Last Supper Meal at Newbridge Church

Service Schedule:

1. COURTYARD WELCOME
Host: shalom aleikhem (“peace be upon you”); Guests: shlom bayit (“peace for the home”)

2. THE PRE-DINNER AND DINNER ORDER (The Deipnon)
• The Lighting of the Lamps (standing)
“Blessed are You, O Lord, our God, King of the universe, who sanctified us by His Word, and in whose Name, we light the light of the festival.”
• Greetings (standing)
(waving, flourishing, kissing)
• Positioning at the Table (seated)
(host, symposiarch, honoram, “the seat of the least”)
• The First Cup: kiddush (“cleansing”)
“Blessed are You, O Lord, our God, King of the universe, who created the fruit of the vine.”
• The Tearing and Sampling of the Bread
“Blessed are You, O Lord, our God, King of the universe, who brings out bread from the earth.”
• The Second Cup: maggid (“conversation”)
“Blessed are You, O Lord, our God, King of the universe, who created the fruit of the vine.”
• The Meal
Main Course: Lamb (Stew), Juice or Red Wine, Flat Bread, Bitter Herbs

3. THE AFTER-DINNER ORDER (The Symposium)
• The Third Cup: birkat ha-mazon (“the blessing of nourishment”)
“Blessed are You, O Lord, our God, King of the universe, who created the fruit of the vine.”
• The Lesson: “A Second Moses!” Benediction: “May the Name of God be blessed now and forever.”
• The Fourth Cup: Hallel (“praise”)
“Blessed are You, O Lord, our God, King of the universe, who created the fruit of the vine.”
• Hallel Hymn
zeh ha-yom, asah ha-shem, nagila, v’nismakh bo
• Final Charge
“Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. May those who love you dwell secure. May there be peace within your walls, security
within your towers.” Next Year in Jerusalem!

Biography

R. Bryan Widbin (Ph.D., in Hebrew Bible and the Ancient Near East, Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts USA) is Professor Emeritus of Hebrew Bible and Semitic Languages, at Alliance University/Alliance Theological Seminary, in New York, having served previously as Vice President and Academic Dean of the Seminary from 1995 to 2003. Widbin has held ranked faculty positions at Brandeis University (in Arabic Language and Literatures), and at King College (Hebrew Bible), and has served as a visiting seminary professor and international worker in the Philippines under The Christian and Missionary Alliance denomination, with whom he holds ordination credentials since 1993. As an ordained minister of the Gospel, he has pastored churches in Arkansas and Oklahoma.

Since 1988, Widbin has guided many groups in Israel and is a noted speaker and presenter, both domestically and internationally, on topics related to the Bible and the world and cultures of the biblical peoples. Since 1996, Widbin has been affiliated with REALIS in Ukraine, an evangelical organization devoted to civic engagement and social responsibility, first as educational consultant and now as a faculty member and guest lecturer in Bible and Political Theology. The father of two adult children and grandfather of two, he currently resides in Rockland County, New York, with his spouse, Karen Hanson Widbin.