Passover 2010

We celebrated our annual Passover meal on Good Friday this year. We invited our dear friends, Saint Dorthy and her husband, Prez.
In preparation, the kids got all dressed up. Mikey's getup was not quite ancient Children of Israel so much as it was Nephite...but it worked.Grant got dressed up for a minute and a half. We started in the living room, where Todd told the story of Moses and The Exodus to the children. They listened very well, and because they know the story better than I thought they did, they added in a lot of information. After telling the boys about the plagues and The Exodus, we took the boys outside to smear "blood" on our front door. Instead of blood, we used water-downed ketchup. Mikey was very concerned about being the first-born and not wanting to die. He then asked about his specific friends that are the first born.You could consider this step as having Faith in Christ's sacrifice.
Once done with the door, we went inside and remove all of the Chametz - the "leaven" bread -from the home. When the Children of Israel were told to leave Egypt, they were told to go in haste. In going in haste they did not have time for their bread to even rise. The leaven represents corruption. When bread is leavened, it spoils faster. Therefore, getting all the leaven out of your house symbolizes getting all the corruption and sin out of your life. This step could be considered Repentance.
After getting rid of the Chametz, we then washed our hands.This can be very symbolic of baptism, for we are becoming clean and ready to participate in the rest of the Seder meal.After the washing our hands we went and sat down at the table and lit the candles. We told the kids about how Christ is the Light of the World. You can also compare the lighting of the candle to receiving the Light of Christ, or receiving the Holy Ghost. Well, already we have seen the first principles and ordinances of the Gospel...Mikey, and the other kids as well, kept trying to blow out the candles.
We take the legs off of the table and sit on the floor. At the Passover meals, the Children of Israel would not sit down in remembrance that they were to eat in haste to leave Egypt. We mostly put the table on the ground to have the dinner feel more different. It really makes the kids remember this meal more, and realize that it is special. After sitting down, Grant realized that it was different and insisted on getting dressed up...even though it was only for a few minutes.We start the actual meal with dipping Karpas -any vegetable to represent the harvest or God's gifts to us - into salt water. The salt water represents the sweat and tears of our ancestors in bondage, also the sweat and tears from us when we are in bondage of sin, and mostly the sweat and tears shed by Christ our Lord.We then have the Breaking of Matzah. Three Matzah (unleavened bread) are placed on a dish. The middle Matzah is broken into two. The three Matzah represent the Godhead. The middle one, representing Christ, is broken to again represent His sacrifice. Also, this breaking of the bread is where the First Sacrament took place. We each took a piece of the broken bread and ate it. We also told the kids about how Christ is the bread of life. At this point we filled our cups up with "wine" - grape juice. Then Todd recounted the Ten Plagues that were visited upon the Egyptians. For every plague mentioned, we would stick a finger into our cup and place a drop of the "wine" onto our plate, symbolizing that though we are grateful for God freeing the Israelites, we take no pleasure in the suffering of the Egyptians. It could also symbolize that though we can be made free through the Atonement of Christ, we still suffer for our sins, though minimal in comparison to how much He suffered for our sins or the blessings we get from the Atonement.We then discussed the symbols of the Passover with the items on the Seder plate.
As a way of giving praise to God, and showing appreciation for all the blessings given, we went around with our own Dayenu. Dayenu means "It would have been enough and we are grateful". My own Dayenu this year was had Christ had given me baptism, but not the temple sealing, it would have been enough. Dayenu really helps you to see and understand how incredibly blessed we are. God is good.The Jews set up an extra plate for Elijah...silly Jews, he's already returned...during Passover in Kirtland, Ohio! But for those that don't know, Elijah is also a title... one that Christ holds as well. So we set an extra plate for Christ and told the kids that we are awaiting Christ's return, His Second coming.Last year, when we had this meal for the first time, we were doing it mainly for us adults. We were taking an Old Testament Institute class and had loved learning of that time era. We sat and relished and imagined life back in "the days". This year was different. I could still feel the Spirit, and there were a lot of thought-provoking things, but I really felt that the intention of the meal was to teach the kids more about Christ. The focus was on helping them understand Christ better. I was amazed at how well they understood what was being said, and how incredibly reverent and attentive they were. The meal lasted several hours, yet they stayed in their spots and participated the entire time.A big focus of this meal is the Sacrifice of Christ. We speak of the bondage of the Children of Israel as a way to help the children and ourselves understand the bondage we are in through sin. The Sacrificial Lamb's blood freed the people from Egypt's grasp just as The True Sacrificial Lamb's blood frees us from Satan's grasp. Originally this meal was to help the Israelites teach their children about Jehovah, I hope that my children learned more about Christ through our meal.
"L'Shana Ha'ba-a B'yershalayim"
"Next Year in Jerusalem"