Weaving Wild Imaginations

“For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness who has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”  II Cor. 4:6

Commanding the light to shine out of darkness was a cosmic creative act.  It is the birthing of an illumination, the arriving of color, the “showing” part of the telling of a story.  When light comes, all the texture, pattern, reality, of those things which inhabit our world come alive once again.  Shadowy night dreams and thoughts, which are not real, flee silently before the magnificent power of light which renders darkness suddenly void and empty of meaning.   True meaning is in the reality of day.  Daylight is when we wake up, begin to live.  Christ-knowledge gives us our daylight, our beginning-to-live aliveness.  And it is the dawn that gives us light enough to see – but it is the breaking of the Sun into our landscape which burnishes all gold-flashing brilliance into the shadows and glowing warmth through our cold hearts.  It is the breaking of the Son into our story, our Christ the alchemist that works all things for good and truest gold, who slashes through all shades of grey in our lurking souls. “Then sings my soul, my Saviour, God, to Thee, How great Thou art!”

The Story above all stories is that of Jesus, Son of God, coming to earth, walking among us, dying for us, and conquering our sin and misery and death through His rising from a borrowed grave, and ascending back to heaven, His work here complete, His work there continuing as He prepares Home for us.

Remembering this by means of a Christian Seder meal together is a profound form of fellowship.  Remembering the shadows of this our story through the Israelites’ bondage in Egypt and then freedom, allows this story to write the truths deep in our hearts of what it means to travail in sorrow and despair, only to be miraculously freed and brought to wholeness by a King whose thoughts are turned to us, whose intentions are to take us into His reality, and yes, His Home, permanently adopted.

--children searching for hidden pieces of leavened bread to remove from the house

"the removal of leaven carries with it deeper significance in Passover than simply its connection with the exodus. Its removal, and the symbolic removal at the beginning of the Seder, signifies the attitude of penitence, the willingness to remove any corrupting influence in one’s life and submit to God in obedience."  

--a girl enters with flowers, signifying the coming of a new season

"Passover is a Springtime festival, the season of rebirth, renewal, and new life. The days are filled with more light than darkness. The earth is becoming green with new life."  

"This is the bread of affliction which our ancestors ate in the land of Egypt. All who are hungry come and eat. All who are needy come and celebrate Passover with us."  

"I will now hide a portion of the Matzah which we will use as the Afikomen, the dessert of our meal. It is a symbol of the redemption for which we all long and which we know will come, but yet which we do not yet see. All children must cover your eyes while I hide it."  

--the sweet haroseth got a thumbs-up from the younger members, who weren't so sure about the moror (horseradish) and bitter herbs in salt water.

"Twice during the Seder two elements representing a mixture of positive and negative experiences or emotions are incorporated...  The first is here where we will eat vegetables or herbs with salt water and later when we will eat the sweet charoset with bitter moror.  The contrasting elements serve to remind us that life is often a confusing mixture of joy and sorrow, of bitter endings and sweet new beginnings.  It is not our goal to eliminate the negative experiences and pretend that life is all sweetness and happiness.  That is a futile task and finally dishonest.  Rather our goal is to rejoice in the fact that God works in all the circumstances of life, just as he heard the cries of slaves and brought deliverance."  

*Seder quotes were taken from:
 "A Passover Seder for Christians" by Dennis Bratcher