Leave a Seat for Elijah at Your Next Guest at Your Table Celebration

Passover is my favorite holiday that I do not celebrate. I say that because I have only celebrated Passover once, in Tel Aviv, back in 1999. At that time, I was living in Jerusalem — and the irony of saying the last words of the Hagaddah, "Next year in Jerusalem," inside a Jewish state, was not lost on me.

Since that Seder, I have been invited to just one other, at my friend Daniel's house in Chicago, but I could not make it. That is why I was so excited when I got another invitation, last Friday.

Our events coordinator, Cristin Martineau, came around with a list of local congregations that were kicking off their Guest at Your Table programs, and she invited me to attend one. When I looked at her list and saw that the Northshore UU Church, in Danvers, Mass., was holding a Seder to celebrate Thanksgiving and the opening of Guest at Your Table, my plans for Sunday were sealed.

I arrived at 10:30 Sunday morning, not sure exactly what to expect; but I got a great seat, next to the most well-known and well-liked person in the congregation, Tony Toledo, a resident writer and professional storyteller. He filled me in on the who-is-who and what-is-what of the busy 200-person congregation.

Soon the service began, and an intergenerational group that included two children, the religious educator, and two others adult congregants took their seats at a well-laid table, in the center of the church. The youngest at the table took up the microphone, asking, "What makes today different from other days?" And so our Thanksgiving Guest at Your Table Passover Seder began. Later, we shared a corn-bread-and-cider communion, just to make it a thoroughly UU, intradenominational celebration.

Beyond the restriction of eating unleavened bread and unfermented wine, there is so much to like about the Passover Seder (dinner) — sitting together with family and friends, eating course upon course of delicious food, and listening to stories about the heroic fortitude of one's ancestors. (Sounds a bit like Thanksgiving, right?, if you substitute the Pilgrims for the Israelites.)

I love the Passover tradition of leaving the door open for a special guest, Elijah, who may or may not arrive. Even in his absence, Elijah is a magical presence, representing hope, redemption, and future blessings. We pour him a cup of wine, and we reserve him a seat.

To me, there is no more fitting way to celebrate Guest at Your Table than with a Passover Seder. I have always envisioned this UUSC/UU tradition as a playful adaptation of Passover and its symbolic guest, Elijah. Just as during Passover, we open our door to hope, inviting in a special guest with whom we share our blessings, even if it is with something as simple as a gift box full of folded dollars or a "cup of wine for Elijah." We give thanks, and we look to a brighter future.

"Thank you for the vine and the fruit of the vine, for the produce of the field, and for the precious, good and spacious land." — The Haggadah

Happy Thanksgiving! And Happy Guest at Your Table!