Our Passover Seder

Hi Ya'll,
Well, I guess this is going to be a holiday blog, LOL. I notice that I haven't posted since Christmas and now its almost resurrection day. Anyway, this year we decided to do a passover seder with the children. No, we are not converting but we want to provide them with a deeper understanding of their Christian heritage and so we have decided to try and celebrate the 7 main feasts of the Old Testament, and Passover was the first one coming up. This actually worked out really well as we have been studying the life of Moses in school.

I did not plan on posting this, but some of the ladies in our book club were interested and I said it would be easier for me to post it than to explain it all. I used a Jewish and Christian Hagdath and copied and pasted to get a version that would work for our family. The children really enjoyed it.

http://kosherfood.about.com/od/pesach/ht/sederplate.htm
This link describes the items on the seder plate and their meaning. We did a full meal so when it was time to serve the meal we had a roasted leg of lamb, matzah ( that I had made because I couldn't purchase it here on Guam), and sliced cucumbers.

Anyway, I hope everyone enjoys learning a little more about the Feast of Passover, also know as The Last Supper in Christian circles. Have a glorious Resurrection Day.
-Stem






The Seder Plate




Karpas ( Parsley)

Matzah ( unleavened bread) 3 pieces on the leaders plate, 1 on others

Lamb bone for the leader

Roasted egg( can be for all or just the leader)

Maror ( horseradish)

Chorset (fruit, nut, wine mixture)



Preparation: Removal of Chametz



Preparation: Prior to the beginning of the service, "hide" several pieces of regular raised bread in fairly obvious places around the room (chunks of unsliced homemade or bakery bread are more effective for this, although regular sliced bread is fine).



Seder means “order,” which simply means that the celebration will follow a certain order, marked by the drinking of four cups of the fruit of the vine



Mother: As the Israelites prepared for the exodus by obeying the commands of God through Moses, so in removing the leaven, we symbolize our willingness to obey God in preparation for celebrating the deliverance he has already brought to his people. Let us find and put away the leaven from this place to prepare for our own experience of deliverance. And as we do, let us search for any hidden sins in our hearts that might prevent us from celebrating the joy of this festival.



Action: Have several younger children search for and collect all the hidden pieces of leavened bread in order to remove the Chametz and prepare the room for the celebration of the Passover. When the bread is collected, preferably in a basket so that all can see it, have it carried out of the room to symbolize our preparaton for participation in the Seder.



Mother: Any leaven that may remain among us, which we have not seen and have not removed, may it be as if it does not exist, as if it is the dust of the earth.



Lighting of the Candles



Mother: You shall keep the feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this day I brought your companies out of the land of Egypt. You shall observe this day throughout the generations as a practice for all times. [Exodus 12:17]

We praise you, O Lord our God, Ruler of the universe, who has preserved our life so that we may again celebrate this festival. As we kindle the festival lights, we pray for the light of God in our midst that we might see anew the meaning and significance of this celebration. May the lights we now kindle inspire us to use our strength which you so freely give us to help and not to hinder, to love and not to hate, to bless and not to curse, to serve and worship you, O God of freedom!



Action: Mother lights the candles.



The First Cup: Cup of Sanctification and Freedom



Father: Passover is about memory and fulfilled promises. Our story tells us that in various ways, with different words, God gave promises of freedom to His people. With four cups from the fruit of the vine we celebrate and we recall God’s promises to Israel and to us.

People: I am the Lord; I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians, I will deliver you from slavery, I will redeem you with an outstretched arm, I will take you as my people and be your God. [Exodus 6:6-7]

Father: In the four cups that we drink tonight we celebrate these four "I will" promises of God: Freedom, Deliverance, Redemption, and Thanksgiving for fulfilling His promises that allows us to be His people.

Blessed are You, O Lord our God, King of the Universe, the Creator who brings forth the vine from the earth with its fruit" (Genesis 1:11). This First Cup is called the Cup of Sanctification, signifying "I the Lord will bring you out from under the yoke of slavery" (Exodus 6:6); this was God setting the children of Israel apart for Himself



Action: Drink the first cup



The Washing: Preparation



Father: Who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart" (Psalm 24:3-4).

We will now prepare for the meal by washing our hands, symbolizing the sacredness of this occasion, and the purity of heart and hands that we are called to exhibit as God’s people.



Karpas – The Green Vegetables (Parsley)



Action: The Leader takes a sprig of fresh Parsley and holds it up for the people to see.



Father: Passover is a Springtime festival, the season of rebirth, renewal, and new life. The days are filled with more light than darkness. The earth is becoming green with new life. This vegetable, called Karpas, represents life, created and sustained by the Lord our God. We are filled with joy at the goodness of God in loving us and caring for us, and bringing into our lives all good things. And yet as good as God intended life to be, it is often mixed with tears.



Action: The Leader lifts up the bowl of salt water so all can see.



Father: Tonight, we are not simply celebrating Springtime or love. We are celebrating the freedom and wonderful deliverance that God brought to us as slaves in Egypt. But we do not forget that life in Egypt was hard and filled with pain and suffering and tears. Let us never forget that the struggle for freedom begins in suffering, and that life is sometimes immersed in tears.



Action: Everyone dips a spring of parsley the salt water and eats it.



The Breaking of Bread: The Matzah



Preparation: On the leader’s table there should be three matzot on a plate covered with a napkin. Next, the head of the family takes the middle one of the three flat cakes of unleavened Matzah bread; he breaks it and puts one half aside, wrapped in a white linen cloth. The hidden bread is called the 'Afikomen' (meaning dessert).



Father: There are three pieces of bread to remember that the Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, is One who keeps His covenant; He it is that delivered the children of Israel from bondage (Exodus 6:2-9). But why is it the middle piece that is broken? This is because the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is an indication of the tri-unity of God. Just as Abraham was willing to offer up His "only son" (Genesis 22:2,12), so God the Father willingly offered up His Son, Jesus (John 3:16). Jesus was broken on the cross for our redemption (I Corinthians 11:24) and wrapped in linen for burial (Luke 23:53).





The Story of Passover



Mother: why tonight?



Father: a night to remember (Exodus 12:42) The Israelites had lived in Egypt 430 years. At the end of the 430 years, to the very day, GOD's entire army left Egypt. GOD kept watch all night, watching over the Israelites as he brought them out of Egypt. Because GOD kept watch, all Israel for all generations will honor GOD by keeping watch this night—a watch night. Once we worshipped idols and were enslaved by our sins, but God in His goodness and mercy forgave our transgressions and called us to be His people. Therefore, tonight is different than other nights because we have gathered to remember who we are, what God has done for us, and to tell to our children the story of God’s grace and deliverance.



Mother: God had promised Abraham and Sarah that they would be a great people, a promise he renewed to each generation, to Isaac and Jacob. As time passed Jacob’s children came to live in the land of Egypt where his son Joseph was advisor to Pharaoh. But years passed and another Pharaoh came to power who did not remember Joseph and did not know his God, so he enslaved the Israelites. He forced them to work hard making bricks of clay and straw with which to build his cities. As the people increased in numbers, he feared that they might rebel against him, so he ordered every newborn boy drowned. They knew only toil, suffering, and tears.



Father: They cried out from their cruel oppression, hoping that God would remember the promises He had made to the fathers. And God heard their cry and remembered the covenant He had made with Abraham. Through a wise mother and sister, God saved the life of the boy Moses from the ruthless hands of Pharaoh. After he had grown up, God sent Moses to deliver the Israelites from the slavery of Egypt, and promised Moses that He would be with him.



Mother: And yet when Moses asked Pharaoh to free the Israelites, he refused and increased their labor. So God sent ten plagues on Pharaoh and the land of Egypt so they might know that the Lord is God, and let the people go.



Action: The Leader takes the second cup of wine and holds it



Father: In a moment we will drink the second cup, the cup of deliverance, and we will celebrate in joy God’s deliverance from slavery. A full cup is a symbol of joy. Yet our joy is diminished because the Egyptians, who are also God’s children, suffered from Pharaoh’s evil ways. Lives were sacrificed to bring about the release of God’s people from the slavery of Egypt, and we do not rejoice at the death of any of God's children. As we recount the plagues, we will spill a drop of wine from our cups for each plague to recall the cost of sin, and the consequences of evil in our world.



Action: Everyone takes the second cup and holds it. DO NOT drink from the second cup yet. As each plague is recited, a single drop of wine is removed from the cup, either with a finger or spoon, and placed on a plate. Traditionally, a finger is used to symbolize the finger of God’s judgment on sin.



Father: Blood. Frogs. Lice. Swarms. Cattle Disease. Boils. Hail. Locusts. Darkness. Death of the First Born.

As innocent people suffered and died long ago because of the oppression of tyrants, so people today still suffer from evil in the world. Our newspapers are filled with accounts of ethnic cleansing and bombings. We cannot celebrate God’s deliverance for ourselves without longing that all God’s children experience freedom from their bondage. So, we will spill another drop from our cups to recall the cost of evil in our world today.



Action: Everyone removes a single drop of wine from the cup and places it on their plate. Everyone replaces the second cup on the table WITHOUT drinking.



Mother: Pharaoh continued to refuse to let the people go until the last plague, the death of the firstborn of all of Egypt, convinced him to release the people. By following God’s instructions and putting the blood of a lamb on the door posts of the houses, the Israelites were spared this plague as death "Passed Over" their houses.



Action: The Leader removes the symbolic lamb bone from the Seder plate and holds it up for all to see.



Father: This is the symbol of the Passover lamb that was killed so that our children might live. It reminds us not only of God’s wonderful grace in providing for us life and not death; it also reminds us that we are called to obedience in response to God’s gift of life. The sacrifices at the Temple in Jerusalem were a reminder of that grace and that gift of life.



Action: The Leader replaces the bone and removes the roasted egg from the Seder plate and holds it up for all to see.



Father: The egg is a symbol of mourning, and is to remind us that the Temple in Jerusalem, the place of sacrifices, is no longer standing, and so sacrifices are no longer offered. But since it has no beginning and no end, the egg is also a symbol of new life and hope, and reminds us that God’s grace is not confined to sacrifices in a temple.



Action: The Leader replaces the egg.



Mother: Even as the Israelites were leaving, Pharaoh changed his mind and sent his army after them. Trapped between Pharaoh’s army and the Sea of Reeds, the Israelites had nowhere to go. But God told Moses to lift his staff over the sea, and God parted the waters. They were able to pass through the midst of the sea. When the Egyptians tried to follow, the waters closed back over them. When the Israelites saw that they were free, Moses’ sister Miriam led them in rejoicing and praising God. We Praise you, O Lord our God, Ruler of the Universe, who hears the cries of the oppressed, who brings freedom to the captive, and who creates for yourself a people.



Action: The Leader takes the remaining half of the Matzah (the piece of broken bread) and holds it up for all to see.



Father: Tonight we eat Unleavened Bread because our ancestors in Egypt had to leave in such haste that they could not wait for their bread to rise, and so had bake it while it was still flat.



Preparation: At the Leader’s table, there should be a small clear custard type bowl containing the Maror.(Horseradish)



Action: The Leader replaces the Matzah (bread) and takes the Maror (horseradish) and holds it up for all to see.



Father: Tonight we eat bitter herbs to remind us of how bitter our lives were as slaves in Egypt. As sweet as our lives are now, we must never forget the bitterness of our bondage.



Preparation: At the Leader’s table, there should be a small clear custard type bowl containing the Charoset (pronounced ka-ró-set).(apple and nut mixture)



Action: The Leader replaces the Maror (horseradish) and takes a spring of Karpas (Parsley) and the bowl of Charoset and holds them up for all to see.



Father: Tonight we dip twice. We have already dipped the Karpas. We will also dip the Charoset to remind us of the sweetness that God can bring into the most bitter of our circumstances.



Action: The Leader replaces the Karpas (Parsley) and Charoset.



Father: Tonight we eat with special ceremony because in each generation, every person should feel as if he or she has actually been redeemed from Egypt. We tell the story because we are the redeemed of the Lord, and we can sing a new song of praise because of His grace. And yet it is not a new song, because it has been sung by countless people through the centuries as generation after generation have experienced the deliverance and redemption brought by our God.



People: Once we were slaves but now we are free!

The Second Cup: the Cup of Deliverance

Action: The Leader takes the second glass, and raises it for all to see.

Father With the second cup we celebrate the deliverance that God has brought to us. We are privileged to thank God, to praise Him, to reverence Him, and to rejoice in His grace. He has brought us forth from bondage to freedom, from sorrow to joy, from darkness to light, from slavery to redemption. We praise you O Lord our God, Ruler of the Universe, who creates the fruit of the earth. Let us drink the Second Cup.

Action: We all drink the second cup.

The Meal

Action: The Leader removes all three remaining pieces of Matzah and holds them in front of him as he recites the blessing.

Father: We Praise you, O Lord our God, Ruler of the Universe, who brings forth bread from the earth.

Action: The Leader takes the top and middle Matzoth (the half from which the afikomen was broken) and breaks pieces to distribute to the group

Action: We eat a piece of Matzah.

Father: With bitter herbs, let us remember how bitter our slavery was in the land of Egypt. As we eat, let us allow the bitter taste to bring tears of compassion for the pain that our fathers and mothers felt long ago. But let us also weep for those who are still enslaved and have not yet experienced the deliverance that our gracious God brings.

Action: Dip the Matzoh (bread) into the Maror (horseradish) we eat the bitter herb.

Father: As we are reminded of the bitterness of our slavery, so too are we reminded of the hope that we have in our Lord. We will now begin to make the Hillel sandwich by placing a small amount of Maror on a piece of Matzah.

Action: Leader uses third piece of matzah and breaks it in ½. Put some maror on the matzah then holds the bowl of Charoset in front of him.

Father: The Charoset is a sweet mixture of apples [dates], honey, and nuts. It symbolizes the mixture of clay and straw that the Israelites used to make bricks for the cities of Pharaoh. But the apples of the mixture also remind us of something else. Apple trees set fruit before the tree has leaves, and then grow leaves to protect the fruit. Tradition tells us that in slavery in Egypt, the women of Israel gave birth to children under the trees of the orchard to try to avoid the decree of Pharaoh, with no assurance of their safety and future. That hope in a future from God sweetened the misery of their slavery. Often, life is a mixture of the bitter and the sweet, of sadness and joy. Let us now add the sweetness of the Charoset to the bitterness of the Maror.

Action: The Leader takes the Matzah and Maror and dips it into the Charoset. If the Charoset is very thick, it may have to be spooned onto the Matzah after a symbolic dip. The remaining piece of Matzah is used to make a "sandwich" of the Maror and Charoset.

Father: In the days of the Jerusalem temple, Rabbi Hillel ate a sandwich of the Pesach, the Passover lamb, with bitter herbs and Matzah. Since the temple is no longer standing and the Passover lamb no longer offered, we cannot eat the lamb with our sandwich. So instead, we use the Charoset to take the place of the Pascal lamb to remind us of the hope we have in God, of the sweetness that He can bring into the most bitter of our circumstances.

Action: We eat the Hillel sandwich.

Father: (if this is a full Seder meal): We have broken bread together and have told the story of our deliverance. Let us now eat together in celebration of our freedom.

Action: If this is a full meal seder, the seder plate is removed from the table, and the meal is served. Often, boiled eggs are the first course of the meal. Sometime during the meal, either the Leader or the children secretly hide the afikomen (the broken part of the middle Matzah). After the meal is finished the dishes are removed from the table, and the seder plate is returned to the table.]

The Third Cup: the Cup of Redemption

Father: It is now time to reveal that which has been hidden. We will find the Afikomen (broken piece of bread placed in the cloth) so that we may conclude our meal. The Afikomen has traditionally symbolized hope for the future, a symbol of redemption, as God again acts in history to proclaim good news to the poor, release to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor [Isaiah 61:1-2 quoted in Luke 4:18-19].

Father: As we have found the afikomen that has been hidden, we celebrate the fact that our long hoped for Messiah has come, and brought us a new freedom from a very old slavery. "Jesus said, "If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free. Truly, truly, I say to you, every one who commits sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not have a permanent place in the household; the son has a place there forever. So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed." [John 8:31-3] We will now fill the third cup.

Action: The people refill their cups

Father: Jesus stood in the synagogue of his hometown of Nazareth and read from the Isaiah scroll that promised a new work of God in the world. When he had finished reading, he said, "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing" [Luke 4:21]. We still live in the "today" of that fulfillment, and so we celebrate the coming of Jesus the Messiah, and the faithfulness of God in working throughout history to bring deliverance and freedom to his people.

Mother: Jesus has brought to us a new freedom from the chains of oppression and sin that enslave us. Jesus celebrated Passover with his disciples on the night before he was betrayed and delivered up to be crucified. He commanded that his disciples partake of the bread and the wine as emblems of his broken body and shed blood. We partake of these elements to participate in the new life, in the new birth that God in Jesus the Christ has provided for us. We praise you O Lord our God, Ruler of the Universe, and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. We thank you, O God, for giving to us your only Son, who suffered and died and rose again, that we might be reconciled to you. How great a love you have bestowed upon us! As we now eat this bread and drink this cup, may you forgive us of any sin that we secretly harbor in our hearts, may you give us the freedom that comes as you transform us into the image of your Son, and may you fill us with your presence through the Holy Spirit that we may truly become your people.

Father: Let us all take a piece of the unleavened bread.

Action: Everyone takes a a piece of the broken Matzah. In a home setting, this would be pieces broken and distributed by the Father from the Afikomen.

Father: This broken bread of redemption reminds us of the broken body of our Lord Jesus Christ that was broken for us. Take and eat this, remembering that Jesus died for us, and in so doing accept the grace of God that brings freedom from bondage to sin.

Action: All eat the bread. When finished, the people all hold the third cup in their hand. The Leader holds up the third cup for all to see.

Father: This cup reminds us of the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ that was spilled because of us and on our behalf. Drink this, remembering that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, and in so doing accept the grace that transforms us and brings us from darkness into His marvelous light, and allows us to be people of God.

Action: All drink the cup.

The Fourth Cup: the Cup of Thanksgiving and Hope

Father: Our Seder is now complete, just as our redemption is complete. We rejoice with thanksgiving, and yet are humbled by God’s love!

People: I am the Lord; I will take you as my people and I will be your God [Exodus 6:7].

Father: Yet the story of God’s redemption is not ended. We celebrate what God has done in our history, and what he has done for us, but at the same time we still await a new future. All creation still groans and longs for its final redemption. As Jesus left, he promised he would come again and restore all things. We have faith enough to believe that God will not leave the world the way it is, so we await the day in which He will again come and bring His Kingdom in fullness.

Action: Fill the fourth cup

Father We raise our glasses a fourth time in Thanksgiving for God’s enduring grace and love to us. Blessed are you, O Lord our God, Ruler of the Universe, who has adopted us as your children, and allowed us to call you Father.

Action: All lower their glasses for the prayer.

People: Our Father, Lord in heaven, Hallowed be your name! Your Kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For yours is the Kingdom, the power, and the glory forever. Amen.

Father: We drink the Fourth Cup and give thanks!

Action: All raise their glasses again and then drink the cup.

Father: The traditional conclusion of the Seder is a hope for the future expressed by Jews throughout history: "Next year in Jerusalem." We will conclude our Seder with the same expression of hope and faith in God, as we await the coming of a New Jerusalem.

People: Next year in the New Jerusalem!

Action: The Leader extinguishes the Passover candles.