Today is the first official day of the Passover/Feast of Unleavened Bread Holiday. In our house we got started a bit early, and though we didn’t need a reason to start the celebration early, there are some good ones to note this year. To begin with, I love it when Passover and Passion week coincide together. To me it adds an extra element or sense of how big God’s community is around the world when you have billions of believers reading and memorializing the same texts and events at the same time. We hosted our first Seder for some family and friends this past Sunday night and had a wonderful evening. It was cool to us that this was Palm Sunday, which starts the Passion week and memorializes Yeshua riding into Jerusalem on the donkey while the crowds were shouting Hosanna and waving and placing palm branches at his feet. Also, depending on how you reconcile the Gospel accounts and which commentary you read, Yeshua could have had his last Seder with his disciples a night early and then was led to be crucified at the same time the actual Passover lambs were sacrificed the next afternoon.
For our first Seder at our house, we chose to utilize the recently updated Passover Encounter Haggadah by First Fruits of Zion. The Passover Encounter Haggadah is not an orthodox Haggadah but does follow the order of a traditional Seder and includes relevent texts from it. The heart of the Passover Encounter Haggadah and its main thrust is to connect Christians in solidarity with Messianic Jews and the Jewish community at large. To join the Jewish people in celebrating the historical Exodus from Egypt while at the same time focusing, honoring and making explicit our trust in Yeshua as the Messiah and the historical work that he did on the cross to provide forgiveness of sins and make redemption available to all mankind, Jew and Gentile. The flow of the Passover Encounter texts were easy to incorporate into a group setting and the optional discussion points were great for additional thoughts and ideas.
We had our second Seder last night with Sar Shalom Messianic Congregation. Sar Shalom used to be Heritage Fellowship and they just recently relocated from about 25 minutes from our house to less than five. This move made travel nice for us and now obligates us to check them out on a deeper level soon since they are now in our own back yard. This is the second year in a row that we have joined Rabbi Mark Griffin’s congregation for a Passover. Rabbi Griffin makes it a point to keep the focus on our Passover Lamb, Yeshua and make much of him through-out the traditional ceremony of the evening. I commented to Rabbi Griffin after the Seder, that I have now been to half a dozen Passover Seder’s and no two have been alike. It’s true that the Passover Seder and it’s text the Haggadah are living events and texts in the truest sense with additional insight gained with every re-telling and enactment. By the way, the Violin Guy that has been there the past two years is absolutely amazing and has been a highlight and would be worth just an evening alone.
***Addendum*** My wife got a message from a friend on Facebook mid Tuesday afternoon about a Seder ticket for Baruch HaShem Messianic Synagogue that had just come available. Baruch Hashem is the Messianic congregation in our area we are most familiar with and have been visiting them regularly for the past few years. We had wanted to go to their Seder but it sold out (600+) before the tickets went public. My wife was already scheduled to go to work that evening so she was unable to go but she asked if I’d be up for it and I jumped at the chance. The Seder was led by Rabbi Marty Waldman and like I said above about the other Seder’s, was in many ways the same (obviously there is a traditional order) but was in many ways unique to the leader and congregational style. This was definitely the largest Seder I had been a part of by a long shot and I commented to a friend afterwards that I felt this was the first time I really connected and got the symbolism and parallels of the Afikoman and the piece of bread Yeshua blessed and broke after dinner. So I guess originally I wrote this blog a day and Seder too soon. If I had only waited I could have posted the Hat-trick instead of the combo:-).
May you be blessed by Messiah Yeshua this season and beyond with grace and truth! Happy Passover 2011!!!
Messiah Connection 
April 20th, 2011 at 11:53 am
My family and I had our Passover Seder a day early, though perhaps for different reasons than you state. My wife, who’s (non-Messianic) Jewish, sent me a link to a news story right before the Passover Sabbath began that gave me pause, not only in terms of the role of a non-Jew in holding a Seder, but in the attempt to “combine” Passover and Easter in a meaningful fashion.
The more I look into the “connectiveness” between Christianity and Judaism, the more I continue to struggle with how to resolve that interaction. Since I’m a believer in Yeshua (Jesus) and my wife is not, we pretty much live out that transaction on a daily basis. At times like Passover, it is especially punctuated.
I don’t say any of this to be critical or unkind, but rather, to illustrate that the fine details of integrating Christian and Jewish faith and practice aren’t after all, quite as clear cut as we wish.
April 21st, 2011 at 10:42 pm
Hi James,
Thanks for commenting. I don’t take it as critical, at least not too much so:-).
You and your wife’s situation are different from my own. I can only imagine your perspective and challenges being married to a non-believer who is also Jewish. I do agree that it is hugely important to be as sensitive as possible to another’s view and perception when practice is on public display. I agree that the role of a Gentile in a public Seder is a delicate one but in one’s own home with family and friends who are all in a connected relationship with one another is a different matter all together. As for the connectiveness of Christianity and Judaism, it is undeniable that this is a historical fact. One was birthed in the midst of the other and they both share a majority of the same sacred text and even theology about that text. I believe the integration of both faiths is simple and complex at the same time depending on the subject, level and quite frankly the person who is doing the discussing. Items such as family, religious or lack thereof background, prejudice, motive, ect all factor into one’s view of the problem or lack thereof and whether the solution is simple or complex. A lot of the time in the end it’s our own choice that makes it whatever it is. I’ve definitely made way too many things more complicated in my life than they should be and I guess that’s a part of the human condition we’re waiting to be restored. At the end of the day, I do believe we should be more thoughtful and think through our actions and dialogue with one another in the most peaceable way possible while still staying true to our Master and core beliefs. It is a challenge daily and I pray we are guided in wisdom and diligence in this matter. Thanks again James!
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