Jewish/Christian) synagogue not far from where we were and that they would have a more Christian oriented Haggadah. I left for the bookstore at Baruch Ha Shem where I purchased five copies of The Messianic Passover Haggadah published by Messianic Jewish Publishers for $5.00 each. And then I went home to type a word picture of Seder Dinner. This word picture, in part, went something like this: Its 6:30 as we walk through the door to Fellowship Hall. We are the first to arrive, knowing that we will all gather between 6:30 and 7:00. We notice a few people still completing final arrangements. We note that there are 5 tables set for 13 people each with utensils, a wine glass, a napkin and a Haggadah. Each table has a Candle on one end and a Seder plate on the other. There is a plate on each table containing Matzah wrapped in a linen napkin and a chalice-type cup. The walls are decorated with posters from Exodus and the Last Supper indicating that our Sunday school classes had been studying and preparing for this Passover dinner. There is a table at the entry with a basin of water, towels and a plate of Matzah. In the Jewish tradition, we are to wash the dust of the road from our hands, break off a small piece of bread, give thanks and eat. There are musicians starting to play various lively tunes and as the children arrive, they are encouraged to dance. Eventually, the children coax the adults to join... That was the gist of my word picture, but it did not look anything like our eventual Seder. It was at a meeting during the following week that we all found out that Doug had done Seder dinners at previous Churches. And Doug had his own view of what the Seder would look like. He believed that we would have in excess of 100 people while I saw between 50 and 60. He saw the set-up as one U-shaped table around three walls of fellowship hall, and he saw a table at the open end of the U with a microphone for various leaders to conduct the Seder. I learned a long time ago never to argue with a pastor. It is not Biblical and it is not very smart. So, after this meeting I rewrote my word picture. But this new word picture was still very different than the final event. You see, as the membership started to participate, they made brush strokes of their own. This line was redrawn, that area colored differently. And this went on until the picture no longer belonged to any one of us, but to all of us. Doug was as impressed with the Messianic Haggadah as I was. I volunteered to rewrite it in order to make it even more conducive to our background and tradition. But, because of time limitations, we decided to go with the Messianic Haggadah as is. The Haggadah offered with this book is the result of that rewriting which occurred after our Seder. We also discussed having a head table at the front of the room with 13 people who would reenact the first Christian Seder, the Last Supper. Mark is a professional actor and we discussed having him recruit 12 others, each to become knowledgeable about and represent each of the twelve apostles. Our idea was to have the focus alternate between the leaders of the current Seder ceremony and the historical actions and discussions at the head table. We also discussed the possibility of a random commentator, perhaps looking like either a Jewish Rabbi or Paul. This commentator would enlighten us on Jewish tradition and on how it was modified and expanded by these new Christians. But, once again, because of time restraints and the amount of work entailed with costuming and scripting this head table activity, we agreed to postpone this idea until another year. After this meeting, we were finally at a point where we could go public. We were ready to start the Church-wide planning and promotion of our Christian Seder. The following Sunday, the Koinonia class was composed of regular members and visitors interested in the Seder. We reviewed the word picture and, having acquired a number of additional Messianic Haggadahs, we reviewed these. During this review, when we came to the part of the ceremony which called for the youngest child to ask four questions, discussion began about not only who would be asking the questions, but about children in attendance. Every one of us benefits from hearing Bible stories about God’s redemptive purpose through history, and we benefit even more while actively participating in these stories in a setting like the Seder. In the Jewish tradition, Seder was a celebration for the entire family. As a reminder for adults and as education for children. From babies to grandparents, Seder brings us the essential message of redemption. As to the four questions, Paul, one of the Koinonia class visitors, was the father of a young man who was attending "Pastors Class." This is a class offered at Northway for young people who are approaching that age when they will take responsibility for their own lives, and gives them the option of publicly confessing their Christian intentions. Paul suggested that we draw upon this class for the youngsters who will ask the four questions. We all agreed that this was a wonderful idea, even if they would not necessarily be the youngest in attendance, and Paul agreed to coordinate that aspect of the Seder. I was constantly being surprised by people taking charge of certain aspects of the Seder celebration, with the end result that the entire process turned out to be much more than I had planned and seemed to come into being almost effortlessly. Each Sunday, from this Sunday on, Brett made sure that a table was placed in the Narthex of our Church so people could ask questions, sign up to attend or volunteer, and indicate what category of food they would bring(Main course, vegetable, dessert). A wonderful poster was made to advertise the Seder and it was placed in five heavy traffic areas of the Church. A copy is reprinted in the appendix and the entire poster can be downloaded from http\\www.christianseder.com and modified for your use. The next few weeks were spent refining our plans, though for all practical purposes most or our plans were in progress. The Seder Dinner, at first, seems to be a complicated affair. However, if you only had the Haggadah (the order of service) and were to use it in conjunction with your next Sunday dinner, you would have a Seder. You would have a dinner and Bible study. And with only a rudimentary understanding of the Bible, you would finish dinner with a much more profound understanding of Jesus. At the Church level the Seder, though a profound spiritual experience, it is only a fellowship dinner which follows an order of service. And, as it turned out during these interim weeks, our most important task was not convincing our membership of the spiritual significance of the Seder, but convincing them of the simplicity of hosting it. It seems that some of our most active members were still in some fear of being unable to host this dinner in the way it ought to be done. I felt the need to convince others of the importance of Seder as a way to know Jesus and to understand not only Jesus, but the entire Christian movement as it left Israel and spread throughout the known world. I am sure that this seemed like a huge task. But I gave little thought to the people who would host the Seder, the event which would shine light on these lessons. I ignored the Marthas who were interested in making everyone comfortable by providing everything they expected. Fortunately, we had a pastor who understood this dynamic. At our first of our two rehearsals, which I will cover shortly, Doug opened by saying that his purpose in being there was to tell us that we could do this thing, and that it would be easy. I mention this again because I believe it is important to excite Christians about this ceremony, but I also know that it is extremely important to assure everyone of its simplicity. At about this time we held a meeting of those who were most involved in the upcoming Seder. The ritual portion of the Seder, or the order of service, is mostly verbal instruction and responsive readings and prayer. Mark had used a few Seders to script the instructional and prayer leader portions of the service and we considered his suggestions. As I mentioned, Mark is a professional actor, and he had taken the Haggadah and marked it up as he would a script of one of his movies. He had most parts labeled as to who would say what. It was at this meeting that we decided to have two podiums and two microphones so that readers would not have to stumble over each other to speak, one after the other. We also decided to have an overhead projector for congregational responses and song lyrics. We felt that though almost everyone would have a Haggadah, some would be more comfortable reading from the projection. And, of course, we had the discussion that each of you will have. Should we use wine or grape juice? This discussion has been going on in the Jewish community for many years as well as in the Protestant denominations as regard Eucharist. I have no advice on this issue. Our Church decided to use juice. But I know that our focus should be the words of Jesus as we read them in John 6, verse 53:
And throughout all your discussion and planning, remember that we will never be able to recreate the Last Supper in its every detail. For example: Was there a sacrificed roasted lamb on the table? Or did the disturbance at the temple prevent the sacrifice? While everyone else in Jerusalem had lamb, was the lamb omitted from Jesus’ Seder because the real sacrifice was to be made the next day? At a Jewish Seder, we will find a lamb shank and a roasted egg on the Seder plate. These were not on Jesus’ Seder plate but have been added since the destruction of the Temple. These have been added so that we will be sure to remember certain things. Our Seder dinner will be authentic if we but remember Jesus, and what Jesus did for us. Two final decisions were made at that meeting. Doug agreed to expand on Mark’s work and prepare some 30 Haggadahs, each labeled with the readers name and their lines highlighted with yellow marker. The names were descriptive and not proper names. Child 1, Reader 1, Voice of the New Testament, Voice of the Old Testament, etc. These are now on file for our next Seder. And we decided to have two rehearsals. The first rehearsal, an informal meeting about a week before the Seder including everyone involved; candle lighters, table leaders, readers, and those who would set tables and prepare foods. And, the day before Seder, we would have a full dress rehearsal. Each of you has your own Church family, your own spiritual gifts, your own Church leaders and those about to step into leadership roles. Each of you has the facilities or a method to reserve facilities as Jesus did. And if, by now, you realize just how central the Seder is to our Christianity, you are prepared to begin. The following section of this book will take you through Northway’s Seder. I am taking you there, not in order for you to imitate Northway’s Seder, but to give you a view of our first attempt. And remember, this was our first attempt. While it was a wonderful success, it will be even better next year. Through prayer, reflection and discussion with your own unique congregation, I hope to hear not only of your successes, but of your suggestions to make this most Holy day even better for everyone.
Just before arriving at Church, I stopped at the Pizza store and ordered enough pizza for all who would attend. I arrived at Church early and started moving furniture. We had decided to conduct our Seder around one huge U-shaped table and I used a few six foot tables to create a smaller version of our eventual plan. I then placed a table at the open end of the U, hooked up a microphone to a podium, got an overhead projector ready and then prepared the table. For a Seder plate, I used a cafeteria tray with four bowls, one each for horseradish, parsley, kharoset (a blended mixture of nuts, honey and apples), and salt water. I used a plate and napkin to display the Matzah. I had also brought a candle and matches as well as the Haggadah printed on transparencies. At this point in time I had everything necessary for a Seder Dinner. Between 30 and 40 of us gathered in fellowship hall, and at seven o’clock Doug opened our rehearsal. After prayer, Doug announced that his primary role that evening was to assure us all that we could do this thing we planned. He told all present that he had hosted other Seder Dinners at his previous Churches, and that they were not difficult. By the end of this evening, everyone knew and understood the simplicity of this ceremony. And, I believe everyone felt confident about our final event. I sometimes think that everything would have been simpler if we had started with the Pizza Seder rather than having it in the last week. When Doug’s introduction was done, we split into two groups, one consisting of those who would be preparing the ritual food and room, setting tables, etc., and the other of those who would function as candle lighters, table leaders, readers, etc. As I have probably taken the Mary and Martha story further than it was meant to be taken, let us call these two groups ministers and teachers. Our word minister, used by Paul to describe himself, was a Greek word identifying a house slave whose sole duty was to transport food from the kitchen to the dining room. This slave had no control over what food was to be served and only carried it to the table. And this slave had no control over how much the dinners ate or whether they ate at all. Today we would call Paul an evangelist or missionary, but Paul saw himself as carrying the Gospel from God’s kitchen to humanity’s table. I sometimes think that serving tables should be required of those who, some day, wish to take the ministry path. The term minister may not be entirely accurate for our group in the kitchen, but it will suffice. The second group, table leaders, readers, etc., shall be referred to as teachers. These people will be explaining what to do and then doing it so that others might imitate them. And it seems to me that this action, rather than the words, is at the very core of the teaching ministry. As I remained with the teaching group and Mark assumed leadership of the ministry group, I cannot be entirely accurate as to their process, but I do know that they did, what I would call walking the function. They assumed that it was their arrival time on Seder day and they made a list of what they should see ready for them. This included table cloths, napkins, dinner plates, utensils, wine glasses, and the ritual Seder foods. These are parsley, celery or another green vegetable, a hard-boiled egg, roasted lamb shank, horseradish, Matzah, grape juice, and kharoset; a blended or chopped mixture of nuts, apples and honey. Shortly, as we go step by step through the actual Christian Seder, you should notice how every physical aspect of this celebration was done with ease and excellence. It was done that way because of the planning done in the kitchen that night. After we split into two groups, I stepped to the microphone and I began. My first statement was to the effect that I wanted everyone to be able to leave at the end of the evening knowing that Pizza was kosher food. There is something about my human nature that really likes to shock and provoke and this statement did just that. All of those expecting a serious, and perhaps difficult discussion and teaching began to relax as I continued. I went on to explain that I had no intention of denigrating the traditions of our Jewish brothers and sisters. I told my teachers that there is probably not one food item further from kosher than a sausage and cheese pizza, but as Paul saw the difference between circumcision of the body and of the Heart, we would see that keeping kosher was also a matter of the heart. "Tonight," I told them, "we are not going to rehearse a Seder dinner, we are going to have one. We are going to have a Christian Seder, the celebration of Jesus' Last Supper." Or, because Passover was a week away, I could have said that we were going to have Agape and Eucharist, the Love Feast and Communion central to the Lord’s Day celebration of the early Church. I put the candle lighting page of the Haggadah on the overhead projector, and instructed one of our candle lighters to open our festival. That evening I wanted to demonstrate Seder. I also wanted everyone to see that Christianity, like its Jewish predecessor, is not an individual to God religion, but a community to God religion. It is difficult for 21st century, Western, scientific, rational, people to set their individuality aside and accept the importance of community. That night, we were going to worship as community. There was not going to be a pastor or teacher or evangelist; those are the roles for each of us together. Paul tells us that of all the Spiritual gifts, Love (Agape) is the greatest, and the New Testament teaches us that Love is power. But this gift and power is useless unless we learn to first experience and then to use it. We might have begun experiencing and using this Agape in our nuclear families, but until we learn to share it in our Christian community, we will never be able to use it in the world at large. The big game in the United States is the Super Bowl. But no team has ever arrived at the Super Bowl without first participating in summer training camp. The Agape, the Love Feast, is our training camp and the Kingdom is our Super Bowl. And we go to the big game as a team. Did you know that Paul never referred to us as Christians? He referred to us as the Body of Christ, the One Body of Christ. I sometimes think that if a Christian could be miraculously transporter from the year 80, perhaps from Ephesus or Thessalonica, and walked in on our "rehearsal," that he or she, seeing the ritual Seder food, the Matzah, the purple juice, and the funny pie-shaped food, would have eagerly joined us, knowing that we were members of the Body of Christ, and that we were learning and practicing Agape. That person, knowing that the people around the table loved one another, and knowing him or herself to be a member, a part of the Body, would be prepared to love and be loved, and to join in the Body’s love of God. After lighting the candle and opening with the prayer, we began following the Haggadah. We drank the first cup, the Cup of Freedom, ate parsley, asked the four questions, and began to answer them. We answer these questions not only with words, but by our actions and with the food of our table. First, we use the Matzah. That night, there were the three traditional rounds of Matzah on the plate. After centuries of rabbinical interpretation, there is enough commentary about the number, size, shape, texture and appearance of this Matzah to fill many books. I am comfortable with the Biblical explanation that the Will of God was for the Hebrews to leave Egypt immediately and that anyone who would wait for their bread to rise was outside the Will of God. In the desert, this bread was baked on hot rocks in the desert sun, giving them their rough appearance. Or we may chose to let this bread remind us of the manna, the miraculous food of God that was one of the few items kept in the Ark of the Covenant and which will preserve us all if we have need. And we may choose to believe, as Christians, that we use three Matzah to symbolize the Trinity. After breaking and eating Matzah, we came to the maror, the bitter herbs. On our Seder plate that evening we had small slices of the raw root. In the kitchen, the minister group had decided to use a whole horseradish root for appearance and Heinz prepared horseradish for consumption. Had it been my decision, I would have gone with the slices for two reasons. First, the Seder is older than the written Torah, and prepared horseradish is new kid on the block. But more importantly, everyone knows what prepared horseradish tastes like and some will refuse to taste. On the other hand, horseradish root is a relative unknown. Most people have never experienced this raw food. Charles, a Nigerian who, with his wife, had come to Dallas to do his Ph.D. work at Dallas Theological Seminary had recently joined Northway Christian Church. This Charismatic, Evangelical Christian ended up at a main line Protestant denominational Church with a story just as unusual as mine. I found out sometime later that Charles grew up being very finicky about the foods he ate. He once told me a story about being invited to dinner in Nigeria where the host had gone to a great deal of trouble preparing for him. Upon learning about the menu, Charles declined the invitation. Charles has since decided to change this attitude and will today join at table even if the food does not meet his expectations. He also told me that he was both impressed and influenced by missionaries from the U.S. who not only joined any table to which they were invited, but who sampled all the foods set before them with enthusiasm. Charles was with us that evening as a table leader and when it came time to eat the horseradish root, he asked, "What is this thing?" As you can imaging, conveying the taste of horseradish in words is almost impossibly. Suffice it to say that the text of the Haggadah instructs us to eat the maror so that we can experience the bitterness of the Hebrew life under Egyptian rule. Charles now knows the taste of bitterness. I believe it to be important that we all fully participate, that we all eat the bitter root and experience the salty water. That we for a moment share the bitterness of slavery and the salty tears of frustration. I believe this because I believe the entire Bible to be the story of God’s redemptive work on our behalf. From the spiritual death of Adam and Eve, the Bible tells us of God’s work to restore us to, not only new life but full adulthood in the Kingdom. While Genesis serves as a prologue, Exodus is Act I. God chose and then worked with a slave people to do as is said of John the Baptist, to prepare the way of the Lord. Our New Testament tells us that we have received redemption because we are heirs of Abraham. And, as Abraham’s heirs, it is important for us to experience these first acts of God’s redemption, not toward an alien people with strange customs half way around the world and in the distant past, but with our spiritual ancestors and the ancestors of Christ Jesus. We need to experience this, not for the New Birth, which comes through faith, but for our growth and maturity, so that we can become full, adult members in the Body of Christ. We then came to the part of the Haggadah that states, "Tonight we recline." I pointed out to our small group that if we were to look at most paintings of the Last Supper, we would see a long table, from left to right on the canvas with Jesus in the center and six disciples on either side. And that we would be looking at a dinner setting that would not be out of place in a British manor house. And I told my group to please forget that picture. The actual table for the Last Supper was probably square or slightly rectangular, though it could have been round. And that this table’s surface was probably about a foot to a foot and a half from the floor. Around this table were many cushions on which the participants were reclining. The Israelites made a special effort to recline for the Seder dinner in order to draw a distinct contrast between now and then. On the evening of the Passover by the angel of Death, every Hebrew was packed and prepared to move. Their long robes were tied to their waists so that they could run without obstruction, their staffs were in their hands and their goods were packed and at the door. They were ready for an instantaneous response to the Will of God, knowing that their salvation was dependant on this. I see this as an aspect of the Old Testament concept of "The Fear of God." The entire Exodus was accompanied with mumbling and grumbling, protests and complaints. But yet, when God spoke the people moved. Later, as the Hebrews looked back on and celebrated God’s redemption, perhaps they were more focused on the mercy and grace of God and therefore reclined. As our little group discussed this aspect of Seder, Doug suggested that each table leader would bring a pillow or cushion which they would keep at their chair as a symbol of our relaxation, and a sign of our trust in the mercy and grace of God. Our next step, directed by the Haggadah, was the Cup of Plagues. This cup signals a dampening of our celebration. Ten horrible plagues were visited on the people of Egypt, eventually causing the death of the firstborn of all creatures not protected by the blood of the paschal lamb. Our Hebrew ancestors were very aware that suffering, even the suffering of those who oppress, is not a cause to celebrate. Volumes could be written about the cup that Jesus referred to in the Garden of Gethsemane, but none would be complete without mentioning that just a short time before, He had drank of this cup, the Cup of Plagues. Our Hebrew ancestors knew that they needed to acknowledge the horrors of these plagues, the tremendous price that was paid, before once again toasting and celebrating God’s redemptive work. Before we drank the Cup of Plagues we stuck a finger into our cup of wine (my apologies to Emily Post) and flicked a drop of wine on the table cloth. And we did this ten times, once for each plague. Each plague diminished our volume of juice just as each plague had diminished our happiness at gaining our freedom. We feel, smell, see, and will taste, as we read from our Haggadah, hear our speaker and speak the words of each of these terrible plagues. We are meant to experience this cup. Once we had experienced and shared the sorrow that God certainly felt about these plagues, and we had recited the Dayenu, certain verses from scripture, we can now toast God with joy for our redemption. It is at this time in the Seder that we give thanks to God for all of our gifts, including the food we are about to eat, and then began the sharing of both our food and love in the Agape feast. We set aside our Haggadahs and began a dinner of pizza and grape juice. And, as we relaxed into this familiar pattern, I noticed that we were not discussing the prospects of professional sports teams or stores running special sales. This small congregation was discussing the Bible lesson we had just participated in. As a student of our early Church, I could not help but notice some similarities between what I knew of that Church and this evening. Our first clue to this similarity is in Luke’s Acts of the Apostles. The first recorded missionary trip into the land of the gentiles was comprised of three people. Acts refers to them as companions, and indeed they were, but they also had unique functions. Paul, the evangelist and the one sent by God led the way, proclaiming the Good News. It should be noted that, according to Acts, his average stay in any town was about three weeks, and then his job was done and he moved on. Barnabas, the preacher (consoler/exhorter/encourager Acts 4:36) as well as Mark, whom scholars think was brought as a teacher, both accompanied Paul and for the edification of the new Christian community. The primary day for this activity was the Lord’s Day, the day immediately following the Sabbath and the Roman day of rest. This was not an hour spent in Church, this was an all day activity. It began with preaching, exhortation and teaching and Bible class. Then they would eat. And at table fellowship, around the Lord’s Table, they would discuss the day’s lesson. And at the end of their meal, as my small congregation was about to go, they celebrated and remembered Christ through the Eucharist. The Seder, as the pattern for the first Christian services was forgotten while Christians and Jews grew further apart. After the Jewish revolt and the destruction of the Temple, the Jews began to blame the Jewish Christians because they refused to join the revolt. The Jews, jealous of their own religious freedom in the Roman Empire, began to convince Rome that these Christians were not a part of Judaism. And the Jews began to sever ties, both economic and social, with their Jewish Christian brothers and sisters, sometimes causing economic hardship. The Jews began to be blamed for the Christian persecution of the first and second century. This animosity is most easily recognized in the last book of our New Testament, certainly written after the destruction of the Temple, where non-believing Jews are referred to as a Synagogue of Satan. We can also see this division in our four Gospels. While the earlier written synoptic Gospels give us an account of the Seder dinner and Christ's command to "do this in remembrance," John’s later Gospel shows us what is called the upper room dialogue. There is little disagreement that these scenes show us same event, but John, the last living apostle and Bishop of Ephesus, decides to minimize the importance of the traditional Seder while giving instruction to the Gentile Church as to proper Christian subjects to be preached and taught at the Agape and Eucharist. And it should be no surprise that it is John’s Gospel that records Jesus’ most harsh words toward the Jewish leadership. Today, I think of our fractured Church with its many denominations and creeds, and even some individual Churches with internal divisions, and I wonder what might happen if, rather than stand apart and argue, we came together for the Agape, sat around the Lord’s Table for fellowship and Communion, and discussed not our differences but our similarities. Might we come closer to that first century ideal of being the One Body of Christ? That evening, as I watched our small group teaching and learning from each other, I couldn’t help but think of those words of Amos spoken so long ago, "Can two walk together, except they be agreed?" (Amos 3:3 KJV) At the end of our dinner, the pizza finished, the conversation ebbing and the group turning back to our purpose for gathering, it was evident that the mood had changed. Our group was more relaxed and less focused on the their preceding day. It seemed to me that we all had a better understanding of why we were gathered. It was then that I asked them to remember that, before we first ate Matzah, we had taken the middle Matzah, the bread of affliction, broken it in half, wrapped one half in a white napkin and hidden it. This piece of Matzah that was hidden is called the Afikomen, the hidden one or the coming one. It is to serve as our dessert, not in the sense of sweets, but in the sense of completion. In the Jewish culture it has various messianic implications. Unfortunately, most Christians, thinking about the Last Supper and the blessing of the bread and wine, imagine that dinner was over and Jesus picked up some bread that remained on the table. It was just the opposite. Jesus picked up a particular piece of Matzah, one that had been hidden earlier. He picked up a particular piece of Matzah that symbolized the Messiah and everyone at that table knew the symbol. At the start of our Seder celebration we lit a candle to signify the beginning of Holy Time. But now, in the middle of that Holy Time, we are about to experience a Most Holy moment. Jesus picked up the Afikomen, a broken piece of the bread of affliction, and after giving thanks to Our Father, broke it even more. He probably broke it past any human ability to put it back together, and then He told His disciples, "Take, Eat, for this is my Body." As we follow His instructions, let us follow as His first disciples did. Let us realize the magnitude of what He did as He picked up the Afikomen which had been waiting at every Seder Dinner for about a thousand years and declared to His close friends, This is me. I am He. In the order of the Seder service, immediately after the Afikomen comes the third cup. Remember that each cup had meaning. The First cup is called Kadesh (I will take you out) and the second is called Maggid (I will save you from their work). These two cups represent freedom from something while the next two cups represent freedom to something. The third cup, now being filled is called Birkat Ha-Mazon (I will redeem you) by the Jews and translated as the Cup of Blessings by the early Church. I believe there can be no doubt that the bread that Jesus blessed as recounted in Matthew, Mark and Luke is the Afikomen. I also choose to believe that it was this third cup that Jesus now took into His hands. The one cup in the celebration that symbolized redemption, a process that would be completed within hours. And Jesus gave thanks to God as He held this cup of redemption and said, "this is my blood of the new testament." With Yeshua bar Miriam (Jesus son of Mary) and His disciples on one side of the table and The Son of God and His/our Heavenly Father on the other side, the cup representing this new agreement was drank in Heaven and on earth. The separation between God and humanity was declared to be at an end. Let us think on these things as we do as He instructed and drink of this cup, the Cup of Redemption, the Cup of the New Covenant. It is clear from the Gospels of Matthew and Mark that once again the tradition of the Seder was changed at the Last Supper. After the third cup, the cup of the New Covenant, or perhaps after the fourth cup, the Cup of Praise, Jesus declared that He would drink no more wine that evening. In fact, He said that He would not drink again of the fruit of the vine until He drank it with us in the Kingdom. Jesus may have decided not to drink the fourth cup, the Cup of Praise, but I do not think so. Praise and Thanksgiving were part of His nature. Remember that the four cups were the Kadesh (I will take you out), the Maggid (I will save you), the Birkat Ha-Mazon (I will redeem you), and the Hallel (I will take you unto me). But in some traditions, there is a fifth cup. This cup is called the Hallel Ha-Gadol, the Great Hallel, and is drunk in celebration of the fifth promise of Exodus, a future promise (I will bring you to the land that I have promised...). I believe that this fifth cup was part of the plan for the Last Supper, but Jesus told His disciples "I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of God shall come." Luke 22:18 In the Gospel of Luke, we may have another hint as to why Jesus refused the last cup. Immediately following the Cup of the New Covenant, the disciples began to argue about which of them will be the greatest in the Kingdom. Jesus answers as only He would. He asks them who is the greatest, those who sit at table or those who serve. "Is it not those who sit," he asks. "But I am among you as one who serves." In the Gospel of Matthew, four of the parables just before the Last Supper were about an absent person, a master, home owner or bridegroom. After the Resurrection, Jesus also stepped away, leaving His Kingdom in our hands. How well did Jesus expect us to do? We stand some 2000 years from that night and we should, by now, have some idea of why Jesus refused that last cup. The strife which we observed between the Apostles immediately after the New Covenant is the same that we continue to see between denominations, between Churches and between groups within individual Churches. And our Church history, with its many moments of profound insight and spiritual experiences, is also replete with violence and persecution between Christians. Are we serving or sitting at table? Doug, our pastor, has often drawn the analogy between the Crucifixion and the Normandy invasion in World War Two. He points out that after the success of the invasion, most military leaders on both sides would agree that, for all practical purposes, the war was over. Though the final victory was some months away, the end was now inevitable. Even though there was going to be fierce fighting and a great deal of bloodshed and destruction, victory was a sure thing. Doug speaks of the Crucifixion and Resurrection as the beachhead established, not in Hitler’s Europe but in Satan’s domain. And it is from the time of this successful invasion that we should date the end of the old evil age, and the beginning of the Kingdom age. This was the Good News preached by Paul. But we must remember that the final victory, the beginning of the Millennium rule, is still a future event. It is at that future event that Jesus will share that last cup with us. At our table that evening, we each had a wine glass. There was also one chalice-type wine glass on our table. Most of those gathered around the table thought that the chalice was going to be used for Communion. I picked up this chalice and explained that this or a similar cup is always placed on the Seder table. It is called Elijah’s Cup. Elijah was the great Old Testament prophet who had been given the power to heal the sick, raise the dead, and divide the waters of the Jordan river. Jesus told us that we could think of John the Baptist as Elijah, and it was Elijah who appeared with Moses on the Mount of Transfiguration. Elijah was the Prophet who never died. He was taken bodily into heaven. And it is believed that Elijah will return at any time. It was Elijah who would come to announce the coming of the Messiah. This cup awaits Elijah; we do not drink from it. We do, however, fill our forth and final cup at this time. This cup will be drunk after the Hallel, the Hebrew word from which we get our word hallelujah. And this cup symbolizes the words, "I will take you onto me as a nation." This last cup, the cup that declares that the war is over, is a cup of Praise for God, who is keeping the promises of the Old Testament. This last cup should be our goal, the completion of our vision, and we drink it, affirming that the day of the One Body of Christ is at hand.
Our dress rehearsal was scheduled for a week after the Pizza Seder and would be the day before our actual Seder Dinner. This was a surprisingly uneventful week. Over the last few years I have been involved in a number of major Church functions elsewhere, and it has been my impression that there is always more work to do than workers. So I was amazed that this week went so smoothly. Every time I thought about something that might have been overlooked, I found that someone had already done it or was in the process of doing it. While this was an uneventful week as regard the Seder, it was far from uneventful for me. I began to notice how almost one hundred people were working together in peace, each doing some small part of the preparation. It was during this week that I started to realize that most of these volunteers still didn’t know exactly what this Seder thing was or why it was important. But I also noticed that everyone of these volunteers accepted the fact that the Church was committed to doing it and that the Senior Pastor approved. I was privileged to see the One Body of Christ, each doing what was comfortable, none questioning the task, and most willing to wait for the celebration to see what it would mean to them. This was brought home to me by a telephone call from Jerry. Jerry was a long time active member of Northway who was also one of the first people I got to know when I began attending. I don’t believe Jerry holds any highly visible role in the Church, but Jerry seems to always be helping in some way. Jerry is one of those consistent volunteers who makes giving a way of life. At any time during the year, I believe that you could ask Jerry what he had on his "To Do" list for the Church during the coming week, and there would be something on that list. Jerry often volunteered to help in the kitchen for most of the food related functions at Northway, so it was no surprise that He was an early volunteer for the Seder Dinner. Jerry was at our meeting of the previous week, but did not participate in the Pizza Seder as he joined the kitchen group. Jerry, one of the very first volunteers, called me to ask a simple question. Jerry wanted to know Why? Why were we doing this thing? As you can imagine, I spent some time with Jerry going, over many of the things already included in this book. Jerry and I also discussed the Pizza Seder and I mentioned that it was my belief that those who participated no longer needed to ask why and that all who participated in the final Seder would also have their questions answered. At the end of our telephone conversation, Jerry mentioned that he wished that the kitchen crew had also attended the Pizza Seder. I have thought a great deal about Jerry’s parting statement and I still believe that we did the right thing. The preparation crew functioned without error. Absolutely everything went right. In fact, everything went more than right. These people came up with ideas and modifications that enhanced the evening. And, I believe that they did such an excellent job because they were focused on the physical function. Those who had Seder roles, on the other hand, needed to know how their activities fit into the whole. The final Seder Dinner left a lasting impression on everyone, but perhaps more of an impression on those who came without knowing what to expect. A week after our Pizza Seder and the day before our Seder Celebration, we held our full dress rehearsal. In most ways, this dress rehearsal was anticlimactic after the Pizza Seder. This evening we had our list of those who would be attending. My original estimate of 50 or so was not even close. Doug had instructed the staff to set the room for 120, and we now knew that we were still about 80 places short. As we set up additional round tables on the outside perimeter and a couple of rectangular tables inside the U-shaped dining, we finally squeezed in enough seating for about 200. But this presented another problem. We had originally planned to have one person for about every 8 to 10 participants, to provide leadership and direction. These people, whom we called Table Leaders, were to distribute the ritual foods, do certain parts of the responsive readings and be able to answer questions for their groups. We had also recruited a number of people who wished to be involved but did not see themselves taking the responsibility of table leadership. These people had agreed to perform the candle lighting ceremony, just igniting the candle and reading a short prayer. This is when I saw and learned to appreciate another aspect of a great Pastor. Doug somehow promoted 8 Candle Lighters to Table Leaders almost effortlessly. I had learned that through the course of preparing for the Seder that many people, while looking forward to the event, were experiencing some fear of our ability to do this thing. It was unusual and alien to this Christian tradition and it was wonderful that so many were willing to participate, only a few felt comfortable enough to participate in a leadership role. All of the Candle Lighters had attended the Pizza Seder, and perhaps that had helped to alleviate their fears, but it took a person like Doug to convince them that they could do this thing. Once all the promotions were made, we determined where each of us would sit, where Seder plates and candles were to be placed, followed our Haggadah, read the lines assigned to each of us, developed our timing and methods for approaching the microphones, etc. Doug had taken about 25 Haggadahs, labeled them for various speaking roles, and highlighted in yellow the appropriate lines to be read by each of the labeled speakers. For example, the Haggadah labeled Child One, would have the first of the four questions highlighted, while the rest of the Haggadah would be as is. Our preparation crew was also in attendance, as they had certain tasks during the ceremony. For example, when we reach the part of the Seder where we wash our hands, our preparation crew would deliver damp, warm washcloths on trays to each table and remove them after that part of the ceremony. Our rehearsal went smoothly. Going through the reading and the activities showed us some areas where we had overlooked some item or plan, but for the most part, everything went well. We were prepared.
It was Maundy Thursday, and as you might imagine, I was at the Church about three hours early. I did not have any task which required my presence until the scheduled start time, but I was there before even the prep crew arrived. The tables were all in place. There was one huge U-shaped table with a number of round tables outside of it. Within the U there were two six-foot tables joined together, and to the south side of the room were four six-foot tables where each participant would place the food that they brought to share. At the open end of the U were two six-foot tables joined together with a podium and microphone at each end. In the center was an overhead projector. The tables that were in place for diners each had a candle, and some had Seder Plates brought the night before by those who had such items. And there was a piano at the front of the room. This was the entire set-up as I entered Fellowship Hall. Over the next couple of hours as volunteers began to arrive, the room was transformed. The tables were covered and then decorated with a two-inch strip of crepe paper. The kitchen crew was preparing the ritual foods; snipping parsley with scissors, cutting horseradish root, using blenders to make Kharoset, roasting small lamb shanks, boiling eggs, mixing salt water and preparing homemade Seder Plates from cafeteria trays and small bowls. Coming from the store, some volunteers brought in jugs of grape juice and Matzah. One person arrived with cases of rented wine glasses and yet another with a large bag of washcloths rented from a linen supply company. The Matzah was wrapped in white linen napkins, three pieces to a plate, and placed at each table, while others set each place with knife, fork, spoon, napkin, and glass. Serving utensils were placed on the food tables and coffee, lemonade and iced tea were made. Before long, the room was ready. The table with the podiums was set with a Candle, Seder Plate, wine glasses, and Matzah. These things were included at the speaking table because the speakers needed not only to demonstrate, but to participate. Doug brought his labeled and highlighted Haggadahs and the transparencies for the overhead projector. The transparencies contained the text of responses expected from all the participants, as well as song lyrics. Once everything was in place, we only had to wait for the first arrivals. Arrival was scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Our schedule reserved 6:30 until 7:00 as a time to gather, with the ceremony beginning at 7:00 p.m. At 6:30 two guitarists and a piano player began to create a lively, festive atmosphere. They had a selection of Hebrew folk music and appropriate Christian tunes. They also had prearranged to have a couple of people encouraging and leading others in dance. This activity began with the children, but after time a few of the more adventurous adults joined in. There was nothing complicated about this portion of the evening. The Music and dance were the same sort of thing one would find at some retreats. We have a very punctual congregation, so at 7:00 p.m. almost everyone had arrived, placed their food offering on the common tables and had chosen a place to sit. Or perhaps we have a very punctual pastor, as he always starts at the scheduled time. Either way, at 7:00 p.m. we started our First Christian Seder. We all followed the Haggadah except for Doug. He had occasional comments and statements that are not part of the Haggadah. Doug read the opening or welcome from the Haggadah, and then pointed out something that was obvious to us all. There was a sliced loaf of white bread scattered throughout the Fellowship Hall. This was done earlier in order to acknowledge a Jewish tradition. The evening before Seder, a mini-celebration occurs in Jewish households, in which the family searches for all food containing leaven and disposes of it, usually by burning it. We did not perform this ceremony the day before. We did, however, search our hall as our Seder started, and put all the sliced bread in a bag. Doug then asked for the youngest person present, who was then instructed to throw the bag out the front door. As this young man ran to the door and back, everyone kept time by clapping their hands and cheered upon his return. This truly set the tone for our evening. Leaven, as a symbol for sin this evening, was collected to the best of our abilities and disposed of. Doug then read a variation of a Hebrew prayer, "Any leaven that may still be in our house or sin which may still be in our hearts, which we have not seen and not removed, shall be as if it does not exist. Thanks to our Lord Jesus who became sin for us." Each person had a Haggadah, provided by a gift from one of our volunteers. Elizabeth had wanted to make a financial gift for our Seder dinner and, because everything involved was so financially reasonable, the decision was made to use her gift for the order of service. But, even though everyone had a Haggadah, all responses were displayed on the wall, giving everyone a choice of how to respond. Many thanks to Doug’s daughter who had the least enjoyable task of the evening; displaying the transparencies. The rest of the pre-dinner ceremony basically followed the Haggadah except for one more non-traditional comment as we were about to eat the Maror, the bitter herbs. As I mentioned, we had prepared horseradish and everyone knew what this tasted like. It became obvious that some of our participants were going to forego this treat, when Doug urged everyone to sample just a small amount. He argued that in order to fully experience the evening we should be willing to sample it all. He also pointed out that the whole idea was that we were not supposed to enjoy this part of the ceremony. We were supposed to taste bitterness. Just before drinking the second cup and pausing for a thanksgiving prayer and dinner, we came to the Dayenu, a responsive prayer. Up until this point in the festival, our table leaders were performing various functions, but did not have speaking roles. They held up the various foods to draw our attention to them and they distributed these foods and assisted those at their tables. But for this pre-dinner prayer, each table leader recited one line as the room responded. As each new verse was heard from different areas of the room, it seemed to me to be a spontaneous declaration of joy. Following the Dayenu, we drank the second cup, had a short thanksgiving prayer for our meal, and adjourned to fill our plates. We did not rush our dinner. In fact, we relaxed and prolonged it, just as I imagine Jesus did at his last Seder. We had music during dinner and very interesting conversation. We did not have many first-time guest, but it was during dinner that those we had were made to feel welcome. We had discussed printing invitations and encouraging our congregation to invite friends and family who might feel awkward attending one of our worship services. After all, Seder is an event that attracts a great deal of interest. Our final decision, however, was not to do this. Our congregation was just not familiar enough with Seder to feel comfortable inviting others. But, I feel confident that there will be many invitations made for our next Seder. In fact, our next Seder may require two events, one on Wednesday and another on Thursday. As dinner was concluding, our wonderful kitchen crew was clearing tables. Diners were making their last trip for desserts, and we joined together in song. Again, the overhead projector came in handy as we sampled songs dealing with Passover and Holy Week. Our final song was slow and quiet and focused on Communion. As we began once more with the ceremony and the Haggadah, Doug came to the podium and reminded us of the Afikomen, the piece of Matzah that we broke, wrapped in white linen, and hid. He instructed the children present to find this hidden treasure, and once they did, we resumed. It was at this point that we somewhat left the Haggadah we were using. We did this for two reasons. First, we were about to celebrate the Eucharist, something we did in our Church every Sunday, and Doug certainly understood the relationship of our Sunday communion to the Last Supper. Second, the Haggadah we were using is not the one that may be purchased with this book, and did not reflect our denominational preferences. In like manner, this new Haggadah may not convey the ceremony of Eucharist in a way you wish to emulate. We were told to do this in remembrance of Him, and it is the remembrance that is important. The Haggadah, like this book, is only a resource. Please make it better for you and your congregation by combining your own traditions and beliefs with it. If the end result is as spiritually moving as it should be, log onto our website at www.christianseder.com and share your modifications. You have probably noticed that throughout this book, no song titles have been given. This is deliberate. I believe that by using at least a majority of the songs that are familiar to your congregation, you accomplish two important functions. Your own songs are one way to make this Seder your Seder, and you will add meaning to the songs choose and that meaning will resurface throughout the year. If one or two of your songs work exceptionally well, log onto our website at www.christianseder.com and give all of us the title. I have tried to recapture some of our Eucharist Service in the Haggadah, but there is no substitute to being there, to participating in your own Seder Eucharist. We did use a communion hymn that we found appropriate and did our best to make this a solemn moment. The third cup, which was named the Cup of Redemption hundreds of years before Jesus lifted and blessed it, is the cup we used for the completion of the Eucharist. It is only logical to assume that some will ask why we use the Afikomen and the third cup, the Cup of Redemption for our Communion Service. When I talk with most Christians about the Last Supper, they seem to believe that it was an ordinary meal and that at the end of the meal, Jesus gather up the leftover bread, or at least a piece of it. They also assume that Jesus reached for the wine bottle, poured a glass, blessed it and shared it. But study of scripture and the Passover Dinner ceremony does not support this assumption. And we have to consider the Passover Dinner ceremony because of what it meant to Jesus. We are told in the Gospels that Jesus probably went to Jerusalem for every Passover of His life. And if not, He only missed one or two. We are not told that Jesus and His family attended any other Holy Day in Jerusalem with regularity. Yon Kippur, the Day of Atonement, was probably held in higher regard than Passover by the devout Jew, and yet we do not hear of Jesus participating in this ceremony. The Letter to the Hebrews tells us that Jesus was the "once and for all" sacrifice, making Yon Kippur obsolete. After all, it was Jesus, and not a goat, who was led outside the gates of Jerusalem to die. Passover was the Jewish ceremony of redemption, and it was redemption that He was about during His final week. We also assume that this dinner was attended by Jesus and the twelve only. And yet there is nothing in the Gospels to convince us of that. It is probable that the large upper room where the Seder occurred was the Upper Room of Pentecost, a room large enough for 120 to remain for weeks. And given that the Seder invites all who hunger, I don’t personally believe that it was quite as exclusive as tradition implies. However, belief, one way or the other should not affect our Seder experience. The Gospels tell us that when Jesus confronts Judas, they both have their fingers in a bowl or hands holding a piece of Matzah. It seems obvious to me that this confrontation must have occurred at the time of the Maror, the bitter herbs, as this was certainly a bitter mouthful for Jesus. We read in the Gospels that Jesus took bread while they were still eating. If they were still eating, then we know that two cups had already been consumed; the Kiddush, or Cup of Freedom, and the Cup of Plagues. As the meal begins, the ceremonial activities are postponed, and at or towards the end of the meal they resume. The Afikomen is referred to as dessert, and dessert is eaten as part of the meal. I have to assume that it is the Afikomen that is blessed and distributed. And therefore, I have to assume that one of the next two cups will be the Cup of the New Covenant. I elect in our Haggadah to use the third cup (the Cup of Redemption), rather than the forth (the Hallel, or the Cup of Praise). Does not the New Covenant began with Redemption? We also should consider a statement from the Gospels that quotes Jesus as saying that He will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the Kingdom comes, and in Luke, will not eat of the feast until the Kingdom shall come. Many people think that this is another prediction of His death. The Kingdom is central to the teachings of Jesus and, according to Him, it is in our midst now that He is here. I cannot say with any certainty that Jesus was referring to wine when He spoke of the fruit of the vine, given that He had referred to Himself as the one true vine. I have so many different opinions about this part of scripture that I wouldn’t even know how to describe them. The one thing I do know is that just after the Resurrection, in the town of Emmaus, Jesus revealed Himself to two of His disciples by, once again, blessing and breaking bread. My best read of these passages seems to put them into context with the Seder. As I have mentioned, the first two cups, the before dinner cups, symbolized freedom from something, and the second two cups, the after dinner cups, symbolized freedom to something. But there was no cup symbolizing the end result, the Kingdom (either the Jewish Empire or Jesus’ Kingdom of God). The Seder anticipates it but does not celebrate it. My read is that either Jesus drank of all four cups of Seder, promising not to drink again until the future fifth cup, the cup of the Kingdom Come. Or, it may be that Jesus did not drink of the third cup, The Cup of Redemption and the New Covenant. If so, it may have been that cup that He referred to in the Garden, and that Cup He more perfectly drank of the next day on the Cross. After Communion, we at Northway turned our attention to The Cup of Elijah. There are volumes written about this very Holy man, and I do not think it possible to convey very much about him during Seder. We choose to encourage our participants to go the Bible, to read about Elijah and to then see how he fit into the New Testament. We, as I believe Jesus did, remembered this Holy man at our Seder and invited him to enter. And now, our final cup was poured; the Cup of Praise. The Gospels tell us that the Seder was over after they all sang a hymn. The hymn is called the Hallel, from which we get our word Hallelujah. You will notice that our Haggadah only contains words and no music. As we concluded our Seder we prayed rather than sang our Hallel. The Hallel came from Psalm 136 and various people, one for each verse, stood and read the leaders portion while the congregation responded in unison, His Love endures forever. We drank the last Cup, remembering the Cup to come, and our Seder was now over. But we knew from scripture that the evening was not over. Everyone knows what will happen on the next day, on Good Friday, but we also remembered what happened on that special night right after the Hallel. And we has decorated our sanctuary with plants, small trees, palms and some evergreen branches. We had attempted to recreate a garden. At the end of our Seder, we announced what we had done and mentioned that Jesus had requested those who had shared Seder with Him to now join Him in prayer. And, of course, we quoted Him as he asked His disciples "could ye not watch with me one hour?" (Matthew 26:40 KJV) We asked everyone, those who could remain and those who needed to return home, to spend some time in prayer this evening, asking for the understanding that is promised us.
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