Seder Meal

While talking to me the other day, one of my friends said she feels like the church misses the mark on observing and celebrating (respectively) the events of Holy Week and Easter. Christmas receives such attention, and Easter always feels like an afterthought. Any attention applied to it seems to revolve around egg hunts and baskets, and while those things are fun memory makers, they aren’t the things that matter most. And I agree.

                I grew up participating in the Marion Easter Pageant, as I’ve written about many times here on this blog, and it helped shape and form the way I see and observe this week. And I’m so thankful the church we’ve been part of the last three years has put a solid emphasis on Holy Week and Easter and has helped us retrain our focus on Scripture and Jesus’ sacrifice.

                Even in our home, I’ve taken out most of the Easter decorations I had that were focused on bunnies and eggs, and I’m working to replace them (slowly, over time) with meaningful pieces that represent the pivotal markers of our faith.

                When we moved to this area, we participated in a Seder Meal for the first time, and it had a huge impact on my heart. The storytelling, the tastes, the symbolism…it was all deeply meaningful to me. We’ve been part of it since then, too, and then last week, Ryan called to say that Swiss Village wanted to offer an explanation of it to the residents and said they wanted to know if I would walk them through it.

                I felt dreadfully underqualified for the assignment, but it was very last minute, and I actually planned to be in the building that day anyway to visit some of our church people, so I said I would be willing to try.

                I borrowed the guide for the meal, the activities director gathered the supplies, and I spent part of yesterday afternoon walking about 20 residents through the steps of the Seder meal.

                This year it wasn’t something they all participated in together, but I think it would be wonderful if they were able to do so next year!

                I was excited to see how many of them came on short notice, and their interest in learning was fantastic. I was so proud of them for wanting to learn something that was unfamiliar to most. (I would say 4-5 raised their hands to say they had been to one before, but for most, this was brand new.)

                Thanks, Ryan, for helping show the elements when I ran out of hands to do so and for helping lead with no warning!