Seder Meal at First Presbyterian

We were fortunate to be able to attend a Passover Seder Meal last week at our own Presbyterian Church.  We had never been to a Seder Meal so we happily signed up to be a part of this one.

There was a great turnout of families at the church.

The tables were all set up when we arrived.

Our Pastor's son and his wife from New York City, led the Seder.  We all had copies of the Haggadah (the story) to follow along.

After lighting the candles and the first prayers, we had the Kiddush - grape juice in our case. 

Then we began to learn about the foods on the dishes previously set up on our tables.

First was the Karpas (green vegetable) that we dipped in salt water (representing tears).

Then the Aifkomen - matzot.  The middle matzot is broken in half and traditionally hidden for the kids to find later as part of the dessert.

We heard the 4 Questions, the story of the 4 Children, and the Passover Story.

Then we all had a second cup of grape juice, and moved on to the remaining items on the plate on our table.

The Pesach (lamb shankbone) that represent the lambs that the people sacrificed to God the night they left Egypt.

The Matzah reminding us of the dough the people baked the night they left Egypt. The people left in such a hurry that they did not have time to allow the dough to rise.

And the Maror is a bitter root that makes people cry - symbolic to remember the bitterness of slavery.

We then made Matzah and Maror sandwiches.

There was a delicious apple and nut spread that we put on matzah and then added a little horseradish (maror). It was really good.

The kids then went hunting for the Aifkomen - matzah wrapped in tin foil.

Brennan took it up for the group who found it.

After the remaining two cups of wine (juice), drinking from Elijah's cup on the main table, prayers, and songs, we enjoyed a wonderful Kosher meal together.

Several people from the church spent a lot of time on the wonderful meal.  In addition to Matzoh Ball Soup, each family was asked to bring a salad or a dessert made without flour.

The soup was absolutely delicious and we had a beautiful buffet of salads and fruits to enjoy with it.

We learned a lot during the Seder Meal and had a really great evening with our church family!