Easter and Passover Seder

Here is this year's Easter Egg Hunt Bunch.  We gathered at Caroline's house on the Saturday before Easter (March 26).  She has such a great back yard and house with fun things for the kids.  She also has a real talent for making activities meaningful and fun.

The eggs were hid in the backyard and the kids were chomping at the bit to get out there and get some CANDY!  I love watching the cousins interact with each other.  Josiah volunteered to help Daniel and Alexa ran off hand in hand with Kate.  

     

Kate and Daniel were both very focused on getting eggs.  Daniel wouldn't take his eyes off of one egg he saw while I was taking his picture :)

     

Oliver Mac was delighted to play with the plastic eggs.

     

As I was saying before, Caroline has a knack for making things fun.  This was an activity she'd found where you hallow out real eggs, fill them with confetti and then play Duck, Duck, Goose.  On "Goose" you smash the egg on the unsuspecting soul before you take off running.  The kids loved it!

Daniel was sitting next to Matt, who I thought was monitoring his candy intake.  He was, technically, monitoring what he was eating, he just wasn't limiting what he was eating.  His strategy was to get it all over with now... eat it all now and be done.  

I've wanted to go to the Passover Seder that BYU puts on for a long, long time.  It's been part of my greater desire to understand, appreciate, and celebrate the Easter holiday.  By celebrate I don't mean having cuter decorations or better treats in the baskets (though I'm not opposed to decorations or treats), but that I want to celebrate the atonement (suffering for our sins, dying on the cross, and being resurrected) of Jesus Christ as the greatest act of love ever shown.  I feel like I've missed the meaning and purpose of this holiday and I am on a mission to change that.  I'm excited.  T

BYU has been holding a Passover Seder for 40 years. We were finally able to make it happen this year (April 8).  

Here we are at the Seder, waiting for it to begin. :)

Matt was really interested in coming to the Seder, too, and we talked more about what we knew about Passover before we went.  To be honest, I felt like I knew way to little about Passover.  I'd been to a partial Passover a few years ago with our friends, the Stevens, who's mother was a Jew.  I found the whole experience very interesting.  This year (as it is every year, I think) it was lead by Jeffrey R. Chadwick, a Passover specialist.   Here are a few things that I learned that have stuck with me:

1.  The Passover is a celebration of the origin of the Israelite people.  I am a part of the House of Israel, so I can consider the Passover as part of our family history.  We are as much descended from the Israelites as any Jewish friends are.  

2. There needed to be a way to help the Israelites to remember what the Lord had done for them.  Everything in the meal, even the order of the foods eaten, was symbolic of something.  The word Seder means "order," so the Passover Seder means "The Order of Passover."  It is really quite remarkable that this tradition has lasted for thousands of years.  There is power in symbolism, it's just unfortunate when what they symbols represent are not recognized or accepted.  

3.  Some aspects of the meal had to change, such as no longer eating lamb.  Because the lamb had to be slain in the temple and the temple had been destroyed.  So, no more lamb.  But there was a lamb bone to represent the lamb that used to be eaten.

The Matza (unleavened bread) that they ate because there was not time for the bread dough to rise when they were thrust out of Egypt.

The whole Passover Seder is a very long event, going on for hours.  There is a booklett, the Passover Haggadah, that is used so as not to forget or skip any part.  Bro. Chadwick said something that really struck me.  He said that Israel became lost not because they didn't know where they were, but because they forgot.   He ended the evening by explaining that the Savior was at the Last Supper - a Passover Seder - and used the ritual foods to institute the sacrament.  He began with what they knew and taught them new truths.  I've been thinking about the sacrament and the temple and the ability of symbols to teach me new truths if I will let it, if I will "always remember" the Savior.  I look forward to going again and learning more.  It was a lovely evening with Matthew Jared that has provided much food for thought since.