Passover Preparation - Day 7 - Final Touches

Observe the month of Abib and celebrate the Passover of the LORD your God, because in the month of Abib he brought you out of Egypt by night. Sacrifice as the Passover to the LORD your God an animal from your flock or herd at the place the LORD will choose as a dwelling for his Name. Do not eat it with bread made with yeast, but for seven days eat unleavened bread, the bread of affliction, because you left Egypt in haste--so that all the days of your life you may remember the time of your departure from Egypt. (Deut 16:1-3)

     It is now time to approach the Pesach Table, hopefully not with a heart which calls this a ritual, or even worse: a relic of the past; but we are to approach the evening of our Seder with an attitude of expectancy.
     As you read the previous six blogs I hope you clearly see the love and provisions of God which give us cause to seek the Lord, to celebrate His merciful acts and to honor His Name. Know that God desires us to attend this celebration so we can hear of His mighty acts of love and care.
     The scripture above shows it is God who invites us individually to come to His meal and to be His people. Our God is a living God. The scripture says God is the same yesterday, today and forever; who is still able to do the mighty acts which were shown to us in the past. I hope the Passover experience breeds expectancy and the desire to discover how God will bring us into a land flowing with milk and honey.
     The Hagaddah teaches we have a choice in our spiritual approach to the evening. Within the Seder we meet four sons: the wise son, the wicked son, the simple son and they young son. How will you approach the evening: with a desire to learn, as a participant, with eager ears and a desire to understand, or to be enveloped for the first time in this production.
     The order of the meal is designed to change us. Many come to the table ill prepared. They go through the motions, mouth the prayers, read responsively, listen respectfully - and hopefully God does something during the course of the evening: He breaks through and changes us from dutiful participants to desirous people who experience intimately our departure from the land of Egypt.
      The discussions of the Seder are designed to give us a desire to share its actions and truths through the year. We have already observed the call to charity as we are to make sure that all can attend and participate in this service and its teachings. We are also called to share a spirit of understanding; for through the lesson we experience how we were once aliens and slaves who were forced to serve others and to live according to their whims. With this understanding we celebrate our freedom by caring for others who are not yet free.
     We share because Passover is a story of hope. God with mighty acts of judgment saved an enslaved people. If God can bring that generation out of slavery, God can and will free any person from enslavement when they cry out and seek Him.
     We share because the next generation needs to hear (and there is always a next generation and beyond). The act of sharing has kept the Jewish nation vibrant and alive for over 3,500 years: even though we were scattered across the globe and had no land to call our own for most of their history (Not only was our father a wandering Aramean, but through the years most of the Jewish people were forced to survived in lands not their own).
     The story and its truths are worthy, and because of this they have endured. Let’s keep sharing their truths and living their actions.

Passover Preparation - Day 6 - Charity to others

“When you reap your harvest in your field and forget a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. When you beat your olive trees, you shall not go over them again. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow. When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you shall not strip it afterward. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow. You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt; therefore I command you to do this. (Dt 24:19-22)
   One of the hardest things to accomplish in life is to see all sides of a situation at the same time. In order to prepare our hearts for Passover, we must do just this! On one hand, we will enter into a celebration which teaches us to be thankful because “we went down into Egypt with a few people and lived there and became a great nation, powerful and numerous.” (Dt 26:5) On the other hand, we are to remember we were slaves in the land of Egypt - and we must have compassion on those who are slaves today.
   We enjoy being a prosperous and great people. We enjoy the trappings of our affluence, and look with disdain on others who are not so fortunate. “Get a job,” we say. We call the poor in our nation “lazy” without ever trying to develop relationships with them. We dismiss those who are different and have trouble learning our culture or language with, “Why don’t you go back home?" or "You must become exactly like us.”
   We forget that most of our ancestors came from humble backgrounds - the majority as immigrants from other places. America is a land of refugees. One reason people leave their homeland and travel is to escape problems; problems such as poverty, persecution, and enslavement. We are to empathize with less fortunate people and be the hand that helps them, as others helped us or our ancestors.
   We pride ourselves and grow our riches by squeezing the last penny out of every dollar. But that is not what God tells us to do. Notice, when we have finished the harvest, we are not to go back into the field checking for what we missed, or harvesting the late fruit. We are to enjoy our harvest, and leave the rest for the poor. [Leviticus 19:10] Likewise, if we have done well in life, we are to go out and look for the poor, the stranger, the fatherless, or the widow and help improve their life.
    One purpose of Passover is to teach us to be holy, separate, different from the world just as God is different from any other gods. The Bible calls us to be “a wise and understanding people” (Dt 6:6) so others will notice. “What other nation is so great as as to have such righteous decrees and laws” as those set before us by our God? (Dt 6:8)
   The Jewish people placed an alms box in the Temple for the purpose of helping the poor to enjoy Passover as a rich man. How has the lesson on slavery taught you to reach out to the less fortunate - especially in your community? Each of us needs a ministry to help us follow the command to remember we were once slaves.