Sunday, February 24, 2013

What is a Seder?

We just started Lent and I'm already preparing for our annual Seder meal, which we host on the day before Easter. I have more than a month to get ready, but it's our most important meal of the year. I thought I'd use a few Sunday posts to describe what a Seder meal is for our family and how we prepare for it.
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Our Seder is based on the Jewish main Passover meal, through a Christian perspective. It highlights the elements of the Passover as types fulfilled in Christ Jesus. The redeeming blood of the lamb is fulfilled in the redeeming blood of Jesus on the cross; the crossing through the Red Sea is a type of our baptism; the slavery of the Israelites recalls our own slavery to sin; and so forth. Our annual Seder celebration connects us with our spiritual ancestors, provides an excellent opportunity for catechesis (for all of us!), and is a true celebration we all look forward to each year.
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A Seder could easily be as difficult or simple as you choose to make it. It could involve a whole house cleaning, the finest china, special kosher food, presents, and expensive food you never make at any other time. On the opposite end, it could mean paper plates, a nicer yet ordinary meal, and prayers abbreviated to match the attention spans of those enjoying the meal together. We meet somewhere in the middle: I don't clean out the whole house more than normal, we do use our nicer dishes (but not expensive china), I serve food that's not quite kosher, we hide some matzoh for the kids to find, our meal costs more than normal but we budget for it as we would any other holiday, and we all dress up in Sunday clothes. The prayers we use are long, but by husband tries to adapt them and involve everyone at the table. What's important in our minds is to remember our goals and adjust our expectations to meet them rather than to outshine the "Smiths" in our extravagance.
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With young children, the explanations of the special food at the table has become the most important element in our prayers. I would rather have paper plates and hot dogs with a description of each item on the Seder plate than finery with no explanation. Perhaps you've thought about celebrating a Seder meal in your family, but it sounds too overwhelming to become a reality. I would encourage you then to reconsider, preparing a meal as simple as necessary to enable you to bring the Seder plate and a description of it to your family's table on an annual basis. Don't allow what you're not able to do prevent you from moving forward with what you are able to do. If you make it happen this year on a simple level, maybe next year you can raise the bar a single notch: set the table with everyday dishes rather than paper; buy just enough lamb for everyone to taste a little; read a portion of the first Passover from Exodus; or use a prayer designed for a Seder meal (I didn't see anything in a quick review of this description that would be offensive to any of the Christian non-Catholics I know). You don't have to start with the top; start where you're at and you can add to it bit by bit as you want to.
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A Seder should be celebrated in the spring. A traditional day for it is Holy Thursday, connecting its celebration with Jesus' Last Supper (a Passover meal). It could also be connected with Easter and the Last Supper while celebrating it sometime the weekend before or after. We've settled on Holy Saturday as our date. Another good time to do it would be in connection with the Jewish Passover, although this year that's the week leading up to and including Easter in the western Church.
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Linked with Fellowship Friday

1 comment:

  1. I absolutely love this idea! Last year at the turn of the Jewish year (autumn, I think it was) our church did a special meal and someone taught all about the significances of the foods. We're not Jewish, but it's great to celebrate the traditions of our forefathers in Israel, and I love that you make it all clear to your kids. What a wonderful family tradition. Visiting you from Christian Mommy Blogger. Hope you have a superb weekend, Esther.

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