Many people
who accept Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, whether they refer
to themselves as "Christian" or "Messianic," observe the
biblical Feasts and Holy Days, including the Passover and
Feast of Unleavened Bread, as times of worship, fellowship, and celebration. They believe
that these Feasts and Holy Days are shadows pointing to the
reality of Jesus. And they believe that there are valuable
spiritual lessons to be learned week by week and year by year through actually
physically setting aside these times as "appointments with God."
See
The 3 Rs
introductory article for an
overview of the three biblical principles of Refreshment,
Rejoicing, and Remembering as they apply to the observance of
the biblical Feasts and Holy Days.
The
rest of the articles in this series on The 3 Rs
provide specific, practical suggestions for
building those 3 Rs into these observances.
For
a general introduction to the biblical Feasts and Holy Days, see the article
Theme Times. This material on
The 3 Rs builds on concepts
explained in that article. If you are not familiar with the
cycle of these Feasts and Holy Days, you may wish to read
that article first.
See the
article Let My People Go
for an overview of the biblical foundation of
the observance of the Passover and Feast of
Unleavened Bread, and their significance for
Christians. The material below assumes a
familiarity by the reader with the information
in that article.
Refreshment
The Refreshment section
of each article in this series emphasizes the individual, the
family, and the home. Tips are offered on how to structure the
environment of time and space leading up to and during these
celebrations for maximum contrast to the stressful--but often
humdrum--world of daily life. Special foods and decorations,
developing family customs and traditions, special activities
including guests, and special family-centered fellowship
projects that focus on comforting, encouraging, and edifying one
another may be part of the suggestions.
Preparations
The unique preparations
that mark the time leading up to the Passover and Feast
of Unleavened Bread are related to the biblical command
that all baked goods eaten during these days must be
unleavened, and that leavening and leavened products
should be removed from the home. Christians who observe
these days (and most Jews as well!) realize that this
procedure is not just a meaningless ritual, but points
to spiritual principles. The Bible speaks of leaven as
something that "puffs up" things, and there are things
in our lives and hearts that can "puff us up" too,
including vanity, greed, wicked thoughts, and more. The
preparations for this special Time of Refreshing calls
us to meditate on what may be puffing up our lives,
while we physically remove "puffing agents" and puffy
baked goods from our cupboards.
Most people who observe
this custom plan their grocery purchases weeks or months
ahead so they don't end up buying a big stock of biscuit
mix or cookies just before this time arrives, and find
themselves having to dispose of large amounts of such
groceries.
Preparations will also
include buying or baking unleavened baked products to
replace the leavened goods most people eat every day.
Depending on where you live, area groceries may have few
or many unleavened baked products to replace your usual
bread, cakes, rolls, and other favorite baked goods.
Grocery stores in larger cities may have a Jewish
section in their "Ethnic Foods" aisle, that will have
various flavors of Matzo crackers (as well as other
unleavened items such as cake mix). If the Matzo box
says "not kosher for Passover," that doesn't necessarily
mean that leavening has been added to the recipe. Jewish
traditions call for a very meticulous method of baking
the Matzos that eliminates even the possibility that
yeast spores in the air could contaminate the dough.
Most Christian groups who observe this festival don't
adhere to this tradition, and consider only whether the
baker deliberately added a leavening ingredient to the
recipe.
If you would like to try
your hand at making some or all of your own unleavened
baked items, there are many websites that feature
unleavened recipes. Just type in "Passover recipes" at
Google and rummage around.
Environment
Many families find that
changing their home environment on the Feasts and Holy
Days adds to
the feeling of celebration and refreshment. This can
include:
- Special tableware
and centerpieces for one or more of the meals for
the day.
- Special lighting
such as candles or a fireplace.
- Special background
mood music that is themed to the observance.
- Special decorations
around one or more rooms.
See some of the
suggestions below for decorations and music for Passover
and the Feast of Unleavened Bread for group settings,
and adapt them to home use. It is particularly important
to involve the children in planning and creating these
elements, as that gives them an "investment" of their
own in the celebration
Family Activities
If your children, both
boys and girls, enjoy cooking, be sure to include them
in preparations of special unleavened goodies for the
days of the Feast. They might help you find and choose
recipes on the Internet, gather up the ingredients, and
help with the baking.
If you choose to have a
family seder
for the Passover, be sure to include the children in all
of the preparations and conduct of that. They might
collaborate on an attractive cover for a family
haggadah that
you create and photocopy, or each could create their own
cover for their own copy.
Children's
Activities
Most of the suggestions
in the
Crafts, Games, and Other Special Activities for Children
section below on
group projects for children for the festival period can
be adapted to home use with just a little creative
adaptation.
Devotionals
An eight-day Devotional
themed to the period of the Passover and Feast of
Unleavened Bread is currently being produced for this Times
of Refreshing website. When completed, you will be
able to download an appropriate devotional worksheet for
each day of the period, to aid and
inspire you in your own family and individual Bible
study and worship time.
If you would like to be notified
by email when this feature is added to the site, write
to the email address at the bottom of this webpage and
ask to be added to the email mailing list.
Rejoicing
The
Rejoicing section of each article in this series
emphasizes the importance of including larger group
worship and fellowship experiences whenever possible in
your observances. It is important for individuals and
families to spend part of their celebration times with
others—as many others as possible—to maximize the impact
of feeling part of something greater than yourself. This
may mean one or two other families, a small
congregation, or a big crowd.
Among
those Christians or Messianics who observe Passover and
the Feast of Unleavened Bread, there
are several distinct styles of observance. Below are
three typical ways that Christian or Messianic
congregations choose to celebrate. See the
Introductory article to this 3 Rs
series for an overview of each of these three types.
Varieties of Contemporary Observances
Traditional Jewish Celebrations
Some
groups, particularly among those which label themselves as
Messianic or Hebrew Roots congregations, model their
Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread (Hebrew:
Pesach and Chag HaMatzot) celebrations closely
on the traditional modern Orthodox or Conservative
Jewish customs for these days. They will, however, often
interpret these customs in ways that emphasize Jesus
(whom they may refer to by a Hebrew version of His name
such as Yashua or Y'shua) and the Gospel
of salvation.
This
means that most such groups will start their celebration
of this set of observances with a Passover seder
meal on the evening beginning the Feast of Unleavened
Bread. The Jews use a special book called a Haggada
during the evening, that the participants all follow
along in and take their cues from for the various
portions of the ritual associated with the meal. Most
Messianic and Hebrew Roots groups have their own
"Messianic Haggadah" that they use, which includes many
of the same readings and customs, but with added
commentary on how these customs point to Jesus as the
ultimate symbolic Passover lamb.
Although this meal is sometimes held in a group setting
with a whole congregation, it is quite typical for it to
be a home observance, with a single family or a few
families getting together for the seder.
Families will have prepared their homes ahead of time by
removing all leaven and leavened baked products from the
premises, usually by the time of the night before the
seder. (See the article What is
"Leaven"? for an explanation of this term.) They may
go through the standard Jewish ritual that accompanies
the end of this process, using a feather and a candle to
make a final traditional pass through the home looking
for crumbs. From then on, only baked goods made without
leaven will be brought into the home, and be part of
their meals for the week. Special unleavened recipes of
festive foods are usually included in the celebration.
This
first day of the Feast is an "annual Sabbath" on which
no work is done, and all are expected to attend worship
services. Messianic and Hebrew Roots services for this
day are often patterned on the services that are held in
Jewish synagogues, with special, prescribed prayers and
scripture readings and music, in addition to
instructional or inspirational messages on themes
related to the Feast.
The
last day of the Feast is also an annual Sabbath, and
another similar worship service will be held. The
intervening days do not have the same status as days of
"rest," and some people go ahead and conduct their
regular business and work, but with special meals,
social gatherings, and bible studies in the evenings.
Some groups prefer to make the whole seven days a
special time of worship, perhaps even holding a
seven-day retreat or convention for this time, much as
they do for the fall Feast of Tabernacles. (See the
3Rs: Feast of Tabernacles
for details on the observance of that Feast.)
(For a
description and details about related Jewish
customs, see Jewish Feast and Holy Day Customs:
Pesach and Chag HaMatzot.)
Non-Jewish Celebrations
Some
Christian groups which observe Passover and the
Feast of Unleavened Bread pay little
attention to Jewish customs and instead create their own
style of gathering for these days.
These
groups vary somewhat widely on how they view the timing
for a commemoration of Passover, which they view as a
memorial of Christ's crucifixion. There are three main
styles of observance.
1. Some
assume that Jesus was crucified at the same time as the
Passover lambs, and that his meal with His disciples the
night before ("The Last Supper") was a special event at
which He instituted a new symbolism for His followers,
bread and wine to represent his body and blood as an
offering to seal a "new covenant" with those who would
from then on accept Him as their Savior and Lord. Thus
each year they use the timing of this night, compared to
the traditional Jewish Passover meal which would be the
next night, on which to hold a memorial service. Such a
gathering is usually a congregational meeting at a
central location, rather than having each family do this
in their own homes. At this meeting it is typical to
read through the account in the Bible of Jesus' last
night in John 13-16. At appropriate points in the
reading, the flow is interrupted, and the each person in
the group drinks a small glass of wine or grape juice,
and eats a piece of unleavened bread, in commemoration
of Jesus' sacrifice.
When
the section is read about Jesus washing His disciple's
feet, many groups pause and hold a symbolic "footwashing
service" in which each person present washes the feet of
at least one other person, using a small basin (such as
a dishpan) and towel that they have brought for the
purpose. Some groups insist that this whole solemn
occasion should only be attended by those who are adult,
baptized members of their group. (Most such groups do
not baptize infants or pre-teen children, and baptism is
uncommon until the late teens or older.) Parents
are encouraged to engage a baby sitter for the evening,
and even teens are not expected to come ... perhaps
serving instead to baby-sit member's children in another
part of the building where the meeting is held.
Other
groups feel that it is important to include young people
of all ages in the evening's activities as soon as they
are old enough to sit quietly and not disturb the
serious nature of the evening. Some allow the children
to participate in the foot washing if they are mature
enough to do it without acting silly. Even in groups
that allow participation by children and teens, it is
typical to not allow them to take the symbols of the
bread and wine. This is because the act of taking these
is believed by many to be a "reaffirmation" of the vows
one took at baptism, although there is no specific
scripture passage that states this connection.
Groups
that believe that the night of the Last Supper was a
special institution of Jesus do not believe it to be an
actual memorial of the Exodus event. They reserve
commemoration of that for the following night, the same
time at which the Jews hold their Passover meal. On that
night it is typical to have either a congregational
banquet, or for families to host several other families
in festive meals in their homes. Dinner table
discussions at these gatherings often consist of
discussing the biblical story of the Exodus, and/or
discussing the experiences of those in attendance that
led them to their own conversion experience and baptism.
2.
Another approach to the observance of Passover is more
directly connected to the timing of the Jewish seder.
Because Jesus was to die the next afternoon, He was
unable to be with His disciples for their annual seder
the year of His crucifixion. But those who hold this
view of Passover observance believe He expected His
followers from then on to "transfer" what He did at the
Last Supper to their future observance of the Passover,
shifting it forward one night to align with the standard
Jewish Passover seder night. In other words, they may
observe this commemoration just like those in Number 1
above, but do these things one night later. Many of
those who adopt this timing for their observance believe
that taking the bread and wine ... and perhaps a
footwashing element ... are a literal direct
"substitution" for the Passover meal itself. They
usually call what they do "The Passover."
3.
Still another approach to observance of the Passover is
a more elaborate combination of the Passover seder and
the approaches in 1 and 2 above. Those who follow this
tradition hold their activities on the same night at the
Jewish seder. They may celebrate in a congregational
setting, or invite families to their home. There they
may start out the evening with a festive meal, at which
they discuss the Exodus. Toward the end of the meal,
they shift to a discussion of Jesus' last night, and
take part in a symbolic glass of wine and piece of
unleavened bread in His memory. A variation on this is
to start the evening out with the bread and wine and
perhaps a footwashing ceremony, with discussion of
Jesus' sacrifice, and then lead in to a festive meal
during which the Exodus and other relevant themes are
discussed.
There
are other variations on Passover celebrations among
non-Jewish groups, but the three above are the most
typical, and provide an overview of the general type of
observance.
Groups
from all three of these approaches tend to come much
closer to one another in how they observe the Feast of
Unleavened Bread that follows. Most will have removed
leaven from their homes before the evening that they
take the bread and wine. They will avoid leavened
products for the whole week of the Feast, and hold
festive meals on the first and last day at which special
unleavened baked products such as breads and desserts
are featured. Worship services on the first and last day
are typically little different from the group's weekly
Sabbath gathering, with a few hymns, some special music,
and a sermon on a theme related to the Feast.
Hybrid Celebrations
Some
groups, while borrowing some of the customs, rituals,
and symbolism of Judaism, are more experimental in their
inclusion of these. Rather than try to imitate the whole
package of the standard Jewish Passover and Feast of
Unleavened Bread
celebration, they will pick and choose those aspects
which appeal to them, perhaps sometimes for spiritual
reasons because they seem to be deeply meaningful, and
at other times just because they are aesthetically
attractive or seem fun.
Among
groups that take this approach, there are typically the
same three variations in "timing" as seen in the
Non-Jewish description above. More often than not
they will include a meal with their commemoration of the
giving of the bread and the wine by Jesus. It may be
more typical for folks in this group to allow unbaptized
children to take the bread and wine with everyone
else--the typical explanation is that Jewish children in
Bible times had always eaten the lamb and unleavened
bread of the Passover seder, and thus the children of
Christians are "made eligible" to take the bread and the
wine by virtue of being born to Christian parents. Fully
partaking of all parts of the celebration is thus part
of their spiritual inheritance.
Although it is typical for such groups to have a
Haggadah for their special Passover meal, many choose to
create their own unique versions, much as some brides
and grooms these days write their own wedding vows. The
activities of the evening may be a bit more lively than
that of the Non-Jewish groups described above, including
perhaps some "Israeli Folk Dance"-style group dancing,
as well as singing along to lively contemporary
Christian music, perhaps with a Jewish flavor in minor
keys and rhythm, on themes suitable for the season.
Worship
services on the annual Holy Days beginning and ending
the Feast will tend to be less ritualized compared to
those of some Messianic and Hebrew Roots groups, and
less formal and more spontaneous than those of the
Non-Jewish groups. More group discussion and
participation may take the place of a long sermon, there
may again be dancing and lively singing accompanied by
tambourines and other instruments. And many groups would
have more participation by the children, perhaps
including a special presentation of a play or program by
them.
Toward
a New Celebration Paradigm
One of the goals of
this Times of Refreshing website is to
encourage individuals and groups to fashion a
celebration style that is uniquely their own.
The Bible truly gives us no "worship formula"
for the weekly Sabbath and annual Feasts and
Holy Days, beyond a very few basic guidelines.
Thus God has granted us the freedom to adapt
these few guidelines to the age and culture in
which we live, and to the 'group personality" of
those with whom we meet. Some will feel most
comfortable and joyful with a certain amount of
formality, old-fashioned majestic music, and
orderly activities. Others can best rejoice with
considerable informality, contemporary lively
music, and boisterously extemporaneous
activities. And quite a few may feel most
refreshed by a combination of elements of all of
the above. The following ideas and tips are not
offered as a blue-print that must be slavishly
followed. They are instead a potpourri of
possibilities to pick and choose from to use as
parts for you, and those with whom you worship,
to craft your own very special Times of
Refreshing.
"Setting
the Stage" for Celebration
The following
general comments about creating a celebration
environment are equally applicable to the weekly
Sabbath and any of the annual Holy Days and Feasts.
They are therefore repeated in each installment of the
3Rs section of the Times of Refreshing website. If
you have already read this material in another
installment, use this link to
jump directly to specific
suggestions for the Passover and Days of Unleavened
Bread.
A
Sabbath, Feast, or Holy Day church service that resembles a college
class--with a few perfunctory songs thrown in--hardly
qualifies as a time of celebration and rejoicing! Many
groups have found that it is possible to maintain a
format for their gatherings that has sound teaching, but
add elements that make the gathering more than a passive
audience listening to a lecture.
One of
the most important elements in this transformation is
music. If the same group has been singing the same fifty
or so songs for the past two decades, and most still
find it necessary to bury their heads in the hymnbook
while singing, something is wrong. If most of these same
people sing along enthusiastically to their car radio
playing contemporary secular music, it is obvious that
the problem isn't that they can't immerse themselves in
music. It is more likely that they have separated
"religious music" into a class all by itself, as
something that is sung out of duty, rather than from the
heart. And the words have long since stopped
communicating thoughts and have become merely syllables
to be mouthed.
For
some people, the reason for this is that traditional
church hymns--most written a century or two or more
ago--seem like they are almost in a foreign
language. The historic culture that they came from can
seem unconnected to the thoughts, feelings, and emotions
of modern Christians. There are many ways that this
situation can be remedied. And in most cases the best
answer is to find creative ways to incorporate many
aspects of possible solutions.
One
thing that can help is for song leaders and/or other
speakers to actually spend some time talking about the
content of the hymns once in a while. There are books
and websites that provide a fascinating glimpse of the
history of many hymns, describing the authors, the
situations that prompted them to write a certain set of
lyrics, and some background of the cultural context in
which they were written. This can make the words come
alive in a way that they haven't before. Two samples:
Website
with hymn stories
Two Hundred Amazing Hymn Stories
Link to
Amazon.com info on two books of hymn stories
Osbeck's 101 Hymn Stories, volumes one and two
A
congregation that is made up of people of all age groups
will also find that it is usually beneficial to consider
incorporating newer hymns and other religious music in
some way into your group gatherings, so that everyone
can express themselves musically in ways that are most
meaningful to them. This can mean varying the music for
the usual worship service every week with a variety of
styles, featuring the newer music on certain weeks
during the month, or perhaps establishing a regular or
occasional alternative worship service, perhaps in the
evening, featuring newer music. This issue of
introducing variety into music has been a source of
conflict in many churches in recent decades, but with a
calm approach of creatively searching for satisfactory
compromises between people who hate change and people
who crave change, conflict can be minimized and all
needs met.
See the
section below on Meaningful Music
for more suggestions on music for congregational
worship.
Other
"celebratory" aspects to the activities for the the Holy
Days can include feasting together (see
Festive Food below), and special presentations
by children and youth, including choirs, plays,
pageantry, artwork displays, and even parades on
appropriate occasions (See Children's
Activities below).
The
most important consideration when "setting the stage"
for celebration on the Holy Days is to involve everyone,
of every age, in contributing to the planning and actual
celebration time together. In other words ... the stage
that is set isn't one that most people sit in the
audience and passively "view" ... it's a stage where
everyone joins the "performance"!
Meaningful Music
General Information
Hymns and group songs
Some hymns and other
types of religious songs may have a line or two
with which some people will take exception as not
reflecting totally sound biblical doctrine. Inclusion of
links to hymns or collections of hymns here is not an endorsement of every minor point
within the hymns at that link. If there is something that bothers
you in any given piece of music, you can either not use
it, or make a minor
adjustment to the wording to reflect your own doctrinal
perspective.
If your fellowship
group does not have music to sing from, local
and online Christian bookstores stock a wide
collection of basic hymnals in hardbound and
paperback formats, with everything from
classical church music of the 1700s and earlier
to the latest Praise and Worship choruses.
There are many
online sources of public domain congregational
music. Some may include sound files of
accompaniment music, lyrics, sheet music, and
perhaps even chord sheets for piano and/or
guitar. If you are looking for a specific hymn
or song, just type the name or a line of the
lyrics into a Google search box. Below are links
to some broad collections from which to choose.
http://www.cyberhymnal.org
Over 6,100
Christian hymns and Gospel songs. Includes
lyrics, scores, MIDI files, pictures,
history, choices to match specific
scriptural references, and more.
It is increasingly
popular in many religious settings to use lyrics
projected on a screen for congregational
singing, with still photos or video clips of
inspirational scenes of nature and so on in the
background. There are commercial packages of
such set-ups, sometimes including even audio
files of the music for those groups that don't
have musicians to provide accompaniment. Below
are links to just a sample of such products.
PLEASE NOTE: If
you are considering going this route, be sure to
check into the issues of copyright, by looking
over the material on the CCLI (Christian
Copyright Licensing International) website.
CCLI information
And while you're
there, be sure to look into the issue of a
copyright license to use commercial video clips
in sermons and studies, and even for playing
whole movies for your congregation, through the
related CLVI (Christian Video Licensing
International.)
CVLI information
The annual fees for
both of these services are very reasonable.
Special Music
There are many
inspirational video collections that don't have
the lyrics on the screen, but rather provide
choral and/or instrumental performances of
standard hymns and other music backed by
beautiful photography. These would be suitable
for "special music" presentations for worship
services and other gatherings. Below are links
to a sample of such products.
33 "Best loved hymns" with
backgrounds of Thomas Kinkaide paintings
"The Joslin
Grove Choral Society presents musical
accompaniment to one hundred beautiful
images of Thomas Kinkade. Among the 70
minutes of hymns sung are: Amazing Grace,
A Mighty Fortress Is Our God and
The Old Rugged Cross. "
Hymns across the Holy Land
"... featuring the
sites of the Holy Land set to hymns performed by
David and the High Spirit. Songs include Amazing
Grace, Love Lifted Me, Just As I Am,
and more."
Music specifically for the
Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread:
Particularly appropriate would be congregational, solo, group, and
choral music on the themes of the Passover in Egypt, the
Exodus, the sacrifice of Jesus, the resurrection of
Jesus, Jesus as the "bread from heaven," and repentance.
Samples::
Search Me, O God
It
Is Finished by Bill and Gloria Gaither
He's
Alive made popular by Don Francisco
Rise
Again made popular by Dallas Holm
Music Video: Watch the Lamb
Suggestions for appropriate hymns, group songs, and
special music for the Sabbath, as well as the annual
Biblical feasts and Holy Days, are gratefully
accepted for inclusion in this and related Times
of Refreshing web pages! Send your
recommendations to the email address at the end of
this page.
Decorations
The following
general comments about using decorations to enhance
your celebration environment are equally applicable to the weekly
Sabbath and any of the annual Holy Days and Feasts.
They are therefore repeated in each installment of the
3Rs section of the Times of Refreshing website. If
you have already read this material in another
installment, use this link to
jump directly to specific
suggestions for the Passover and Days of Unleavened
Bread.
Many
modern Christians reject the idea of some of the
traditional worship environments of the past ... cold
formal buildings with pews and stained glass, hushed
rooms with people talking to one another in hoarse
whispers if at all. A backlash against this type of
setting has sometimes led on the other extreme to drab
rooms full of metal chairs, bare walls, and constant
chaos. Or, on the other hand, some mega-churches have
huge meeting halls and stages more resembling a Las
Vegas show club than a place for families to meet
together and rejoice--as a spiritual family.
Most
people would not want to live in a house in which every
room looks like little more than a drab motel conference
room. We intuitively realize that "decor" can help us
enjoy our environment and our experiences in it, whether
it is wanting a peaceful "study," a lively "family
room," or a refreshing screened in porch with plants
that gets us more in touch with nature. We want our
homes to reflect our personalities and our interests.
The
same principle applies to church fellowship groups. It
would be good for all involved to sit down and discuss
just what it is in an environment that would enhance
what they expect to experience in that environment, and
what elements hinder it or distract from it. Most groups
seem to intuitively know that adding flowers at the
front of the meeting room improves the "feel" of a drab
room. But many seldom go beyond that.
So why
not discuss what could make the room--or whole
building--a home? And think about what would make it
particularly "spruced up" for the weekly Sabbath and
annual Holy Days.
The
basics to discuss can include choice of wall, floor, and
window treatment colors; decorative items on the walls;
furniture that is both functional and attractive; plants
and maybe even an aquarium or terrarium to bring some of
God's creation indoors; fountains or small waterfalls to
add to that effect; table settings and centerpieces for
festive occasions; attractive themed bulletin boards,
where youth projects can be displayed for special
occasions; perhaps even inspirational seasonal "banners"
to hang from the ceilings or as wall hangings.
Options may be limited if a group must rent a meeting
room, but even then there are "movable" items that can
be temporarily added to make the environment "homier."
Most buildings renting regularly to a group will provide
at least a small amount of storage space for their
regular equipment and supplies. A bulletin board on a
tripod can be used for those youth projects. Plant pots
with attractive artificial plants on coasters can be
rolled out to place around the room. Try brainstorming
and seeing what other options you can think of.
When
considering themed additions to your worship
environment, why not also brainstorm on what symbols
and scenes might be useful for banners, posters, centerpieces
and so on for the weekly Sabbath and each of the
annual feasts and Holy Days.
Some
suggestion-starters for the Passover and Feast of
Unleavened Bread:
matzos
lambs
The Exodus
Blood on doorposts
Parting of the Red Sea
Festive Food
The obvious choice for
special foods for the Feast of Unleavened Bread is
unleavened baked goods. Although such recipes can be
made any time of the year, most people who observe this
Feast save theirs up for this celebration.
Home made unleavened
bread most often takes a form that is similar to pie
dough, since it is usually rolled very thin before
baking so that it doesn't become too chewy. It can be
made in large round or square "loaves," or cut into
smaller bite-sized snack cracker shapes such as
triangles, circles, and rectangles. It can be baked
plain, or the dough flavored with everything from garlic
and onions to cinnamon. And it can be left plain when
baked, or topped with items like sesame seeds and
powdered cheese.
Many regular breakfast,
lunch, dinner, and dessert foods have unleavened
counterparts, from cheesecakes to brownies, and from
biscuits to pancakes.
There are many sites on
the web that have collections of unleavened recipes.
Just type in unleavened bread at
Google.com . If you are looking for a special food item,
such as brownies, just add a plus sign and that item:
unleavened +brownies .
Jewish cooks do not use
regular flour for recipes during this time of year
because of ritual concerns that it might accidentally
become leavened by yeast spores in the air after mixing
in liquid and standing some time period before baking.
So most baked goods recipes on Jewish sites will call
for "matzo meal" (coarsely ground) or "Passover flour"
(finely ground)... both of which are made from ground-up
"kosher for Passover" Matzo crackers. These crackers are
made under a strictly-supervised process that assures
that the dough is baked within a specified time from
when the liquid is added to the flour. Once baked and
ground up, they evidently don't pose the same danger of
becoming leavened that flour does. If you have a local
source where you can purchase matzo meal (even Wal-Mart
in many cities carries it these days) you might want to
try your hand at some of these recipes. To find Jewish
recipe sites, type in Passover recipes at
Google.
Otherwise, there are many
Messianic and other Christian sites that do have recipes
that are made with regular flour, as many such groups do
not share the Jewish concern for yeast in the air as an
"accidental" leavening agent.
Suggestions for special decorations and festive food
particularly appropriate for the weekly Sabbath, as well as the annual
Biblical Feasts and Holy Days, are gratefully
accepted for inclusion in this and related Times
of Refreshing web pages! Send your
recommendations to the email address at the end of
this page.
Special Group Activities, with a focus on youth
If activities for
children are included at all in some group
worship settings, including for both the weekly
Sabbath and for annual Feasts and Holy Days, it
is to send them off to another room separate
from the adults for their own classes and social
gatherings. While this can be a valuable part of
their socialization and education, it is also
important to have times in which they are
involved with the adults in mutually-enjoyable
activities and learning. Below are suggestions
for such cross-generational activities for the
Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread.
The following
general material is equally applicable to the weekly
Sabbath and any of the annual Holy Days and Feasts.
It is therefore repeated in each installment of the
3Rs section of the Times of Refreshing website. If
you have already read this material in another
installment, use this link to
jump directly to specific
suggestions for the Passover and Feast of Unleavened
Bread.
Messages and
presentations to
edify all ages
Message
delivery, including sermons, is a very personal matter
to most speakers. It is indeed important for the speaker
to pray for guidance on what to speak about, and how to
present the material so that it is most effective. But
God often answers such prayers through input by others.
Perhaps the following ideas, tips, and suggestions may
include some answers for you.
If you
are responsible for presenting sermons or other kinds of
messages for church gatherings, you likely have a track
record of such presentations that you can examine. If
you have found your audiences continually and uniformly
very inspired, edified, encouraged, and motivated
through the delivery style you have been using, then you
may need no delivery tips. But if the audience rapport
and reaction is less than what you have hoped for,
perhaps incorporating some of the following ideas might
produce more effective results.
Multimedia
As the
old saying goes, "a picture is worth a thousand words."
If you are a master story teller, and can quickly weave
with just words the illustrations included in your
messages, then you may not need anything else. But for
the rest of the world ... including visuals can really
enhance delivery. It helps the audience focus and
remember points, it saves you time in
descriptive portions that can then be better put to use
drawing the points you want to make, and it can bring
to life what might otherwise seem dry and boring to
a generation weaned on the visual world of movies, TV,
glossy illustrated magazines, and the Internet.
The
most popular and easy-to-use way to incorporate such
visuals these days is to use a computer connected to a
video projector, running the Power Point program.
Power Point is much like a word processing
program, in that it allows you to easily lay words and
pictures out on a page for display. But it goes beyond
that to allow you to include music and video clips where
appropriate.
Educational research shows that the more "senses" you
use to take in a given fact or group of facts, the
better you remember them. For instance, if you hear
someone speak a point, and then or shortly after see it
in written form, your chances of remembering it are
greater. In fact, if you can see, hear, and have music
connected to that point, you may even better remember
it. Remember memorizing the ABCs by singing them to the
tune of "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star"? There is a
reason for such ditties ... they really work. And there
are very good reasons that almost all movies and TV
shows these days have a musical sound track. It also
"works" to enhance the emotional impact of the visuals.
This
doesn't mean, of course, that you need to have music
going the whole time you are talking. Or that every
single point you make needs to be in words on the
screen. But if you carefully select points of the
greatest emphasis, and add multi-media supplements to
them, you may find that the effectiveness of your
messages increases.
You can
project the scriptures that you are including in your
message on the screen so that the audience can follow
along, without having to rummage through their
Bibles--and bury their heads in them--to keep up. You
can also project any "bullet points" that you want the
audience to remember so that there are both an aural and
a visual emphasis to them--and they are easy for people
to copy down to accurately include in their own
note-taking.
You can
select representative photographs and artwork to aid in
story telling, or in explaining technical details, such
as what a certain object from Bible times looks like.
Actually seeing a model of the Tabernacle is more
effective than trying to describe it.
Of
course you need not include such audio-visual components
to every message you present. Many topics lend
themselves to just straight dissertation. You will find
that it is most useful to adapt the presentation style
to your topics as needed.
Don't
discount the value of the earlier method of including
multi-media either--using actual 3D objects to emphasize
points. A message focusing on Jesus' comment that "my
yoke is easy and my burden is light," or on Paul's
admonition not to be "unequally yoked with unbelievers,"
can become much more memorable if you can actually
borrow a real single ... or better yet, double ... yoke
from a farm to illustrate the point.
These
presentation suggestions can be useful for messages at
any time, including in secular environments. But it is
the specific aim of this website to offer suggestions on
how to enliven all of the content and environment of
special times of worship, including the weekly Sabbath
and annual Feasts and Holy Days.
Message ideas for the
Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread
With
all of the above in mind, here are a few suggestions for
thematic topics specifically related to the Passover and
Feast of Unleavened Bread:
Out
with the old, in with the new
Have
you been puffed up?
Jesus--our Shepherd and our Lamb
Headed
for the Promised Land
Feasting on the Bread from Heaven
Movies suitable for group watching:
The
Ten Commandments
Prince of Egypt (cartoon)
Visual Bible: Book of Matthew
(especially the portion about Jesus' last week)
Festive Activities
See the
article Roseanna of the
Desert for a lively description of how one
fellowship group celebrated the anniversary of the
Exodus. The elements of this activity could be easily
adapted and varied endlessly by any group.
Remembering
The
Remembering section of each article in this
series focuses on being sure to include an emphasis on
understanding and remembering the history, meaning, significance, and symbolism of the Sabbath
and annual observances throughout your times of
celebration. This emphasis doesn't need to be be just
"tacked on" to the celebration through some dry,
lifeless, boring lecture before or during the
celebration. It can be built into the very environment
and the activities you engage in. It can be part of the
songs, the prayers, the praise, the formal messages of
vibrant inspiration and exhortation, and even
discussions in informal fellowship around the banquet
table.
Topics and Ideas for Bible Studies and Discussion
Sessions
Adults
Is it
possible to worry more about the "physical" aspects of
observing the Feast of Unleavened Bread than considering
the spiritual lessons we should really be focusing on?
What do
you think Jesus meant when He said He was the "bread
from heaven"?
What do
you think Paul meant when He told the Corinthians that
Jesus is our "Passover Lamb"?
Leaven
is used in the Bible sometimes as a negative metaphor
and sometimes a positive one. Find examples of both and
discuss them.
Teens
If you
haven't made a commitment to Jesus in your life yet, why
should you bother celebrating the Feast of Unleavened
Bread?
Are you
"in bondage" to anything in your life that you need God
to set you free from?
How
would you explain to a new friend at school why you have
such funny eating habits during the week of Unleavened
Bread--without looking like a religious kook?
Children
What is
"leaven"?
Who
were the Israelites, and why did they need God to rescue
them?
What
does it mean to have a "puffed up attitude"? What kinds
of attitudes puff people up? How can you get rid of
those attitudes?
What
kind of characteristics did Jesus have that we should
want to be like?
Crafts, Games, and Other Special Activities for Children
Crafts
Peekaboo Picture
Turn a
large piece of drawing paper sideways. Make a crease
down the center, so that a drawing can be made on each
half. Each side will show a part of the story of the
crossing of the Red Sea. On the left, the Red Sea is
parted, letting the Israelites go through. Draw the
Israelites and their flocks and herds marching from the
bottom to the top of the picture. Glue blue construction
paper on each side of their column, representing the
parted waters. On the right side, make two flaps of
construction paper, taped or glued down the left and
right edge of the scene, so that they can be folded down
to the middle and cover the scene. Lift them up, and
draw the Egyptians and their chariots stuck in the mud.
Then cover them back up with the construction paper,
ready for display on a bulletin board. Viewers can lift
the flaps up to see the trapped Egyptians!
Games
Have older classes make
“board games” for younger classes--or for
themselves--to use for
learning and memorization. Each is to have a
theme, which carries through from the look of
the board, to markers for players, to bonus
cards. These can be based on such popular
commercial games as Bibleopoly or Bible Trivial Pursuit.
Have older classes make
other kinds of games for younger classes--or for
themselves--such as ones based on the idea of Bible
Blurt, Bible Bingo,
Obvious game themes for
the Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread include:
The Ten Plagues
The Parting of the Red
Sea
Identifying leavened
goods in the home
Getting leaven out of
your life and taking in the character of Jesus:
Galatians 5: The works of the flesh and the fruit of the
spirit
Get more ideas from rummaging
at your local Christian book store, or in online
catalogs of Christian supply houses such as CBD. http://www.christianbook.com/
Other
Activities
