While most churches in America are running around celebrating the Resurrection before the Passover next weekend; here we will just begin our pondering of how we will celebrate The Passover and Unleavened Bread and Early Firstfruits (Resurrection Day) at our house for this year.
You see; we keep the original Hebraic/lunar calendar which we believe God hung in the sky for us to enjoy at the Creation. His people kept this calendar during the days of the early church. It is the calendar that Jesus would have grown up using.
With this calendar, our day for beginning the Spring Holy Days doesn’t happen until April 22nd at sunset which is the time we will be serving our Seder meal for 2024.
For us these next few weeks are a time of intense preparation. We keep Unleavened Bread, which means we will be cleaning all of the leaven out of our house. In these weeks leading up to the time of Passover I am either cooking up everything that we have already bought that contains leaven (so as not to be wasteful) or anticipating how to give it away to food banks in our area.
We have begun a very thorough cleaning of the house. It takes quite awhile to remove all of the crumbs that have accumulated in the hidden places over the last year. I like to start early and do this gradually, a little more each day until it is done.
I’m making notes about meals I can serve using Matzoh instead of bread with leaven in it. We have some old favorite recipes and I’m dragging them out and reviewing my grocery list. My grocery list will also include all the items we need for our family Seder. I’ll be buying parsley, horseradish, walnuts, raisins, apples, Kosher wine, brown sugar and several packages of Kosher Matzoh. Not only will we need these special items to use at the Seder; we will also be cooking a meal to serve as part of the Seder.
So I will gather my favorite recipes for a Seder meal and list those ingredients from the recipes we decide to use in my grocery list as I shop before the Passover week. I usually serve a meat and two vegetables and a salad with some type of unleavened dessert on that night. I have a great recipe for unleavened chocolate chip cookies that we all love.
My husband and I will be collaborating on how to go about the order of the Seder this year. Over the years we have shortened the service for the sake of the little ones attending. We’ve done a “Frozen” Seder setting. Some years though we have been very proper and formal; depending on the guests we have around the table. I like to find appropriate songs and poetry to add to the mix sometimes. We get creative on different ways to tell the story but not take two hours. There are so many details!
They all feel important. Over the years and years of Seder meals though; somehow it all gets told enough to remember.
This year I will give my newly published book as favors to our guests. The book is very oriented to the story of Passover because it is about The Exodus. Entitled “EXODUS TO FREEDOM” it serves as a great tool for further reading after the Passover. There is great emphasis on the fact that everything points to Jesus. You can find the book at Amazon.com. Just look for Exodus to Freedom by Gail Landgraf. It is my delight and pleasure to find that the book is helpful to our readers here at the blog too.
Of course we will be busy writing down the order of how our family will be doing the Seder for 2024.
Did you realize that it is perfectly acceptable and correct to write your own family Seder?
I’ve written several versions for our family over the years. There are 15 steps to follow; but you can follow them in your own order and commemorate the meanings in your own way. Each year God seems to emphasize different things. This is how we learn, stretch and grow. Looking back over all the Seder meals we have enjoyed over the years I think I like the one we had in 2023 the best. Perhaps we will use that as an outline for our family gathering again this year.
Did you catch that blog in 2023? If not; don’t worry – I’m linking you up right here. You might enjoy reading our version of that year as you make up your own family Seder plans. Here is that article:
Why not begin to make preparations to keep a Christian Passover with your family this year too? The more you let go of the ways of the world and the traditions of man; the easier it is to come into the joy of knowing that you are keeping God’s days God’s way.
We just passed Purim. In that time we remembered how one brave girl named Esther took a stand and did something right for her people; even though it was unheard of in that land and inappropriate for the customs of the people of that culture in that day.
Passover might just be the time for your Esther moment this year. Pray about that and see where God takes you.
Here is hoping you and your family enjoy a beautiful season of preparation together. God will surely meet you with blessings in the days to come.