Let us ready our hearts to celebrate and tell the story of deliverance, freedom, and redemption. Tradition teaches us that we must all consider ourselves as slaves in Egypt, that we must all consider ourselves to have walked in darkness, so that we might celebrate the deliverance in the Exodus as our own deliverance. It is in that spirit of community that we enter this Passover celebration.
Is this formal or informal?
This service is a sacred time of worship. But even though it follows a strict order it is not formal. In Judaism, Passover is not a public service of worship but is celebrated as a family meal. The father and mother, or grandparents, lead the service, and it is much more of a celebration than anything solemn. So, relax and have fun with the service as part of this extended family.
Even though we have called people to reflection, this should not be a solemn occasion. The children should be allowed to have fun searching, and the remainder of the service should be marked by joy and celebration, as well as a certain amount of freedom and informality. Remember, the context of Passover is a family meal.
WHO SHOULD OBSERVE THE CHRISTIAN PASSOVER?
Who should partake of the Christian Passover? Should anyone who thinks that he or she is a Christian observe this sacred service? Or are there specific Scriptural requirements for participating in the Christian Passover? This vital question needs to be answered.
In the Old Testament, one of the ordinances for the observance of the Passover required that all male participants be circumcised in the flesh. Those who were not circumcised were forbidden to participate in the Old Testament Passover (Ex. 12:48). However, the New Testament clearly teaches that circumcision in the flesh is not a requirement for the New Covenant relationship with God the Father and Jesus Christ (Gal. 5:6, Rom. 2:28-29
Physical circumcision is not a requirement for the observance of the New Covenant Passover. However, there is a spiritual circumcision required for the New Covenant, as taught in the New Testament. As we will see, anyone, male or female, must be circumcised spiritually through Jesus Christ in order to participate in the New Covenant Passover—the Christian Passover. This spiritual circumcision is called “the circumcision of the heart, in the spirit.”
The apostle Paul defines spiritual circumcision in Romans 2:28-29: “For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, neither is that circumcision which is external in the flesh; rather, he is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is of the heart, in the spirit and not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God.”
Spiritual circumcision is achieved only in this manner: The first step for each person who answers God's calling is to repent of his or her sins against God the Father and to accept the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins. As the apostle Peter proclaimed: “Repent and be baptized, each one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38).
After answering God’s calling and repenting toward God, a person must be baptized by full immersion in water, which signifies the death and burial of the old, sinful self. The apostle Paul reveals the full meaning of baptism: “Or are you ignorant that we, as many as were baptized into Christ Jesus, were baptized into His death? Therefore, we were buried with Him by baptism into death; so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, in the same way, we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been conjoined together in the likeness of His death, so also shall we be in the likeness of His resurrection. Knowing this, that our old man [the old, sinful self] was crucified with Him [co-crucified] in order that the body of sin might be destroyed, that we should no longer be enslaved to sin; because the one who has died to sin has been justified from sin” (Romans 6:3-7).
The operation of baptism and receiving of the Holy Spirit from God the Father is called “the circumcision of Christ,” which is the spiritual circumcision of the heart. In Paul’s epistle to the Colossians we find this explanation: “And you are complete in Him, Who is the Head of all principality and power; in Whom you have also been circumcised with the circumcision not made by hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with Him in baptism, by which you have also been raised with Him through the inner working of God, Who raised Him from the dead. For you, who were once dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, has He now made alive with Him, having forgiven all your trespasses. He has blotted out the note of debt against us, with the decrees of our sins, which was contrary to us; also He has taken it away, having nailed it to the cross” (Col. 2:10-14).
The New Testament clearly shows that no person should partake of the New Covenant Passover until he or she has been baptized and has been spiritually circumcised in heart by the receiving of the Holy Spirit of God. “But He Who establishes us with you in Christ, and Who has anointed us, is God, Who has also sealed us and has given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts” (II Cor. 1:21-22).
To partake of the New Covenant Passover worthily, a person must have been baptized and must have received the Holy Spirit from God the Father. Only those who have received the gift of the Holy Spirit from God the Father should partake of the Christian Passover, because they are the only ones who have been spiritually circumcised in heart and have truly entered into the New Covenant with God the Father and Jesus Christ.
HOW SHOULD THE CHRISTIAN PASSOVER BE OBSERVED?
At His last Passover, Jesus Christ instituted the service of footwashing and instructed His disciples to partake of the unleavened bread and wine as the symbols of His sacrifice. True Christians are commanded by Jesus Christ to observe the New Covenant Passover—the Christian Passover. However, it must be observed properly. The apostle Paul warned the Christians at Corinth of the dire consequences of eating and drinking the new symbols unworthily: “For this reason, if anyone shall eat this bread or shall drink the cup of the Lord unworthily, he shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup accordingly” (I Cor. 11:27-28).
Partaking of the Passover unworthily includes the following:
1) An improper manner, improper symbols, and an incorrect day and time
2) An improper attitude of rebellion or habitual, calloused sinfulness
3) Not discerning the body of Jesus Christ for healing
4) Not discerning the blood of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins
Partaking of the Passover worthily includes the following:
1) The proper manner, proper symbols and the correct day and time
2) A humble, loving repentant, yielded attitude
3) Discerning the body of the Lord and trusting Him for healing
4) Discerning the blood of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins
The apostle Paul clearly taught the Christians at Corinth that they were not to eat as a meal the New Covenant Passover. (I Cor. 11:20-22).
Paul warned, “Because the one who eats and drinks unworthily is eating and drinking judgment to himself, not discerning the body of the Lord. For this very reason, many are weak and sickly among you, and many have fallen asleep. Now if we examined ourselves, we would not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord, so that we will not be condemned with the world” (I Cor. 11:29-32).
Prior to the observance of the New Covenant Passover, each Christian should prayerfully examine himself, or herself, in order to fully realize that it is only through the love and grace of God that this gracious salvation of God the Father has been granted to each one whom God the Father calls. While Christians are commanded to do good works and keep all of God's commandments as a way of life, it can only be accomplished through faith and the love of God. The renewal of the New Covenant each year through observing the New Covenant Passover is each Christian’s solemn pledge to live and walk in the ways of God through faith in Jesus Christ.
If we truly love God with all our hearts and minds, we will desire to do what is pleasing to God the Father and Jesus Christ and we will observe the New Covenant Passover—the Christian Passover—exactly as Jesus Christ commanded.
The Footwashing
The feet-washing ceremony is a miniature baptism. It symbolises the washing away of sins and grievances against God and one another which have accumulated during our walk on the dusty road of life. He that is 'washed' (baptised) by immersion doesn't need to be re-baptised: but does need this service performed each Passover to be 'clean every whit.' The men and women should separate for this part of the service: each man washing another man's feet and each woman washing another woman's feet. Should Christians keep the feet-washing service? The answer is yes we should. The Master's instructions are as follows:
John 13:14-15
"If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet;
ye also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have
given you an example, that ye should do as I have
done to you."
The footwashing service is for a sign of HUMBLENESS of HEART!
The Unleavened Bread
For the Christian Passover, only unleavened bread is to be eaten. As the Scriptures show, all leaven was removed from houses in preparation for the Passover day, the 14th day of the 1st month, and the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which follows the Passover and lasts from the 15th day through the 21st day.
The unleavened bread to be used for distribution to the participants should be placed on a dish or tray and be covered with a clean white cloth. An excessive amount of bread should not be placed on the dish or tray, because this bread will be broken and blessed to represent the body of Jesus Christ. Any bread and crumbs left after the services have concluded should be burned in fire that night, in accordance with God’s instructions for the remains of the lambs used for the Old Covenant Passover (Ex. 12:10).
For the Old Testament Passover, a lamb or kid goat was required to be sacrificed at the household of the participants. In the New Testament, in his epistle to the Hebrews, the apostle Paul clearly teaches that the one perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ replaced and superseded all the animal sacrifices required under the Old Covenant (Heb. 9:12). Jesus Christ is the New Covenant Passover Lamb, the perfect sacrifice of God the Father for the remission of our sins: “For Christ OUR PASSOVER was sacrificed for us” (I Cor. 5:7).
The Wine
Few people realize that the skins of grapes have natural yeast spores which initiate the fermentation process almost immediately after the juice has been squeezed. Before the advent of pasteurization and refrigeration, it was impossible to have grape juice year round as we do today, because there was no way to preserve the juice and prevent it from fermenting. The only time of year when grape juice could be consumed was at the time of the crushing of the grapes, which always occurred in late summer, when the grapes were harvested. Since grape juice could not be preserved, it was used to make either wine or vinegar.
The term “fruit of the vine” in Matthew 26:29, Mark 14:25 and Luke 22:18 is not referring to grape juice. In the spring, at Passover time, “the fruit of the vine” can only refer to wine. The Greek word for unfermented grape juice is trudz and is never used in reference to wine. The Greek word for wine is oinos, which always means wine fermented from the juice of grapes. In the second chapter of the Gospel of John, it is recorded that Jesus created 180 gallons of wine, or oinos, out of water. He did not create grape juice. Jesus drank oinos, or wine. Those who criticized Him called Him a “winebibber,” as recorded in Matthew 11:19 and Luke 7:34. The Greek word for “winebibber” is oinopotees from oinos.
There is additional Scriptural proof that the term “fruit of the vine” does not mean grape juice. In the Gospel of Matthew, we find Jesus,’parable of the vineyard: “There was a certain man, a master of a house, who planted a vineyard, and put a fence around it, and dug a winepress in it, and built a tower, and then leased it to husbandmen and left the country. Now when the season of the fruits was drawing near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen to receive his fruits” (Mat. 21:33-34).
The specific mention of the winepress in this parable shows that the purpose of the vineyard was to produce wine. That is the “fruits” that the owner expected to receive from his vineyard. It was impossible for the owner, who was not in the country, to receive fresh grapes or fresh grape juice from the husbandmen. The only fruits he could safely receive were raisins, which are sun-dried grapes, or wine fermented from the juice of the grapes. While it is possible that some of the grapes could have been dried into raisins, the winepress in the parable indicates that most of the grapes were crushed and used to make wine. That was the “fruits” of the vineyard, or “the fruit of the vine.”
At His last Passover, Jesus told the disciples, “But I say to you, from this time forward I will not drink at all of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it anew with you in the kingdom of My Father” (Matt. 26:29 and Mark 14:25).
After the service, the participants should return to their houses or rooms and use additional time that night for study, prayer and meditation upon the awesome meaning and significance of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ as the Passover Lamb of God.
The entire New Covenant Passover—The Christian Passover, is truly an expression of God the Father’s love for each person by providing the perfect sacrifice of His Only Begotten Son: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His own Son, the only begotten, so that everyone who is believing in Him may not perish, but may have everlasting life” (John 3:16).
Preparation: Removal of Chametz
(You would have wanted to have explained this portion to all participating prior to the day of Passover!)
Explanation: In the days preceding Passover, it is tradition to clean the house thoroughly, and the evening before the Passover Seder any trace of chametz (leaven, pronounced ka-méts) is removed from the house. Leaven (yeast) is a necessary element in baking and wine making. However, it was viewed somewhat ambiguously because it also has the power to decay and destroy. Even Jesus used it as both a positive and negative metaphor. In Jewish tradition it came to have more of a negative connotation as a religious symbol, signifying the potential for corruption and sin.
As a result, the removal of leaven carries with it deeper significance in Passover than simply its connection with the exodus. Its removal, and the symbolic removal at the beginning of the Passover, signifies the attitude of penitence, the willingness to remove any corrupting influence in one’s life and submit to God in obedience. As the Israelites prepared for the exodus by obeying the commands of God through Moses, so in removing the chametz, we symbolize our willingness to obey God in preparation for celebrating the deliverance he has already brought to His people.
We praise you O Lord our God, Ruler of the universe, who hallows our lives with commandments, and who has commanded us to prepare for Passover by removing the leaven.
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.
THE CHRISTIAN PASSOVER RENEWS THE NEW COVENANT THROUGH
JESUS CHRIST
In accordance to the promises that God gave Abraham, as recorded in Genesis 15:3-6 and 22:15-18, Jesus Christ began the New Covenant on the Passover day.
This New Covenant relationship can only be entered into by the operation of the grace of God. God’s grace begins with God the Father’s calling. Each individual must respond to God’s calling by repentance, baptism and loving obedience to the Word of God, which is the Truth. When these conditions are fulfilled, God the Father gives the Holy Spirit to each person He calls. The Holy Spirit enables each one to worship God in spirit and in truth! “But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth; for the Father is indeed seeking those who worship Him in this manner. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must [Greek dei, obligated, under divine compulsion] worship in spirit and in truth” (John 4:23-24.)
What Jesus is revealing by these words is not a suggestion—IT IS A COMMAND! The Greek text is most emphatic—it is an imperative command! Jesus is revealing the ONLY WAY to enter into the New Covenant relationship with God the Father.
This New Covenant relationship is offered only to those who are loving God the Father and keeping the commandments and words of Jesus Christ. This is the foundation of Christian faith by God's grace under the New Covenant.
The only way to God the Father is through Jesus Christ! He Himself established the New Covenant with His own blood, and He Himself reveals the ONE TRUE WAY to enter into that special covenant relationship with the Father. He emphatically stated, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6.)
God the Father’s plan is revealed in the life and death of Jesus Christ—Our Passover. “But we see Jesus, Who was made a little lower than the angels, crowned with glory and honor on account of suffering the death, in order that by the grace of God He Himself might taste death for everyone” (Heb 2:9).
No human work can possibly replace or be substituted for this awesome sacrifice of Jesus Christ. His blood alone can reconcile us to God the Father. Once we have been reconciled, it is through the risen Christ, our High Priest at the right hand of God, that we are saved by God’s loving grace.
“But God, Who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, has made us alive together with Christ. (For you have been saved by grace.) And He has raised us up together [through the operation of baptism] and has caused us to sit together in the heavenly places [through the begettal of God’s Holy Spirit] in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages that are coming He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. and this faith has not [Greek ouk, the impossibility of it originating] come from your own selves; it is the gift of God, not from works, so that no one may boast. For we are His [God the Father’s] workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto the good works [of faith, love and obedience], which God ordained beforehand that we might walk in them” (Eph. 2:4-10).
True Christians are to continually worship God the Father and Jesus Christ in spirit and in truth. They are in actual, true covenant with God the Father and Jesus Christ! Because they worship God as He commanded, they are faithfully and lovingly keeping the Christian Passover as commanded by Jesus Christ in the New Testament. They are observing it on the correct Covenant Day for the annual renewing of the New Covenant. . Each year, they fulfill all three parts of the Passover exactly as Jesus commanded: 1) participating in the footwashing, 2) eating the unleavened bread, and 3) partaking of the wine.
By partaking of the Christian Passover, as Jesus Christ commanded, they are rededicating their lives to walk in His way and live their lives by Him. “The one who eats My flesh and drinks My blood is dwelling in Me, and I in him. As the living Father has sent Me, and I live by the Father; so also the one who eats Me shall live by Me” (John 6:56-57).
The Christian’s relationship with Jesus Christ and God the Father is renewed each year by participating in the Christian Passover. The true meaning of the Christian Passover goes far beyond understanding the correct day and correct manner for its observance. In reality, the Christian Passover is the foundation of God’s plan for our lives—now and for all eternity!
God the Father gives us His magnificent love and grace through Jesus Christ our Passover! Let us partake of the symbols of the New Covenant as Jesus Christ commanded. Let us renew our covenant relationship with God the Father and Jesus Christ. Let us rededicate our lives in the love and grace of God as we partake of the New Covenant Passover—the Christian Passover.
Praise and Worship: “Word of God Speak” “Who I Am”
Break for Combined Family Meal (NOT the Unleavened Bread and Wine) and Fellowship
Prayer will begin for Christian Passover Ceremony @ 1:15
The Christian Passover
Let us begin with the lighting of the candles. The candles symbolize the presence of God and mark this as a sacred time with HIM.
“Blessed are you, O Lord our God, Ruler of the universe, who hallows our lives with commandments and bids us kindle the festival light. Blessed are you, O Lord our God, King of the universe, who has kept us alive and sustained us and brought us again to this season. May our fellowship be consecrated, O God, by the light of your presence shining upon us and bringing us peace.”
SONG- “Be Still My Soul/What a Friend We Have in JESUS!”
Four thousand years ago on the night of the 14th day of the first month, the LORD God began to establish His covenant with Abraham. “Behold the word of the LORD came unto him, saying…he that shall come forth out of your own bowels shall be your heir [physical Israel through Isaac]. And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and count the stars, if you are able to number them: and He said unto him, So shall your seed be [spiritual Israel through Jesus Christ]. And he [Abraham] believed in the LORD: and it was counted to him for righteousness” (Gen. 15:4-6).
On the day portion of the 14th day of the first month, the LORD God pledged His own future death as the perfect sacrifice for the sins of the seed of Abraham and for the sins world (Gen. 15:9-12, 17). Thus, in Abraham’s Seed—Jesus Christ—all the nations of the world would be blessed. This was the beginning of what later would become the Passover day for the children of Israel and the disciples of Jesus Christ—the Church of God.
Later, when God asked Abraham to offer Isaac for a burnt offering, He provided a ram as a substitutionary sacrifice instead of Isaac. At that time, the LORD God again swore by Himself that He would sacrifice Himself as the future “Lamb of God to take away the sin of the world.” The LORD God promised in an oath: “By myself have I sworn, says the LORD, for because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son: that in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply your seed as the stars of the heaven [spiritual Israel], and as the sand which is upon the sea shore [physical Israel]; and your seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; and in your Seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice” (Gen. 22:15-18).
After Abraham died, God appeared to Issac, the son of promise, to reconfirm the covenant that He had established with Abraham: “And the LORD appeared to Isaac, and said, ‘Sojourn in this land, and I will be with you, and will bless you; for unto you, and unto your seed [physical Israel], I will give all these countries, and I will perform the oath which I sware unto Abraham your father; and I will make your seed [spiritual Israel] to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto your seed all these countries; and in your seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws’ ” (Gen. 26:3-5)
On the same night, the night of the 14th day of the first month—four hundred and thirty years after God had first given the promises to Abraham—the children of Israel observed the Passover in Egypt. At midnight, God passed over their houses and spared their firstborn, as He judged the gods of Egypt and killed the Egyptian firstborn—both man and beast (Ex. 12:3-36).
The term Passover refers to the tenth and final plague God brought upon the Egyptians to persuade Pharaoh to let the people go, the death of all the firstborn of Egypt. In obedience to God’s instructions, those who believed placed the blood of a lamb on the door posts of their homes, so that God would "pass over" those homes. The festival actually celebrates the entire sequence of events that led to the Israelites’ freedom from slavery. While thoroughly based in those historical events, the celebration encompasses much more as it becomes a vehicle to celebrate the very nature of God and His gracious work in the world. It is in this larger dimension that Jesus adopted the Passover service as a sacramental remembrance of God’s new work of deliverance in the Christ, and allows Christians to celebrate this ancient festival.
On the same night, the night on the 14th day of the first month, in 30 AD, as it was beginning to get dark, Jesus Christ, Who was God manifest in the flesh, instituted the New Covenant Passover with His chosen apostles.
The New Covenant Passover that Jesus instituted confirms the promises of Abraham to the spiritual children of God. In the same way that Isaac was the son of Abraham by promise, the New Covenant children of God are also the children of promise, through Jesus Christ: “Now we, brethren, like Isaac, are the children of promise” (Gal 4:28). They are Abraham’s spiritual seed and heirs of the promise: “Because you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ did put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek; there is neither bond nor free; there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise” (Gal 3:26-29).
God promised Abraham that his spiritual seed would be as the stars of heaven (Gen. 15:5). Jesus Christ confirmed this promise. In the parable of the sower, Jesus Christ explained that the good seed are the spiritual children of Abraham by promise, who will be glorified at the resurrection to shine as the sun: “Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father” (Matt. 13:43).
For the spiritual children of promise, the Christian Passover Ceremony, observed yearly on the night of the 14th day of the first month, renews the New Covenant of eternal life through Jesus Christ.
At His Last Passover in 30 AD, Jesus Christ—God Manifest in the Flesh—Instituted the New Covenant Christian Passover
(Songs- “@ the foot of the Cross, At your feet, God is singing)
John 13.2-17
At this point, stop and wash one another’s feet. When this part of the service has been completed, and everyone is again seated, continue the Scriptural reading.
DRINKING OF THE WINE
Mark 14.23-25
Luke 22.20
20. In like manner also, He took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is poured out for you.”
I Corinthians 11.25-29
The First Cup: the Cup of Sanctification and Freedom
Passover is about memory and fulfilled promises. But it is also about hope, the hope that comes from a God who has fulfilled promises. So, we celebrate redemption as memory, but we also celebrate redemption as hope. The God of the Exodus is still God, and so we know that what has been is also a promise of what will be.
Our story tell 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.
In the four cups that we drink this day, 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.
We take the first cup and proclaim the holiness of this day of FREEDOM. Blessed is God who fulfills HIS promises, who is ever faithful to HIS servants who trust in HIM. In every age oppressors rise against us to crush our spirits and bring us low. From the hands of all these tyrants and conquerors, from the power of anything that hinders us from being HIS people, the LORD rescues and restores us. We praise you, O LORD, who makes holy your people.
Let us read Exodus 6.6-7 and then partake of this cup of Sanctification and Freedom!
THE WASHING: PREPARING
In preparation of the unleavened bread, the Body of Christ, we will soon be partaking of we will now wash our hands. This is not a sanitary action but a symbolic action of the “clean hands” with which one comes before God.
Let us read Psalm 24.3-4 and then we will wash in symbolizing the sacredness of this occasion, and the purity of heart and hands that we are called to exhibit as God's people!
Twice during the Passover two elements representing a mixture of positive and negative experiences or emotions are incorporated into the service. The first is here where we will eat herbs with salt water and later when we will eat the sweet charoset with bitter moror. The contrasting elements serve to remind us that life is often a confusing mixture of joy and sorrow, of bitter endings and sweet new beginnings. It is not our goal to eliminate the negative experiences and pretend that life is all sweetness and happiness. That is a futile task and finally dishonest. Rather our goal is to rejoice in the fact that God works in all the circumstances of life, just as he heard the cries of slaves and brought deliverance.
You should make a note to read the Song of Songs (Solomon) as the significance unfolds in symbolism as a husband and wife of the love of God for HIS people expressed in HIS willingness to enter into a covenant with them.
The parsley, 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.
The salt water... we are not simply celebrating Springtime and love but also the freedom and wonderful deliverance that God brought to us as slaves in Egypt. We can not, should not ever forget that life in Egypt, in that it was hard and filled with pain and sufferings and tears. Let us never forget the struggle for freedom begins in suffering, and that life is sometimes immersed in tears.
Take now your sprig of parsley and dip it into the salt water and eat it in memory of these things.
THE BREAKING BREAD: THE MATZAH
The Israelites waiting for deliverance and redemption in Egypt is a central element in the Exodus story. The hope in God who is the only ONE who can bring deliverance is also a CRUCIAL ELEMENT!
There is not only a sense of celebration at what God has done in the past, there is also an eager anticipation of what God will do to bring deliverance to a world that still groans under its slavery to sin, and awaits its final redemption. The traditional saying, “next year in Jerusalem” is an expression not only of the faithfulness of God in the past, but of faith and hope in God's future as HE continues to work out HIS redemption in the world. Jerusalem is really a symbol of the restoration of all things for which both Jews and Christians eagerly await.
While we love looking at this reflection of deliverance already accomplished, there is a strand throughout this gathering that recognizes the yet to be fulfilled promises of God that all creation will be restored and all oppression, sin, and evil destroyed. This dimension is not negative, but is wonderfully positive, the expression of a faith and hope in God's future based on who God is as revealed in HIS past actions. We can trust that promise of future deliverance because HE HAS delivered! For Christians, this expresses the HOPE of the Second Coming! AMEN!!!
Among people everywhere, the sharing of bread forms a bond of fellowship and community.
For the sake of our deliverance, we will say together the ancient words that join us with our own people and the beggar in the street. For our redemption is bound up with the deliverance from bondage of all people everywhere. It is only the grace of our LORD GOD that sets us free!
“THIS IS THE BREAD OF AFFLICTION WHICH OUR ANCESTORS ATE IN THE LAND OF EGYPT. ALL WHO ARE HUNGRY COME AND EAT. ALL WHO ARE NEEDY COME AND CELEBRATE PASSOVER WITH US. NOW WE CELEBRATE IT HERE. NEXT YEAR, MAY WE CELEBRATE PASSOVER IN JERUSALEM. NOW WE ARE SLAVES. NEXT YEAR MAY WE BE TRULY FREE.”
We now fill the Second Cup but DO NOT DRINK YET!
Let us now share the story of the Exodus with the children.
The Torah tells us that our children will ask questions about who they are as God’s people. The Lord has instructed us that we should tell them the story so that they might know the Lord. It is both a duty and a privilege to answer the four questions of the Passover and to recount the gracious acts of our God.
Read by a child: “Why is this night different than all other nights? Why on all other nights do we eat bread with leaven, but on this night we eat only unleavened bread? Why on all other nights do we eat of all kinds of herbs, but on this night we eat bitter herbs? Why on all other nights do we not dip herbs at all, but on this night we dip them twice? Why on all other nights do we eat in the normal way, but on this night we eat with special ceremony?”
We will now answer the four questions concerning Passover that you have asked.
Once we were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt, but the Lord in His goodness and mercy brought us out of that land with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm.Had God not rescued us from the hand of the destroyer, surely we and our children would still be enslaved, deprived of freedom and human dignity.
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.Praise be to God who is everywhere. Praise be to God who has brought us freedom and has delivered us from all that enslaves us!
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. 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. 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.
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.
As each plague is recited, a single drop of wine is removed from the cup, either with a finger or spoon, and placed in the bowl by the head of your table. Traditionally, a finger is used to symbolize the finger of God’s judgment on sin.
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.
We will now offer a prayer for peace and for God’s work of reconciliation in our world.
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.
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.
SONG- Part the Waters LORD/ I Need Thee Every Hour
CONTENTION AMONG THE DISCIPLES AS TO WHO WAS GREATER
Luke 22.24-30
EATING THE BROKEN UNLEAVENED BREAD
The Broken Bread Symbolizes Jesus Christ Carrying Our Sufferings,
Our Sicknesses and Our Sorrows
Isaiah 53.3-12 I Peter 2.21-24
Luke 22.19
19. And He took bread; and after giving thanks, He broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body, which is given for you. This do in the remembrance of Me.”
I Corinthians 11.23-24
(See also Matthew 26:26, Mark 14:22.)
At this point stop, bless and break the unleavened bread, distribute it to participants and then eat it. When all have partaken of the bread let us also now drink from our second cup- DELIVERANCE.
Paul will explain the SIN OFFERING and the ALTER EXPERIENCE! (If you are interested in this portion, please contact us and we can get you a copy of this.)
While the next songs play, please take your sin offering to the alter and privately give it over to the LORD for deliverance from this troubling problem. Cast your worries and cares of the world away here. We will burn these with the left over crumbs and other unleavened bread at the end of Passover services.
A Song of Deliverance or Grace- All I Need Is You, Through the Fire
Mark 14.26
26. And after singing a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.
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.
A Song of Testimony- Amazing Grace, Always Enough
The Choroset is a mixture of apples (sweet and sour), walnuts, cinnomin, and kosher wine. It is to symbolize the mixture of clar and straw that the Israelitesused to make bricks for the cities of Pharaoh. You may desire to add it to your unleavened bread as we take communion under the third cup. Since we have Christ Jesus as our LAMB OF GOD and no longer eat the sacrificed lamb of the year... the Choroset is said to have replaced the meat at the Passover table.
THE THIRD CUP : THE CUP OF REDEMPTION
This cup is for Elijah the Prophet. Elijah did not see death but was taken to heaven in a chariot of fire. It has been the Hope of God's people that Elijah would come at Passover, to announce the coming of the Messiah, the son of David. As the prophet Malachi said, “See, I will send you Elijah the prophet before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes.” (Malachi 4.5)
Luke 4.21
We still live in the “today” of that fulfillment, and so we celebrate the coming of Jesus Messiah, and the faithfulness of God in working throughout history to bring deliverance and freedom to his people. Jesus 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 blodd. 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.
SONG- Praise you through the Storm
“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 wine, 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.”
Let us all take a piece of the unleavened bread.
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.
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.
Let us all eat and drink now in rememberance of these things.
THE FOURTH CUP: The CUP OF THANKSGIVING AND HOPE
A NEW COMMANDMENT: LOVE ONE ANOTHER AS JESUS HAD LOVED THEM
John 13.33-35
THE WORDS OF THE NEW COVENANT WHICH WE HAVE AGREED TO LIVE BY
John 14.1-31
John 15.1-27
John 16.1-33
John 17.1-26
Our Passover is now completed, just as our redemption is complete. We rejoice with thanksgiving and yet are humbled by God's love!
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 it 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.
We raise our glasses in 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!
Let us all drink the cup.
We conclude with “NEXT YEAR IN JERUSALEM”!
SONG- There Is Power In The Blood
Closing Prayer
(Extinguish your candles)
