Remember the Golden Rule of Parties

It's not "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." At a party, the Golden Rule is "Never talk about religion or politics."

Especially at mixed-denomination religious events!

We had a great time at the Adat-Shalom's Seder on Friday with our friends. The meal was wonderful, as always, and the congregation did a great job of patiently walking through the Seder with all of the Gentiles in the room.

I took a photo of our table's Seder plate to show you the six essential items: parsley, bitter herbs (aka horseradish), roasted egg, lamb shankbone, matzah and charoset (a sweet apple mixture, not pictured). The other items on our table are salt water (used for dipping the parsley) and the four cups (though we used only one cup, drinking from it four times).

If you're interested in reading more about how these items are used in the Seder, and particularly more about the symbolism in this ancient feast for Christians, I encourage you to read here: http://www.messianicseder.com/messianic_haggadah.html.

But back to my original topic - it's best when you are in a mixed crowd to avoid making strong pronouncements about non-essential items, unlike a tablemate of ours who was determined to convince all of us that one certain Bible translation is the only acceptable Bible translation. Poor Kelly had the misfortune of being the closest seatmate and could not gracefully pull out of the conversation until the Seder got underway!

So today's tip: Remember the Golden Rule of Parties.

(And we had a good time anyway!!!)