INTRODUCTION

The long history of our people is one of contrasts — freedom and slavery, joy and pain, power and helplessness. Passover reflects these contrasts. Tonight as we celebrate our freedom, we remember the slavery of our ancestors and realize that many people are not yet free.

Each generation changes — our ideas, our needs, our dreams, even our celebrations. So has Passover changed over many centuries into our present

holiday. Our nomadic ancestors gathered for a spring celebration when the sheep gave birth to their lambs. Theirs was a celebration of the continuity of life. Later, when our ancestors became farmers, they celebrated the arrival of spring in their own fashion. Eventually these ancient spring festivals merged with the story of the Exodus from Egypt and became a new celebration of life and freedom.

As each generation gathered around the table to retell the old stories, the symbols took on new meanings. New stories of slavery and liberation, oppression and triumph were added, taking their place next to the old. Tonight we add our own special chapter as we recall our people’s past and we dream of the future.

For Jews, our enslavement by the Egyptians is now remote, a symbol of communal remembrance. As we sit here in the comfort of our modern world, we think of the millions who still suffer the brutality of the existence that we escaped thousands of years ago.

"This is a day you are to commemorate;  for the generations to come you shall celebrate it as a festival to the LORD- a lasting ordinance."   

Exodus 12:14

"The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread,  and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, 'This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.'   In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.'   For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes." 

1st  Corinthians   11:24-26

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ADULT #1: Our Father God in heaven, we know that you are the source of all things.  We set this night aside to remember the mighty acts You have done as you took care of your people.   With the people that we love, and with these symbols of our joy, we come together for this sacred celebration.  With all the household of faith, we are linked to the past and bonded together for eternity.

To all:   This is the time to rid our hearts and lives of any sin or distractions that may separate us from fellowship with God.  Take a moment to make sure that your heart is right with God before we continue.

(moment of silent prayer )

ADULT #1:  Just as purging yeast from our home makes the house holy, confession makes the person holy, and lighting the candles makes the day holy.

Now the first cup of wine makes the meal holy.

  The first cup is the Cup of Sanctification.   It is our faith in Jesus, the Messiah of Israel, and the Savior of the world, that sanctifies us to live separate, holy lives.  Let us take it together and set apart this day.

ALL:  Blessed are You, O Lord our God, King of the universe, who makes the fruit of the vine.

Each person drinks quickly from his own cup at the same time.

ADULT #2:   The ancient rules said that hands had to be washed before dipping food into liquid.  So let us now wash our hands.

Everyone ceremonially washes his hands in the bowl of water that is set on the table for this purpose. 

ADULT #2:  The wine is red, like the blood of the Passover lamb, and like the blood of Jesus.  The greens (holds up greens) are for the hyssop that they used to apply the blood to the doorposts.  The salt water (holds up salt water) is for the tears that God's people cried when they were slaves in Egypt, and the waters of the Red Sea that God parted to allow His people to cross to safety.   We dip the greens in the salt water.

All take a sprig of green from the seder plate and dip into the salt water and eat.

ALL:  Blessed are You, O Lord our God, King of the universe, who creates the fruit of the earth.

WASHING THE HANDS

ADULT #2:  Now we wash hands to prepare to eat the Passover elements.

Everyone washes hands in the bowls provided.

ADULT  #1:    Blessed are You, O LORD our God, King of the universe who has commanded us to eat the Passover. 

ADULT  #1 lifts up the container of matzo.

ADULT #1:  The unleavened bread we use at the seder is kept in linen.  The linen has three places to hold three matzos.  This shows unity: three in one.  Do you know Someone who is three in one?    (allow children to answer)

ADULT #1 takes out the middle matzo, holds it up, and breaks it in two.  He puts back the smaller piece between the other two matzos in the linen.  Then he wraps the bigger piece. 

ADULT #2:  The middle matzo is broken and the small part replaced.  The bigger piece is called the afikoman, "that which comes after". 

Child #1:  The middle matzo being broken reminds us of Jesus, who is the second person of God, and gave His body for us.

ADULT #3:   We're going to hide the afikoman until after dinner.  Later, we can share it.  I wonder who will find it?  Everyone close your eyes! 

Children close their eyes as adult hides the afikoman.

ADULT #1:  (holding up the matzo linen) This is the bread of affliction that God's people ate in Egypt.   Then God's people were slaves, now we are free!  We celebrate Passover this year in Tampa, but maybe next year in the New Jerusalem.

ADULT  #3:  God allowed His people to become hungry in the wilderness, so that He could test their hearts.  Then He gave them manna.  Who knows what manna was?  (allow children to answer)

Child #2:  God always gives us what we need.

Child #1:  We are free people, so let's share what we have with others.

ALL:  Give thanks to the Lord.  His mercies are new every morning.  Great is His faithfulness.

ADULT #3:  Exodus 12:26-27 says, "When your children ask you, 'What does this ceremony mean to you?' then tell them, 'It is the Passover sacrifice to the LORD, who passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt and spared our homes when He struck down the Egyptians'."     The four questions help us tell the story. 

CHILD:  Mah nish-ta-nah ha-lai-lah hazeh mikol ha-lay-lot?  

CHILDREN:  This means, "Why is this night different from all other nights?"

Child #3:  On all other nights we eat leavened or unleavened bread, why only unleavened on this night?

Child #2:  On all other nights we eat any kind of vegetable.  Why tonight the maror, the bitter herbs?

Child #1:  On all other nights we don't dip our vegetables even once.  Why do we dip two times on this night?

Child #2:  On all other nights, we eat sitting up.  Why on this night do we recline?

ADULT #3:  On this night, we eat matzo to remind us of how fast God delivered His people from slavery.  It was so fast that there wasn't even time for the bread to rise.  We get the yeast out of our house to remind us to get sin out of our lives.

We remember that when Jesus comes, it will be fast!  In the twinkling of an eye, as a thief in the night, and we want to be ready when He comes for us.

ADULT #2:  On this night we eat maror to remind us that slavery is bitter, whether the slavery is to a people, like in Egypt, or to sin in our lives.

ADULT #1:  On this night, we dip the greens into the salt water to think about the tears shed in bondage.   We dip the matzo in the haroset to show the sweetness of freedom.  The LORD turns our sadness into joy.

ADULT #3:  On this night we recline, because we are free.  That is what free people did in ancient times. 

ADULT #1:  To experience the freedom of Passover, we must first experience the affliction.

Child #1:   God told Abram, "Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you.  I will make your name great and you will be a blessing.  I will bless those who bless you and whoever curses you I will curse: and all peoples of the earth will be blessed through you." Genesis 21:1-3

ADULT #2:   "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness."  Romans 4:3

Child #3:  Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac was the father of Jacob. 

ADULT #3:  God said, "Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men and have overcome." 

ADULT #1:  Israel had twelve sons.  The twelve sons of Israel became the twelve tribes of Israel.  Israel's son Joseph was sold into slavery in Egypt, but God blessed him and he became a ruler, second in command only to Pharaoh.

ADULT #2:  After Joseph died, a new Pharaoh, who did not know Joseph, came to power.  He made slaves of God's people and treated them cruelly.  God's people cried out to God to help them.

ALL:  God hears our cries!

Child #3:  "By faith Moses' parents hid him"

Child #1:   "By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh's daughter.  He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time.  He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward."  Hebrews 11:24-26

ADULT  #1:  "The LORD said, 'I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt.   I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering.  So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey'."  Exodus 3:7-8

ADULT  #2:  God brought His people out of Egypt with a mighty Hand and an outstretched Arm.

ALL:  God hears our cries!

ADULT #1:  The ten plagues that God sent on the Egyptians punished them for mistreating His people, and showed that the gods of Egypt were not real gods.  There is only true God, the King of the Universe.

ADULT #2:  The plagues on Egypt were the result of their own sin.  Do we rejoice because they were punished?   (allow children to answer)  No.  We know they suffered, and we feel sadness for them.

ADULT #1:  A full cup of wine is for joy.  As we talk about the plagues, we take a little bit of wine out of our cups, because of the sadness of the plagues.

As we say each plague, dip your finger into your cup, take a drop,  and place it onto your plate.

ALL:

Blood    [dip and drip]

Frogs  [dip and drip]

Lice  [dip and drip]

Flies  [dip and drip]

Disease  [dip and drip]

Boils  [dip and drip]

Hail  [dip and drip]

Locusts  [dip and drip]

Darkness [dip and drip]

Death  of the firstborn  [dip and drip]

ADULT  #1:  Lord God Almighty, we thank you for delivering your people from these plagues, and we ask for your continued mercy and protection.

ADULT #2:   Dayenu means "it would have been enough".  If God had only done one of His mighty acts, it would have been enough, "Dayenu!"

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DAYENU!

[Take turns reading the verses.  After each verse, sing the chorus to Dayenu]

If God had only delivered from slavery, but had not punished the Egyptians, dayenu!

If He had led through the Red Sea, but not provided in the wilderness, dayenu!

If He had provided in the wilderness, but not given us the Torah, dayenu!

If He had given us the Torah, but not the New Testament, dayenu!

If He had provided Jesus as our Passover, but didn't show us how to live, dayenu!

If He had given us eternal life, but not given us His Holy Spirit, dayenu!

If He had given us His Spirit, but were not coming for us someday, dayenu!

ALL:  BUT HE IS COMING FOR US! 

ADULT #1:  The three essentials of the Passover are:  the pesach  (the Passover Lamb), the matzo (the unleavened bread), and the maror (the bitter herb).

[lifting shank bone]  This represents the Passover lamb that was sacrificed.  It's blood was applied to the doorposts of the homes of God's people.  When the angel of death saw the blood applied, he passed over, and did them no harm.

Child #1:  It also reminds us of the blood of Jesus.  When we apply His blood to our souls by trusting in Him, death cannot hurt us, either.

ADULT  #2:   [lifting the matzo linen]  The matzo reminds us of how fast God delivered His people.  They didn't even have time to allow their bread to rise.

Child #2:   It also reminds us that even when He was tempted, Jesus didn't have any sin. 

ADULT  #3:  [lifting seder plate]  The maror reminds us that slavery is bitter. 

Child #1:  It also reminds us that slavery to sin is bitter.

Child #3:  But we can be free.

ALL:  "Freed by the Son we are free indeed!"  

As we now transition from the formal telling of the Passover story to the celebratory meal, we once again wash our hands to prepare ourselves. A good meal together with friends and family is itself a sacred act, so we prepare for it just as we prepared for our holiday ritual, recalling the way ancient priests once prepared for service in the Temple.

Anyone who wishes to is welcome to wash their hands.

בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְיָ אֱלֹהֵֽינוּ מֶֽלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם, אֲשֶׁר קִדְּשָֽׁנוּ בְּמִצְוֹתָיו, וְצִוָּנוּ  עַל נְטִילַת יָדָֽיִם:

Baruch Atah Adonai, Eloheinu Melech ha-olam, asher kid’shanu b’mitzvotav v’tzivanu al n’tilat yadayim.

Blessed are you, spirit of the world, who made us holy through simple deeds like the washing of our hands.

ADULT #1:  Let us share the elements in the ancient tradition, just as Jesus did when He was on earth.  [raising the matzo linen]

ALL:  Blessed are You, O LORD our God, King of the Universe, who brings forth bread from the earth.

ADULT #1 breaks small pieces from the upper and middle matzos, and passes a piece to each person.

ALL:  Blessed are You, O LORD our God, King of the Universe, who has commanded us to eat unleavened bread.

All eat quickly.

ADULT #2:  We remember the bitterness of slavery by eating maror.

ADULT  #1:  It was at this point in the seder that Jesus pointed out that Judas would betray Him.  He said, "the one to whom I will give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish."  As soon as Judas took the bread, satan entered into him.  It was a bitter end for Judas, as he became enslaved to his own sin.

ADULT  #1 breaks bottom matzo into pieces and dips into the maror.  After each piece is dipped, he passes it to someone, until the last piece he dips for himself.  Everyone waits until after the blessing to eat.

ALL:  Blessed are You, O LORD our God, King of the Universe, who has commanded us to eat maror.

All eat quickly.