Mrs. Mercotan has an acquaintance who mentioned that she’d be celebrating passover. This surprised me as I didn’t think she was jewish, and indeed she is not. Rather, she apparently belongs to a denomination which celebrates a “Christian Passover”.
A little googling on this topic brought me more confusion, rather than enlightenment. Apparently this concept is celebrated by a number of denominations, which seem to be either evangelical or pentecostal in nature (tho I could be misreading this) but there are also great disputes between different celebrants as to what a “proper” passover consists of, and whether it is equivalent to a “Lord’s Supper” or not.
Wikipedia left me with a lot of facts and assertions about the topic, but with no overall feel for how many folks celebrate this seriously, and what their particular denominational leanings tend to be.
Can anybody break it down into nice GQish factoids or bullet points for me?
This “liturgy” seems to be a Methodist church version of a Jewish/Christian Passover seder.
In my (Catholic) experience the closest reference I’ve ever heard to a “Christian Passover” is an acknowledgement that the Mass on Maundy Thursday is a commemoration of the Last Supper, itself a Jewish Passover meal.
The Orthodox tradition, interestingly, states that the Last Supper was not a Passover meal, but took place on the evening before the start of Passover (i.e. Thursday – normal day; Friday – eve of Passover; Saturday – first day of Passover).
The Orthodox texts for Easter make it very clear that Pascha (the Greek form of the word “Pesach”) is the fulfillment of Passover, with the sacrificed lamb being a prefigurement of Christ, and the passing from slavery to freedom a prefigurement of passing from death to life in the Resurrection. So in the sense of there being a direct continuity among the early Christians from the old holiday to the new (in the Orthodox view), Pesach “became” Pascha, the same way that Shavuot “became” Pentecost.
Well, Herbert W. Armstrong’s Worldwide Church of God celebrated Passover until '95 or so, when they started making an effort to go more mainstream.
His son, Garner Ted Armstrong, founded the Church of God, International, and then (after a sex scandal) the Intercontinental Church of God, both of which still celebrate it. There are numerous offshoots of the original Radio Church of God, and nearly all celebrate not only Passover, but all the OT Feasts.
That’s interesting, because I’m pretty sure that The United Methodist Church officially discourages such things as an affront to authentic Jewish faith and practice. I believe interested persons are encouraged to attend authentic Seder services if invitations from Jewish families are forthcoming. Unfortunately, I don’t have my copy of The Book of Worship with me, which is where I remember reading this, to confirm that I’m remembering corectly and not conflating what I read there with what my professors at seminary taught.
Of course, “discourages” is not the same as “prohibits,” so I’m not terribly surprised that such things occur. If they didn’t, there’d be no need to discourage it, after all! Besides, Methodism is the tofu of organized religion: it takes on the flavor of whatever it simmers with.
So I can take it then that it’s not a common thing in Christiandom to celebrate “passover”? I’d thought the practice rather far out of the usual, but the friend of my wife’s presented it as something she considered to be a mainstream practice.
I would say that it isn’t a common thing. I have attended several Seders of various sorts, all intended to “teach” Christians of a particular church more about the Jewish Seder, usually coinciding with Maunday Thursday of Holy Week. The general idea has been that Jesus and his disciples celebrated Passover, and Jews of today still do, so this is what it is, and this is the symobolism that the Jews have used, and this is how we as Christians should understand it.
As someone who usually attends a United Methodist church, the attitude expressed by Alan Smithee strikes me as a little odd–but that could be the difference between a formal position statement and the popular usage as observed.
I’ve celebrated more than one Jewish Seder myself, the last with our Unitarian congregation being invited by a reconstructionist jewish congregation. But these were more a mix of jewish and christian (or other) denominations.
Are you saying that a number of Christian denominations regularly celebrate passover but without jewish participation?
Here is an order of worship used by a United Methodist church in Illinois on Maundy Thursday, 1999 to selebrate a “Christian Seder.” Maundy Thursday is the Tursday immediately before Easter Sunday, and is the day on which the acts of Jesus in the upper room, including the Last Supper and the institution of the Eucharist, are celebrated. Please note in particular the introductory note stating the author’s reservations about Christians praying Jewish prayers and using Jewish symbols.
Also scroll down towards the bottom of the page, and note the quotation from the United Methodist Book of Worship, which says in part:
(Note also that dispite the author’s claimed reservations and his reference to this text, he appears in fact to have done just what it admonishes against.)
The text of the United Methodist Book of Worship is approved by the General Conference of The United Methodist Church, which is the only body that can speak for the entire denomination. It is not considered church law (That is found in The Book of Discipline.) and is not (AFAIK) binding on pastors or congregations, but I think it can reasonably be understood as part of the “official teaching” of The United Methodist Church. Which is not to say it is the teaching or the practice of any individual congregation, which often depart quite a bit from denominational recomendations, and are generally free to.
Incidentally, when I searched for that information on the website of the denomination’s General Board of Discipleship, which is where I expected to find it, I found instead a couple of seemingly approving mentions of “Christian Seders” and a link to this page giving instructions on hosting a Christian Seder. Interestingly, that page also describes the role of Jews for Jesus in popularizing “Christian Seders.” There’s been some discussion of Jews for Jesus on the board recently; I’ll let anyone interested look for that on their own. Incidentally, the one time I witnessed a “Christian Seder,” guess who hosted it? The whole thing strikes me as more of a fad than a longstanding part of any Christian tradition.
BTW, Eureka, what did you find odd about my post? Just the fact that it doesn’t reflect actual practice, or the idea that Christians holding a “Seder” might be offensive somehow? If the latter, consider what it would be like if non-Christians held mock Communion services as a way of showing unity with Christians.
(The page linked to at the top of this post is part of the website of the Commission on Christian Unity and Interreligious Concerns of the Northern Illinois Conference of the United Methodist Church. Www.gbgm-umc.org is the domain name of the General Board of Global Ministries, one of the general agencies of The United Methodist Church, however they often provide webhosting for local congregations and other church agencies. I do not believe the page reflects any of GBGM’s official stances.)
I’m not sure that “regular” describes it, and I certainly can’t vouch for “a number” of denominations, but I’d be mildly surprised if any actual Jews participated in any of the “Seders” I’ve attended.
On at least three occassions, the Seder was held at a United Methodist church, one time led by people who obviously lead Seders for Christians fairly regularly. I am not sure that in the length of time I spent as a member of each congregation that more than one Seder was ever held, certainly it was not an annual event.
On one occasion, the Seder was held by an Episcopalian college ministry group–of which a friend of mine was a member. That one made the greatest attempt to feel like a Seder, including wine being available for drinking. That group did do this annually, but I don’t know whether it was a tradition for the group, or part of a larger Episcopalian tradition.
Alan Smithee, (who posted while I was composing my last post)
I’m not sure I can put my finger on what made your first post odd. Perhaps just the fact that if the Methodist church in general “discourages” Seders that don’t have Jews, why have at least three separate congregations (that I was associated with) over a period of twenty years and a wide geographical range had some form of a Seder?
Admittedly, the one at which I participated the most with prayers and such was lead by Episcopalians–who clearly have different ideas about what is acceptable than the minister of my present church. (the whole alcohol thing).
There may also be an element of oddness because Christianity “grew out of Judaism”. Christians and Jews both treat what I would call the Old Testament as an accounting of God’s interaction with the Hebrew people, from Adam to whomever was last. As contemporary Christians, many of us encounter few Jews, and we are often baffled by scripture that refers to experiences we can’t relate to. To suggest that Christians not partake of a Seder lest there be confusion with the Lord’s Supper seems a little paranoid, maybe a little protectionist.
I’m not sure that “mock communion” would bother me. I guess it might–but so many Christian groups have such different ideas about how one should take communion and when and who that what’s one more? On the other hand, I do NOT belong to the Christian Offenderatti, and there might be people who would be bothered–especially depending on how the mock communion people framed their event. Certainly one should not treat other people’s religious rituals with disdain and mockery.