Where was I?

"Passover has a message for the conscience and the heart of all mankind. For what does it commemorate? It commemorates the deliverance of a people from degrading slavery, from most foul and cruel tyranny. And so, it is Israel's - nay, God's protest against unrighteousness, whether individual or national." Morris Joseph




Last year we celebrated with Liddy.  I thought I had done a pretty good job of teaching my kids but doing a Passover Seder raised so many questions, explained so many things that really only make sense in light of O.T understanding, & drove home the point that you can teach something ad infinitum but that doesn't mean it has sunk in.

Last year was something of an experiment ~ & as is always the case it felt awkward & unweildy & raw & too new to fit well.  The Seder was completely unfamiliar to all of us.  It went too long & I didn't know enough to know what I could cut out, shorten, abandon altogether.  It requires work.  I'm great at the theory.  I do far less well at the doing.  However I learnt 2 things: Keep it short; Keep it simple.

The short is important because what has happened every time we've done this is that it's like opening a Pandora's box of bunny trails.  This year was no different.   Being a little more familiar with the Seder & thus a little more comfortable I felt free to cut & paste as necessary while fielding Dino's questions & comments.

But where was I last year? he wailed.  I have no idea where he was.  The girls were at Easterfest so I know we did our Seder late.  Star, who can be squiffy about being dragged into these things blew me away by how much she remembered from last year.  Dino, like me, was just blown away by how the symbolism flows consistenly right through scripture.  I have no idea how but we had a rundown on the history of the temple & the properties of gold, The Babylonian Empire [a little more understandable that one] & what it would have been like to have Jesus lead the Seder.

There is something really weird involved in all this too.   Planning a Seder is a lot more work than hiding easter eggs round the garden or through the house.  I've been hoarding the last good sized lamb shank bone in the freezer & had a list of things I knew I needed to have on hand.  It is the sort of thing to get me in a real tizz.  I am still waiting for my tizz.  There is a blessing, it seems, in keeping God's festivals ~ & one of them is the peace that passeth all understanding.  

 It is very grounding.  The elements were the elements Jesus handled on the night He was betrayed.  This makes the story vividly alive.  Real.  Here is the bread & the wine: the cup of santification; the cup of redemption; the cup of salvation ~ & the cup Jesus is saving to share with us ~ the cup of the Kingdom.  It is designed to fulfil the commandment to Teach these these unto your children.  And it does ~ in extremely novel ways.  Honestly, the looks on the kids faces as they bite into the Bitter Herbs!!  Priceless!  Or the haroset. After the herbs Dino took one look & reniged but Star was cluier & assured him it was actually rather yummy!  Which it is.

The thing is we will go into church on Sunday with the Seder, rich with meaning behind us, vividly fresh in our memory.  The afikomen has been broken, wrapped in linen & hidden. It represents Jesus broken body with the stripes by which we are healed.   Can you imagine Jesus breaking the afikomen & saying, as He did: This is my body, broken for you.

Wow.  I'm going to go & think on that some more now....