Hell no? Rob Bell's question prompts 'Time' Holy Week cover
The Passover Seder is a ritual central to Judaism -- a richly religious experience marking the exodus from slavery in Egypt with an elaborate meal of symbolic foods, prayers, stories and blessings.
President Obama has held two White House Seders to date so it wouldn't be surprising if he once again hosted Jewish staffers and guests tonight for an evening of celebrating freedom at the hand of God (FYI: In a proper Seder, Moses is never mentioned by name. God gets all the credit).
However, Obama's Seders have always been Jewish events hosted by a Christian, not a restatement of the ritual as a Christian religious event.
But it's been vogue for several years now for Christians to emulate what many, but not all, say was the Jewish Jesus' last supper. So you can find Seders everywhere, from local churches to Mormon-founded Brigham Young University.
At a website for guiding Christian celebrations, Christianseder.com, the typical case is made:
We may never know the particulars of Jesus' Last Passover Supper. Some Christians spend time arguing whether the Last Supper was a Passover. And yet, it is by sharing this dinner with Him that we can grow in understanding and move closer to an intimate relationship with Him.
Some Christians solemnly reinterpret the Passover story. At Christian homeschooler Robin Sampson's Heart of Wisdom blog, she writes:
At Brigham Young University, Mormons offers a series of elaborate 'traditional" Seders, starting last weekend. The Salt Lake Tribune says these events, with a Mormon spin started in 1973 by Professor Victor Ludlow, a specialist in Jewish studies at BYU and continue this year. He says Seders enrich "appreciation of the ancient Old Testament," and help Christians better understand Easter.
Not surprisingly, on the four occasions during the service when guests must drink "the fruit of the vine," the mostly Mormon group sips grape juice, not the traditional wine.
Cute. But is it kosher, so to speak? Or is it distorting Christian history and ripping off Jewish spirituality? Or is it just a dinner-party-with-a-message where you can hang with family and friends over a feast.
The Rev. Ann Fontaine, of the Episcopal Diocese of Wyoming thinks ripping off Jewish tradition is not such a grand religious idea and there are plenty of Christian ways to share a meal together during Holy Week. She wrote at Episcopal Cafe last year:
How can those of us who have not walked the path of another tradition and lived with the oppression and violence skim off the cream of an "interesting" ritual? Doesn't taking a ritual out of it's cultural context cut off its roots? Rather than a living tradition, tended and shaped by history and the life around it, the ritual seems to become only the flower picked for its ability to decorate.
.... I wonder, though, how Christians would feel about Jews or Muslims having play Eucharists? Dressing someone up like a priest and saying the words from the Book of Common Prayer?
WILL YOU ATTEND A SEDER TONIGHT... as a participant or guest at a Jewish event or from a Christian perspective? Is it more than a great meal with family and friends for you?
NOTE: Remember our F&R guidelines for keeping conversations from turning rude, crude or otherwise abusive. You don't have to agree; you do have to be civil.
PreviousHell no? Rob Bell's question prompts 'Time' Holy Week cover
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