by Louise A Flood
Kyrieology.com

For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Therefore let us keep the Festival... 1 Corinthians 5:7b-8a

We decided to celebrate Passover instead of Easter this year. We consciously made the decision last year when I noticed that Easter and Passover were four weeks apart. Christ was crucified during Passover and He is our Passover Lamb and, without getting into the origins of Easter, we decided that we should celebrate Passover, as Christ did. I wanted to share my thoughts about this new experience.

Passover lasts seven days. I thought it was just one day since that is all that is mentioned on the calendar! You also need to remove all yeast from your home! Wow, it was amazing what had yeast in it! Some I gave away, some I threw away, some we ate and some we packed up in a box and put outside! I was talking to someone who was also celebrating their first Passover and he mentioned the toaster oven! Crumbs! So that found a place outside (I didn't have time to clean it!). Anyway, for seven days you are only to eat unleavened bread as a reminder of the Israelites leaving Egypt without their bread rising. Yeast is also associated with sin. So for seven days we did not eat yeast products. I enjoyed this outward reminder.

Passover started at sundown on Wednesday and we had a lamb dinner that evening. That night, in my dreams, I had a word going through my head over and over and over. The word was Hallel. I knew it was Hebrew but, well, I don’t know Hebrew! The first thing I did the next morning was look in my Key Word Study Bible to see if I could find the word. I could only find a word with one “L” and I knew the word had two “L’s” and the definition didn’t feel right in my Spirit. So I gave it to God and forgot about it. Two days later I was reading an article that I posted here called "The Celebration of Passover" and I couldn’t believe it when I read the following statement “Watch over those parts of Your Word found in the Haggadah, especially in the Hallel Psalms 113 - 118". There was the word from my dream! Hallel! And it has something to do with Passover! I went to Wikipedia and they had a page about Hallel and, in short, this is what it says“Hallel consists of six Psalms (113-118), which are said as a unit, on joyous occasions.... It is also recited during the evening prayers the first night of Passover...”. Wow! It's like God’s Spirit was longing for these prayers that have been recited during Passover for thousands of years! What a tremendous confirmation regarding Passover!

On Saturday we attended our church’s Seder. I know some Evangelical churches have Seders but this is the first one I’ve attended. I enjoy the tradition and I enjoy the fact that Christ’s death is included in the celebration of Passover. I really don’t have a lot to say about the Seder. Other than what I’ve mentioned, I also enjoyed the food and the company! I need to meditate on the ceremony more and a friend mentioned that it is different when you celebrate it at home with the family.

My 10 and 8 year old children did really well with the transition to Passover. They go to a Christian school and even though they are among Christian’s, it can be difficult for them to explain why they are not celebrating Easter. That week at school they had Spiritual Emphasis Week and my oldest was very outspoken in his new Messianic beliefs. Thankfully, the speaker for that week was understanding and did not question his beliefs. He even invited her to our church’s Seder! They also did really well with not eating items with yeast, especially pizza! They have pizza at school on Tuesday and I included a zip-lock bag for them to put it in. I gave them a choice, it really was up to them, and they both chose to put their pizza in the bag. I was very proud of their decision since I am sure it was hard for them!

There are some other aspects of Passover that I haven’t mentioned (for example, the first and last days of Passover are to be kept as a Sabbath) and I am positive that I did not do everything correctly! It is for this reason that Christ came. We all fall short. Thanks be to God for the sacrifice of His Son for our sins. Our Passover lamb. In closing this remembrance, I believe this is what God is saying to me:

By God's grace, you, who were once slaves to sin, obeyed from your heart the pattern of teaching to which you were exposed;

and after you had been set free from sin, you became enslaved to righteousness.

(I am using popular language because your human nature is so weak.) For just as you used to offer your various parts as slaves to impurity and lawlessness, which led to more lawlessness; so now offer your various parts as slaves to righteousness, which leads to being made holy, set apart for God. Romans 6:17-19

Louise A Flood
Kyrieology.com

Posted on May 25, 2006