Seder

Andy led our C-group through the Seder tonight.  Our C-group consists of six sophomore boys who meet with Andy and our friend, John, in our home every Wednesday night. Our family went through the Seder last year one night while I was working.  I learned so much and had no idea of the complexity of this celebration.

One of the four cups of grape juice.  The cups represent freedom, deliverance,  redemption, and thanksgiving. These elements were altered in honor of our Christian heritage on this side of the cross.

unleavened bread

The "hidden" leavened bread that was to be found by the children. We will store our nativity set after Easter.  We kept it on display in honor of the often repeated phrase from this past Christmas, "Christmas means nothing without Easter."

candles lit at a key point in the ceremony

Takeaways:
We tasted the bitter root to signify the bitter tears of the Israelites in bondage.

The unleavened bread was found and removed from the room while we were asked that sin we don't even recognize would be removed from our hearts.

There was a responsive reading of the story of Exodus.  The leader would tell part of the story with the group responding with "Dayeinu!"  Dayeinu means it would have been enough. This was said in response to things like:
"If only the Lord God had taken us out of Egypt and not passed judgement on the Egyptians..."
"If only the Lord God had parted the sea for us and not taken care of us and fed us manna in the desert for 40 years..."
...and there were a few others.

It was amazing to think of just how much God does for us, going above and beyond.  I am reminded of the poor widow with only bread for supper who said, "All this and Jesus too."  She was grateful.