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May 2, 2019The Immaculate Conception Church’s Annual Seder/Passover Meal drew dozens of Christians, both local and distant, for an evening of fellowship in honor of Passover.
“The seder meal is a Christian interpretation of the Passover meal that Christ shared with his apostles,” Deacon Mark Gildon said. “The Passover meal is when the Jewish faith started. We do the Christian understanding of it.”
He explained the evening is based on a structured meal.
“The things that are on the plate when you sit down has meaning. There will be descriptions, explanations and prayers said over each thing that is on the plate. When we drink, we drink everything that is in the glass. There will be a table host, and they will put drinks in your glass, whether wine or grape juice,” he said.
“There is regular meal that will follow the seder meal. There is a final blessing that deals with the fourth cup that Christ drank just before he was crucified with his disciples and apostles. Also, in the Jewish faith, the fourth cup is the cup of the blessing. We try to pull out the Christian traditions and Catholic traditions we have from the Jewish faith. It is centered on the unleavened bread, which transfers all the way to the Eucharist.”
Bettie Cooper, a member of the Immaculate Conception Ladies Guild, said the church has been doing the meal for more than 25 years, and was first stated by a nun for their Confraternity of the Christian Doctrine class.
“It is something our church does as evangelization. We have people here that are not Catholic, some come from Walters, Lawton, Duncan and Marlow,” she said. “It is an instructional meal. It instructs on the Exodus. You cannot eat anything until you are told to eat it and you cannot drink anything until you are told you can drink it.”
Deacon Gildon said parishioners at Immaculate Conception make the unleavened bread from scratch.
Jolene Schonchin is a freelance writer for the Sooner Catholic.
The elements of a seder meal include:
- Lamb - The word “pesach” (Passover) applies to the Lamb of sacrifice as well as to the deliverance from Egypt and to the feast itself;
- Unleavened bread - (Matzoh) called “bread of affliction” because it recalls the unleavened bread prepared for the hasty flight by night from Egypt. Three large matzohs are broken and consumed during the ceremony;
- Wine - The “Four Cups,” Thanksgiving, Hagadah (telling), Blessing, and Melchisedek (righteousness) are “four different words for redemption spoken by God to Moses.”
- Bitter herbs - (Moror, horseradish or radish) is a reminder of the bitterness of slavery and suffering in Egypt;
- Green herbs - (celery) to be dipped in salt water. Salt water represents tears of sorrow shed during the captivity of the Lord’s people;
- Haroseth - (or haroses, apple mixture) represents the mortar used by Jews in building palaces and pyramids of Egypt during their slavery. It is a mixture of chopped apples, nuts, cinnamon and sometimes wine;
- Egg - (Bietzah) Symbol of life itself, a triumph of life over death. The egg also is symbolic of the festival sacrifice brought in temple times.
- Bone - (Zeroa, beets) The bone is symbolic of the “mighty arm” of God as the Bible describes it, which influenced Pharaoh to release the children of Israel from bondage.
Photo: Table hostess Diana McIntyre from St. Patrick in Walters pours wine for Helena Berntsen of St. Ann in Elgin and Angela Melton of Blessed Sacrament in Lawton during the Immaculate Conception’s annual seder meal April 14 in Marlow. Photo Jolene Schonchin/ Sooner Catholic.
