A Family Seder ~ 2011

The Passover Table is set!

Oh No! Leaven! Let's get it out of the house!

When are we ever going to eat!

Bitter Herbs aka - romaine dipped in horseradish sauce - sin stings Samuel

Parsley dipped in salt water-life in slavery to sin brings many tears

Daddy tells the story of God's covenant faithfulness to His people...Past & Present

I'm not drunk on Passover wine...really I'm not. Breaking the Afekomen

Enjoying the choroset dessert - Apple salad that looks like the mortar used in the bricks
It represents the sweetness of God's deliverance
Lots of Wine for everyone (Fruit of the Vine - in case my Mom is reading this)

Clean Hands

Pure Hearts

God is up to something. Seems that so many of us 'Gentiles' are being wooed back to God's holy days & festivals. As a father I find myself forever trying to 'clean up' the holidays for my kids. Ever get tired of trying to strip the holidays of meaningless fable, carnivoristic consumerism, & theft of God's characteristics bestowed upon Scandinavian saints who break into homes, leave gifts...and steal the glory of Jehovah?

Well, I feel your pain. God has a much better idea. Imagine a holiday that still has much fun & story for all ages to look forward to it months in advance. The whole idea of "Spring Cleaning" comes from preparing for Passover. The Jewish Mommas would deep clean the dwelling to get every trace of 'leaven' out of the house.

Then, just before the Passover Seder could begin, the Jewish Papas would take a candle & search the house with the little ones. Momma would leave a little bit of "Chametz" by the stove. One child would have a wooden spoon & the Dad would sweep the leaven onto the spoon with a feather. Another child would wrap it in a linen cloth & then they would take it outside of the house & burn it. You don't have to be a biblical scholar to get the symbolism: Candle - God's Word, Wooden Spoon - the Cross, Feather - the Holy Spirit, Linen cloth - grave clothes, Fire - Christ's sacrifice - a burnt offering.

We retold the story of God's delivering the Children of Israel with an Outstretched arm. When God stretches out His arm - you don't want to be on the receiving end of it...just ask Pharaoh.

We talked about the bitterness of life, the wages of sin being death. We remembered our baby who we will see in heaven one day. Salty tears still flow at the thought of him or her. But out of that sad valley came three beautiful babies - Samuel Isaac, Benjamin Robert Anthony, & Emma Grace. The blessings & the bitterness - through it all God is faithful.

We've never done this at home before. I've wanted to for years. We almost didn't do it this year but I felt an urgency to celebrate this 'Moed' with my family.

We're going to do it again this Friday with our Church family. The Seder at home was a bit of a dry run. We're going to scale things back & loosen them up a bit for Friday. But we are still going to remember, recount & retell the story of God's covenant faithfulness to His children.

Let me encourage you to give it a try. God knows how to have a holy holiday. It beats the fire out of thinly veiled pagan festivals. Let's get back to the book & back to Celebrating the feasts of the LORD.