YES, Pastor Albers and Debra will once again be hosting a Passover Seder Meal for their St. John’s family and friends.  (Folks have been asking. 🙂)

TUESDAY OF HOLY WEEK

MARCH 26, 6 pm

This Passover Seder is intended to be an educational experience, as well as a reason to celebrate. The event is designed to give us as close a picture as possible of a traditional Jewish Passover Meal. It is NOT intended to replicate the meal Jesus celebrated with his disciples “on the night when he was betrayed”. The texts and traditions, however, have been handed down over the generations so they likely reflect something of what happened on that evening.

The Seder isn’t “our” meal as Christian people; it is the covenant meal of the Jewish people. However, it does give us a look at the roots of our covenant meal, the Lord’s Supper. We read through the Haggadah, the liturgy for the evening, and eat the Passover meal recognizing the fact that it is not a particularly “Christian” celebration. It is, however, a gathering of Christian people, and because of that we will look for the promise of the Messiah throughout the celebration.

Our celebration is held annually on the Tuesday of Holy Week rather than trying to synchronize with the actual date of Passover, which is a movable feast in Judaism and often lines up with our own Holy Week service schedule, although not this year.

This year Passover officially begins the evening of April 22 which is when the Seder is usually celebrated by observant Jewish families. This is not only a leap year in the Gregorian calendar, but it is also a Jewish leap year. An extra month is added to certain years to make up the difference.  The last Jewish leap year was in 2022.

For us, locating the service in the middle of Holy Week provides a timely opportunity to learn more and celebrate the freedom won in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.

One could say this meal is “crowd-sourced.” While this is not a potluck, some folks are helping to procure the wine, while others are providing something for the meal.  If you just want to come without providing anything for the event, a donation of $20-$25 per person helps to cover the costs. Donations in addition to this will help cover the cost for someone who cannot afford to pay.

Plan now to join us on Tuesday, March 26, beginning at 6 pm.

You can reserve your spot by filling out this online form or by calling the church office. (You can “risk it” and just tell Pastor Albers that you plan to come, but there is a high likelihood he will forget and not tell his spouse!)

Thanks for your response, but entries for this form are now closed. Check back next March to sign up for Seder on the Tuesday of Holy Week, March 23, 2027.