We chose to have a Seder for several reasons. Often times celebration is listed as a spiritual discipline. I feel that this is a neglected discipline.
We naturally forget God's goodness or that we are just a piece in His Story that goes far beyond us. Most of the spiritual disciplines are practiced alone- between you and God. While I suppose you could celebrate by yourself, this discipline often involves community and fellowship of the body of Christ. The other reasons are far less spiritual. One of my New Year's goals was to cook foods from a different culture or country each month so preparing Passover food works for Israel. Also as a kid my mom would do a seder meal around Easter with us at home. She would also do it with her Sunday school classes when they talked about Passover or the Exodus. I still remember my shock the year I was in her Sunday School class and she spread ketchup on the door frame of our Sunday School classroom to signify the blood of the Passover lamb. Can you deface church property with ketchup? All great teachers know that lessons that are shocking are never forgotten. Leading me to host a seder with Arthur and the gals in my accountability group-- sans ketchup though.
To be honest the food involved in a seder really isn't that good. Hard boil eggs, bitter herbs of parsley, horseradish, unleavened bread, and a mixture of fruit and nuts that is supposed to resemble mortar. I did have some lamb in the freezer from a lamb roast this summer so I made lamb kebabs with a feta cheese dipping sauce. I'm pretty sure this broke some Levitical laws about not eating meat cooked in its mother's milk but it was the best recipe Martha Stewart had to suggest. The mortar was actually the best part of the meal. It is made of apples, cinnamon and cloves, chopped nuts, and honey. The recipe called for red wine which I didn't have so I tosses in a little sparkling red grape juice-- pretty much the same, right?
We gathered around the table to partake in a ceremony that has been preformed for 3500 years, every year. Just remembering that tradition-- it was something Moses and David and Isaiah and Jesus and millions and millions of others have gathered together to remember God's promises over the course of history. Put that into the perspective of celebrating the 4th of July for a mere 240 years. God's people have chosen to keep this tradition going for centuries (and it is not because the food is very good). What this meal lacks in good food it makes up for in spiritual symbolism. Each drink or bite of food had meaning. There were four cups of wine each symbolizing a promise of God-- freedom, deliverance, redemption, and thanksgiving. The bitter herbs and the sweet mixture of fruit and nuts reminding us that life is a mixture of joy and sorrow. We shouldn't pretend that life is always sweet and eliminate the negative but rejoice that in all things God delivers us. Part of the unleavened bread is hidden to be found at the end of the meal to remember the Messiah who is to come. The wine and the bread, elements of today's communion, are based in Christ breaking the unleavened bread and drinking the wine at the Last Supper-- that He is the fulfillment of the promises to come. The lamb is a symbol of the sacrifice in place of our own lives-- the lamb slaughter for blood over the door at the first Passover or the Lamb whose blood was shed for our sins. To close the meal we remember with the final drink that redemption is not complete and we are still in hopeful waiting that we will celebrate "next year in the New Jerusalem".
The four of us gathered around the table had limited seder experience-- we were reading the script off of our laptops and unsure when we were to drink, dip, or eat. A few may have gagged on the parsley thinking it tasted a little too much like grass or sitting and wondering when in the world we get around to actually eating the lamb kebab. We sang hymns and prayed. We discussed the symbolism and reflected on His Story. I think we all enjoyed taking part in the liturgy of a celebrating that is some much bigger than our small group.
After we were finished with the seder we ate fruit pizza for dessert to celebrate the first day of spring. I would like to think that the Israelite would have included fruit pizza for dessert if it had been available at the time. Of course there is something to be said for tradition even if it includes bitter herbs and flat bread instead of tropical fruit and sugar cookie. Omni Vincit Amor.
To be honest the food involved in a seder really isn't that good. Hard boil eggs, bitter herbs of parsley, horseradish, unleavened bread, and a mixture of fruit and nuts that is supposed to resemble mortar. I did have some lamb in the freezer from a lamb roast this summer so I made lamb kebabs with a feta cheese dipping sauce. I'm pretty sure this broke some Levitical laws about not eating meat cooked in its mother's milk but it was the best recipe Martha Stewart had to suggest. The mortar was actually the best part of the meal. It is made of apples, cinnamon and cloves, chopped nuts, and honey. The recipe called for red wine which I didn't have so I tosses in a little sparkling red grape juice-- pretty much the same, right?
We gathered around the table to partake in a ceremony that has been preformed for 3500 years, every year. Just remembering that tradition-- it was something Moses and David and Isaiah and Jesus and millions and millions of others have gathered together to remember God's promises over the course of history. Put that into the perspective of celebrating the 4th of July for a mere 240 years. God's people have chosen to keep this tradition going for centuries (and it is not because the food is very good). What this meal lacks in good food it makes up for in spiritual symbolism. Each drink or bite of food had meaning. There were four cups of wine each symbolizing a promise of God-- freedom, deliverance, redemption, and thanksgiving. The bitter herbs and the sweet mixture of fruit and nuts reminding us that life is a mixture of joy and sorrow. We shouldn't pretend that life is always sweet and eliminate the negative but rejoice that in all things God delivers us. Part of the unleavened bread is hidden to be found at the end of the meal to remember the Messiah who is to come. The wine and the bread, elements of today's communion, are based in Christ breaking the unleavened bread and drinking the wine at the Last Supper-- that He is the fulfillment of the promises to come. The lamb is a symbol of the sacrifice in place of our own lives-- the lamb slaughter for blood over the door at the first Passover or the Lamb whose blood was shed for our sins. To close the meal we remember with the final drink that redemption is not complete and we are still in hopeful waiting that we will celebrate "next year in the New Jerusalem".
The four of us gathered around the table had limited seder experience-- we were reading the script off of our laptops and unsure when we were to drink, dip, or eat. A few may have gagged on the parsley thinking it tasted a little too much like grass or sitting and wondering when in the world we get around to actually eating the lamb kebab. We sang hymns and prayed. We discussed the symbolism and reflected on His Story. I think we all enjoyed taking part in the liturgy of a celebrating that is some much bigger than our small group.
After we were finished with the seder we ate fruit pizza for dessert to celebrate the first day of spring. I would like to think that the Israelite would have included fruit pizza for dessert if it had been available at the time. Of course there is something to be said for tradition even if it includes bitter herbs and flat bread instead of tropical fruit and sugar cookie. Omni Vincit Amor.
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