Sermon Central
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A Christian Passover Seder
Contributed by Boomer Phillips on Apr 11, 2025 (message contributor)
Summary: This Passover Seder (service) has been adapted and "Christianized," to remember and celebrate how believers have been set free from the bondage of sin and brought forth into the promised land of eternal life in Christ.
REMOVAL OF THE LEAVEN – Have Leavened Bread Hidden
Leader: Welcome to our Passover Seder. Let us ready our hearts to celebrate and tell the story of deliverance, freedom, and redemption. We must all consider ourselves to be like the Hebrew slaves in Egypt, meaning we must understand ourselves to have walked in darkness, so that we might celebrate the deliverance seen in the Exodus as our own deliverance. It is with this understanding that we enter this Passover celebration.
Leader: In the days preceding Passover and the evening before the Passover Meal, it is tradition to clean the house thoroughly of any trace of leaven. Leaven, or yeast, is a necessary element in baking and wine making. However, it was viewed somewhat negatively because it also has the power to decay and destroy. In Jewish tradition it came to have more of a negative connotation as a religious symbol, signifying the potential for corruption and sin.
Leader: As a result, the removal of leaven carries with it a deeper significance in Passover than simply its connection with the exodus. The removal at the beginning of the Passover Meal, signifies the attitude of penitence, the willingness to remove any corrupting influence in one’s life and submitting to God in obedience. As the Israelites prepared for the exodus by obeying the commands of God through Moses, so in removing the leaven, we symbolize our willingness to obey God in preparation for celebrating the deliverance He has already brought to His people. And as we do, let us search for any hidden sins in our heart that might prevent us from celebrating the joy of this meal.
Leader Command: Right now, let’s search this room for pieces of leavened bread, and take them out of the room and place them in the kitchen.
Leader: We praise You, O Lord our God, Ruler of the universe, who makes us holy, and who has commanded us to prepare for Passover by removing the leaven.
Leader: 1 Corinthians 5:6-8 says, “Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, as you are unleavened. For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us: Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.”
LIGHTING THE PASSOVER CANDLES – Have Candles & Matches on Each Table
Leader Command: Let the people read Exodus 12:17 and 13:3.
People: You shall keep the feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this day I brought your companies out of the land of Egypt. You shall observe this day throughout the generations as a practice for all times. [Exodus 12:17]
People: Remember this day in which you came out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, for by the strength of His hand the Lord brought you out from this place. [Exodus 13:3]
Leader: We praise You, O Lord our God, Ruler of the universe, who has preserved our life so we may celebrate this meal. As we kindle the lights, we pray for the light of God in our midst that we might see anew the meaning and significance of this celebration.
Leader Command: Could someone at each table light the candles for each group?
Leader: May the lights we now kindle inspire us to use our strength which You so freely give us to help and not to hinder, to love and not to hate, to bless and not to curse, to serve and worship You, O God of freedom!
(HYMN) Leader Command: Let us now sing a hymn of spiritual freedom. (Hymn #19)
THE FIRST DRINK: FREEDOM
Leader Command: Let the people read Exodus 6:6-7.
People: I am the Lord; I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians, I will deliver you from slavery, I will redeem you with an outstretched arm, I will take you as my people and be your God. [Exodus 6:6-7]
Leader: In the four times that we drink tonight we celebrate these four “I will” promises of God: Freedom, Deliverance, Redemption, and Thanksgiving for fulfilling His promises that allows us to be His people.
Leader Action: The Leader holds the cup (juice) in his right hand so the people can see it.
Leader: We take the first drink and proclaim the holiness of this day of freedom. Blessed is God who fulfills His promises, who is ever faithful to His servants who trust in Him. In every age oppressors rise against us to crush our spirits and bring us low. From the hands of all these tyrants, from the power of anything that hinders us from being His people, the Lord rescues and restores us. We praise You, O Lord, who makes Your people holy.
