Guidelines For The Christian Use Of The Seder

In recent years it has become popular for congregations to conduct the Passover meal, or some combination of the Seder and Communion during Holy Week, particularly on Maundy Thursday. This article challenges such practices, urging Christians to observe the Seder authentically. Full Seder services are usually available through local bookstores. The Christian use of the Jewish Passover Seder is as much an interreligious (affecting relationships between Christianity and other world religions) as a liturgical concern. Improving Jewish-Christian relations in the post-Holocaust era requires that Christians be especially sensitive to Jewish difficulties with the uncritical Christian use of the Seder, and with the Christianizing of any of its elements in particular. The Seder (order) or Pesach (Passover), celebrated according to the traditional Haggadah (telling), is the key rite of Judaism's central festival. Although the biblical account of Passover (Exod. 12:1-28) is part of the heritag…