Friday, April 10, 2009
Seder
Last evening, two Lutheran Churches joined with the Catholic Church in town for a Seder meal held in the Catholic's social hall. About 100 people attended. Besides the built in reminders of the origin of the Passover, the group was reminded of the commonality of our faith in Christ, despite denominational differences. But those differences were also apparent before and after the meal. The Catholics had their Maundy Thursday Mass before the dinner. The Lutherans held their Maundy Thursday communion service after the meal, but in the semi-darkened Catholic sanctuary.
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I like the ecumenical celebration, but I'll admit that I'm uneasy with Christians using (misusing?) a sacred Jewish meal. To me, it seems, we Christians have our own sacred meal - it's called the Sacrament of Holy Communion. I'm just uneasy when Christians adopt and adapt a sacred Jewish tradition. Better that we humble ourselves and attend as guests a Jewish seder as part of a longer effort of Jewish-Christian dialog between two congregations, or that we just stick to our own sacred meal.
ReplyDeleteI know they are very popular in some churches but ever since I heard that many Jews were offended by the Christian use of the Seder, I've not done it. But the Jewish community is not of one mind on this and it depends upon whether or not it's done properly and is a straight Seder or if we add Christian meanings to it. It just sounds too complicated for me so I stick to the traditional Maundy Thursday rituals.
ReplyDeleteFrankly, I like the idea -after all, isn't the Christian faith grounded too in the teachings of the Old Testament as well as in Christ's words in the New Testament? Without the Jewish traditions, would we have all the ones we have today in the Christian churches? Besides, I think it does much for people as a whole to learn and understand the various parts of other religions than our own.
ReplyDeleteI like it too. I attended one last night at a Lutheran church. Too many Christians forget that we have Jewish roots, and that Jesus fulfilled the Law. Of the many Bible studies I have done, my favorite was one on the sacred feasts of Israel and how they are shadows of Messiah. The details are amazing. The last seder meal was, after all, the first communion as well.
ReplyDeleteI think it was great that Catholics and Lutherans did something together.
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