By Flickr user Edsel Little, 'Passover Seder 5771 - The Seder Plate'
Over Easter there was an interruption to the usual schedule of our Exploring Worship services because Rev Mike Harrison and his wife Ros undertook to provide us with a Passover meal.
Probably around 6 or 7 tables representing churches from North Wales gathered to enjoy lamb hotpot, wine, and dessert. We also took the items of the Seder plate together, an event that happens at Holy Trinity only once every two years. The Seder meal is a Jewish ceremonial feast that is celebrated on the first night of the Passover holiday.
We didn't eat our meal proper until after we had performed a dramatic liturgy developed by Cafod to explain Passover for a Christian audience. Cafod is a well-known Catholic mission organisation. The Passover play is used in schools, during RE lessons, and in churches. This service was elaborated upon by Mike, who added worship songs with especially designed words for the event.
During our religious play (liturgy) I spoke the lines of the youngest at the Jewish meal. The youngest always asks the elders at the gathering four questions. When they answer, the older generation retell a narrative of how the Jewish Israelites escaped from Egyptian slavery through the works of their God. The ritual food transports children and adults back to that time of heartache.
The emotion and grit of the slaves is particularly entered into: their tears are remembered; their faithfulness and bodily suffering, mental torment; and their continued sacrifice to their God.
This Jewish holiday has resonance with the Christian celebration of Easter because Christ was a Jew and celebrated it himself in the upper room with his disciples in Jerusalem. This was his last meal before death, called the Last Supper.
As well, Christians believe that the relationship between suffering and redemption is ultimately reconciled through resurrection; first of Jesus' body that we celebrate on Easter Sunday and then, after death, of the bodies of those who believe in him, and will live forever in paradise. This is the ultimate Passover, and Jesus became the sacrificial lamb for the sins of Israel and all the world.
Christians remember the death and resurrection of Jesus through the sacrament of Holy Communion. Holy Communion is offered frequently to believers by churches. It's a quick, powerful reminder of Jesus' death and while it is potent with meaning, it is not as elaborate as the Seder.
The Christian New Testament, the part of the Bible written after Jesus' Easter Passion, usually tries to align new ideas with the old ones as far as possible, in fact, Jesus himself quotes the Old Testament as justification for his teachings.
Likewise, Easter dates themselves change every year because of their link to this Jewish holiday that moves according to the Jewish calendar. This is why it was a great privilege to attend the meal together with Christian friends.
I learned the parts of my Christian heritage that we collectively often prefer to whitewash out of our communal stories because they bring us dishonour, on the contrary, mark us as part of Christ's community. I was left with a sense that there was a fifth question in my life. What might be next?