There will be a Passover meal at St Augustine’s Church on Richmond Road on March 26th at 1830. Tickets for the meal are £4 and will be on sale throughout March from Audrey Seaton at Castle Street.
As we did last year, we are calling the meal a Christian Seder.
The word seder refers to the pattern used for centuries by Jews across the world as they celebrate the Passover meal. We are not going to share in a Passover meal; ours instead is to be an interpretation of that, in the light of Christ, adapted in the context of our faith and reflecting the convictions we hold dear, but recognising our shared roots and so much we hold in common with the Jewish community, including worshipping the same God. Jesus was of course born and raised as a Jew, schooled in the law and the prophets. Jesus saw himself and was seen by his followers as fulfilling God’s promise to rescue and redeem his people. So much in Jesus’ life and teaching, including the Last Supper, reflect that background, and through understanding more of what that means our faith can only be deepened and enriched.
That said, much of what we do will be similar to other years but the whole way through we will be interpreting what is happening and being said for us as Christians. We will explore what God’s gracious dealings revealed both in the Old and New Testaments have to say to us today in our journey of discipleship.
As we near the end of the Seder ceremony we will as usual share in a meal of roast lamb and following the meal we will share in Holy Communion (The Lord’s Supper).
We hope that this change in emphasis of the Passover Meal will help those of you who are unsure about its significance to feel relaxed about coming to share in it. Those who have long found this a part of their Holy Week devotion will we hope find even greater enrichment in this changed liturgy.