Passover at New Hope

We had a good time at our Passover Seder last week. And it was educational too! Joel, for example, commented that he had never learned so much about the origin of communion than he had that evening. For the uninitiated, the Passover Seder is the traditional meal or feast celebrated every spring by the Jews in remembrance of their deliverance from Egypt and God's establishment of Israel as a nation.

One of the traditional items of the Passover meal is a stack of three matzahs wrapped in napkins and called a unity. The center matzah is removed, broken in half, wrapped in a napkin and hidden by the father or head of the household until later. This hidden, broken half is called the afikomen which might mean "I have come." As the meal comes to a close, the children hunt for the afikomen and the one who finds it returns it to the father who redeems it with a coin. The afikomen is then divided among the participants of the Passover and is the last thing eaten.

The Passover Seder is filled with many other such interesting symbols or foreshadowings of the Messiah, which we as believers of Jesus can appreciate as having been fulfilled through Jesus in his life, death and resurrection. If you have never experienced a Passover Seder, be sure to join us next year!

Click here for photos of our Passover Seder at the Randall's.

BTW Special thanks to the Randall's for hosting and especially to Sue for her great cooking! In fact all the food was great. There were so many leftovers that I enjoyed Sue's chicken, Joel's matzah stuffing and JoAnn's brownies into the following week. Thanks to everyone who helped make our Passover Seder happen this year and a great success!

-Dave-