Last year, I wrote a Seder supper outline for our family. It worked well. This year, I share it with you.
Here's what you'll need:
4 cups of grape juice for each member of the family
Some sort of green lettuce
Small cup of salt water for each member of the family
Small cup of sweet dressing (we're using honey mustard this year) for each member of the family
Boiled Egg (we use deviled eggs)
Daddy: (prayer) In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
All: Amen
Momma: Bahruk Attah Adon Eloheynu. Blessed are you Lord God. Our Creator and Savior.
You light up our lives and set us free. (light candles) Jesus, light of the world, bless our family and free us from all our fears.
All: Amen.
Daddy: The Seder supper is celebrated by Jews to remember what God did for them in delivering them from slavery to the Egyptians. For Christians, it points to what Christ did for us on the cross.
Take the first cup. This cup is for God freeing the Israelites and it is for Christ freeing us from our sins. This first cup is called the Cup of Sanctification.
Momma: I am the Lord, and I will free you from the yoke of the Egyptians. [Exodus 6:6] “And He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness” 1 Peter 2:24
The Boy: What is sanctification?
The Oldest: Sanctification is God making us holy in heart and behavior.
Daddy: Everyone, drink the first cup.
(Everyone drinks the first cup of juice.)
All: (singing) Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.
Momma: Now we will eat the salad greens.
The Oldest: Why do we have these salad greens?
Momma: The greens are dipped into salt water so that we can remember the tears of the Israelites while they were slaves in Egypt.
(Everyone takes one piece of lettuce and dips it into the salt water and eats it)
Momma: We dip them tonight in the sweet sauce to remember that sweetness came when God saved them out of Egypt. God also turns our tears of repentance to sweetness when he gives us the righteousness of Jesus.
(Everyone takes one piece of lettuce and dips it into the sweet dressing and eats it)
The Boy: Why do we eat this bread at this meal?
Daddy: At the first Passover God’s people left Egypt so quickly they had no time to let their bread rise, so their bread was flat. Our everyday regular bread is made with yeast, which, in this meal, is a symbol of sin.
The Oldest: For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” Then they said to Him, “Lord, give us this bread always.” And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life."
Daddy: I will now break the middle matzah that stands for Jesus.
Momma: “But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.” Isaiah 53:5
Daddy: This broken matzah will be wrapped and hidden. After dinner, the children will hunt to “resurrect” (to find) the matzah.
(Daddy goes in another room to hide the broken middle matzah. He returns quickly.)
(Everyone eats at least a bite of the matzah on their plates.)
The Boy: Why is this meal special?
Daddy: During this meal we remember that God’s people were slaves in Egypt. Remember the story?
The Oldest: God’s people cried out and hoped that God would rescue them as He promised to do. And God heard their cry and remembered the covenant He had made with Abraham. God sent Moses to deliver the Israelites from the slavery of Egypt.
Momma: 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.
Daddy: While I read the plagues, you will take a drop of juice out of the second cup and put it on your napkin with your finger. This symbolizes God’s judgment on sin.
Blood. Frogs. Lice. Swarms. Cattle Disease. Boils. Hail. Locusts. Darkness. Death of the First Born.
(As Daddy says each plague, everyone dips their finger into their second cup and drips a drip of juice onto their napkin.)
Momma: Pharaoh refused to let the people go until the last plague, the death of the firstborn of all of Egypt, convinced him to release the people.
Daddy: 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. This was a sign to point to Jesus, the final lamb of sacrifice who died for our sins.
The Boy: "John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!" [John 1:29]
Momma: The egg is a symbol of the lamb sacrifice. It is also a symbol of mourning and sadness because the Jewish people no longer have a temple to offer sacrifices. They really don’t need a temple now, do they?
The Oldest: No temple is needed anymore because Jesus was the final sacrifice. Jesus is our Passover lamb.
The Boy: Jesus is our Passover lamb.
The Youngest: Jesus is our Passover lamb.
(Everyone eats at least a bite of their boiled egg.)
Daddy: Even as the Israelites were leaving, Pharaoh changed his mind and sent his army after them. Trapped between Pharaoh’s army and the Sea, 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.
All: (singing) Through many dangers, toils and snares
I have already come;
'Tis Grace that brought me safe thus far
and Grace will lead me home.
Daddy: Tonight we eat what is bitter to remind us that it was very bitter and hard while God’s people were slaves in Egypt.
(Everyone eats one piece of lettuce plain.)
Momma: Tonight we eat the charoset to remind us of the mortar that God’s people made when they worked for the Egyptians.
The Boy: How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! (Psalm 119:103)
(Everyone eats at least a bite of the sweet charoset.)
Daddy: I am the Lord; I will deliver you from slavery [Exodus 6:6]. We praise you O Lord our God, who has freed your people. Drink the second cup. This is the Cup of Deliverance.
(Everyone drinks the second cup of juice.)
Momma: Here is our meat that we eat just as God’s people ate the lamb on the night before they were delivered from slavery.
Daddy: We will now drink the Cup of Redemption.
(Everyone drinks the third cup.)
The Oldest: What is redemption?
Daddy: Redemption is God saving us from sin.
The Boy: Who will be saved from sin?
Momma: Those who repent of sin, believe in Christ, and lead holy lives.
(Everyone eats their meal. Including the meat.)
Daddy: Our Seder is now complete, just as our redemption is complete. We rejoice with thanksgiving, and yet are humbled by God’s love! Everyone hold up your fourth cup: The Cup of Thanksgiving and Hope
(Everyone holds up the fourth cup)
Daddy: 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. Drink the fourth cup.
(Everyone drinks the fourth cup)
All: Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory forever. Amen.
Momma: I am the Lord; I will take you as my people and I will be your God [Exodus 6:7].
Daddy: Yet the story of God’s redemption is not ended. Christ died on the cross for our sins to justify us. He sent the Holy Spirit to make us holy in heart and conduct. And we will be completely made new when Christ comes again. (prayer)
All: Amen! The Lord has promised good to me.
His word my hope secures. He will my shield and portion be as long as life endures.
Daddy: He is risen!
All: He is risen indeed!
(Daddy blows out the candles.)
Children go and hunt the afikhomen.
Much help from: http://www.cresourcei.org/haggadah.html
{linked}
(Here's the Matzah post)
How could anyone not know that this bread is a symbol of The Bread?
The Bread of Life who takes away the sins of the world.
When a recipe uses words like "pierce" and "anointed," how can tears not come to your eyes?
"Surely he took up our pain
and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
stricken by him, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to our own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all." Isaiah 53:4-6
and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
stricken by him, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to our own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all." Isaiah 53:4-6
Pierced, bruised, anointed Matzah bread
Happy Easter!
He is risen, He is risen indeed!
Linked to Six Word Saturday.
