passover 2013

Mar 26, 2013

Monday night we joined with millions of other people of the House of Israel and celebrated Passover. We spent all day Monday (and much of last week) getting ready and now that we have had our Seder two times in the past few weeks, I think we are getting to be quite the professionals. It was MUCH faster this time than it was last time. Keziah, Blythe, and I make a good team getting all those goblets, salt dishes, ceremonial plates, silverware, and candles out. I was even able to squeeze a bath in before our guests arrived!

This year we had the Brownings, the Thomases, and a brand new family in our area, the Hansons, join us for our Seder. We didn’t have all our guests finalized until about 36 hours prior to the event, but it all worked out beautifully and we were thrilled to pieces to be able to share our favorite Holiday/Holy Day with these families.

Annesley found the Afikomen for the first time and has been carrying around her prize all week long. It is a small plaque that says:

The redeemed of the Lord shall return and everlasting joy and holiness shall be upon their heads.

I love that message! Passover is all about redemption. Redemption from our sin, pain, bondage, sorrow, mortal defects, hard hearts, and anguished souls. Passover teaches us that Christ is the only answer for these circumstances and that through Him we can be healed and filled with joy, complete and everlasting joy.

This year, many of my Sheva & Shalom students and past Passover guests are holding their own Seders with their families. It makes me so, so happy that others are enjoying it and making it their own special tradition as well. I have been fielding phone calls and emails all week long helping people figure out Passover. A few people have suggested I write a how-to-guide. I don’t think that will be happening anytime soon (or ever!), but it is kind of fun to think about.

At the end of the night Annette and her girls stayed and washed dishes and helped us get the whole kitchen back in order. What a treat! It usually takes us hours and hours (days and days?) to recover from Passover, so it was really wonderful to have it all taken care of so quickly with the six of us working together.

Now we just need to put the last few dishes on their shelf in the storage room, put all the linens away, and move the furniture back into the family room and we will be back to normal!