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.
Leader Command: Let the people read Exodus 6:6.
People: I am the Lord, and I will free you from the yoke of the Egyptians. [Exodus 6:6]
(DRINK) Leader Command: Let us drink to God’s freedom.
THE WASHING – Have Pitcher and Water Basin and Towel Ready
Leader: We will now prepare for the meal by washing our hands, symbolizing the sacredness of this occasion, and the purity of heart and hands that we are called to exhibit as God’s people.
Leader Action: Take the pitcher or cup in one hand and pour a small amount of water over the other hand into the empty basin, then reverse the process; dry hands. Since this is a symbolic action, only a very small amount of water should be used.
THE GREEN VEGETABLES – Have Celery and Bowls of Salt Water Ready
Leader: Passover is a springtime festival, the season of rebirth, renewal, and new life. The days are filled with more light than darkness. The earth is becoming green with new life.
Leader Action: The Leader takes a sprig of celery and holds it up for the people to see.
Leader: This vegetable represents life, created and sustained by the Lord our God. We are filled with joy at the goodness of God in loving us and caring for us, and bringing into our lives all good things, and for His Son who gives us life eternal.
Leader Command: Let the people read Song of Solomon 2:10-13 and 8:6-7.
People: Arise my love and come away; for now the winter is past, the rain is over and gone, the flowers appear on the earth, the time of singing has come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in the land. Arise my love, my fair one, and come away. [Song 2:10-13]
People: Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm; for love is strong as death. Many waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it. If one offered all the wealth of his house for love, it would be utterly scorned. [Song 8:6-7]
Leader: And yet as good as God intended life to be, it is often mixed with tears.
Leader Action: The Leader lifts up the bowl of salt water so all can see.
Leader: Tonight, we are not simply celebrating springtime or love. We are celebrating the freedom and wonderful deliverance that God brought to us as slaves in Egypt and as slaves in sin. But we do not forget that life in Egypt and sin was hard and filled with pain, and suffering, and tears. Let us never forget that the struggle for freedom begins in suffering, and that life is sometimes immersed in tears.
Leader Command: Let us dip a spring of celery in the salt water, and eat it. This represents our life mixed with tears of grief.
BREAKING OF THE BREAD – Have Unleavened Bread Ready and Napkin
Leader Action: The Leader takes the unleavened bread and holds it before him.
Leader Command: Now let us break the unleavened bread in two. Do not eat of it yet. Later we will share it together as the Passover offering itself was shared in the service in Jerusalem. Among people everywhere, the sharing of bread forms a bond of fellowship and community.
Leader Command: Right now, set half of the unleavened bread on your plate and hide the other half in your napkin.
Leader Command: For the sake of our deliverance, we will say together the ancient words of deliverance that join us with Christians everywhere. For our redemption is bound up with the deliverance from bondage of all people. It is only the grace of our Lord God that sets us free!
People (Words of Deliverance): This is the bread of affliction that your people ate in the land of Egypt. All who are hungry come and eat. All who are needy come and celebrate Passover with us. Now we celebrate it here. Next year, if God wills, may we celebrate Passover in the New Jerusalem.
EXPLANATION OF THE PASSOVER – Have Lamb and Roasted Egg Ready
Leader: The Hebrew people, God’s beloved and elect, were taken into slavery by Egypt. They cried out to the Lord both night and day for deliverance. The Lord heard their cries and raised up a deliverer – the man Moses – to set His people free. Moses pleaded with Pharaoh to let the people go, but Pharaoh hardened his heart and would not listen. So, the Lord sent numerous plagues upon the land, but Pharaoh still would not let the Hebrew people go free.
Leader: One last plague was to be sent upon the land of Egypt, which was the death of the first born, and the only way to escape from harm was to be identified as one of God’s own people. The way that this was done was to kill a lamb and smear its blood on the top and sides of the doors. When the final plague came and saw the blood on the doors it would pass by, and thus came the name Pass-over. After the plague of the Passover, there was to be freedom for all Israel from the chains of slavery.
Leader: The Lord provided a way of escape from His judgment by the blood of a lamb. Today the blood of Jesus Christ is a sign on the doorpost for His people. Jesus’ blood atones for our sins and makes us clean and holy before God. In the book of Revelation, when God judges the lives of mankind, those who are covered with the blood of Jesus are spared.
Leader: Revelation 7:14 says, “These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” God will look upon those who are covered by Christ’s blood as He did the doorposts at Passover, and He will say to them, “I will pass over you.”
Leader Action: The Leader removes the lamb (or chicken leg) from the Seder plate and holds it up for all to see.
Leader: This is the symbol of the Passover lamb that was killed so that our children might live. It reminds us not only of God’s wonderful grace in providing us life and not death, but it also reminds us that we are called to obedience in response to God’s gift of life.
Leader Command: Let us now eat of the lamb.
Leader Action: The Leader removes the roasted egg from the Seder plate and holds it up for all to see.
Leader: The egg is in an oval shape and it has no beginning and no end. The egg is a symbol of new life and hope, and reminds us that God’s grace and the new life we find in Him is eternal.
Leader Command: Let us now eat of the egg.
Leader Command: The people now recite the words of praise.
People (Words of Praise): We Praise You, O Lord our God, Ruler of the Universe, who hears the cries of the oppressed, who brings freedom to the captive, and who creates for Yourself a people.
(HYMN) Leader Command: Let us now sing a hymn of Deliverance. (Hymn # 56)
THE SECOND DRINK: DELIVERANCE
Leader Action: The Leader takes the glass and raises it for all to see.
Leader: With the second drink we celebrate the deliverance that God has brought to us. We are privileged to thank God, to praise Him, to reverence Him, and to rejoice in His grace. He has brought us forth from bondage to freedom, from sorrow to joy, from darkness to light, from slavery to redemption.
Leader Command: Let the people read Exodus 6:6, and the statement that follows.
People: I am the Lord; I will deliver you from slavery [Exodus 6:6]. We praise You, O Lord our God, who has freed Your people.
(DRINK) Leader Command: Let us drink to God’s deliverance.
THE MEAL – Have Unleavened Bread, Horseradish, and Charoset Ready
Leader Action: The Leader takes the remaining half (non-covered piece) of the Unleavened Bread which is still on the plate and holds it up for all to see.
Leader: Tonight we eat Unleavened Bread because God’s people in Egypt had to leave in such haste that they could not wait for their bread to rise, and so had to bake it while it was still flat.
Leader Command: Let the people read Deuteronomy 16:3.
People: You shall eat unleavened bread, the bread of affliction, because you came out of the land of Egypt with great haste, so that all the days of your life you may remember the day of your departure from Egypt [Deuteronomy 16:3].
Leader: We should also remember the day of our departure from sin.
Leader Action: The Leader takes the horseradish and holds it up for all to see.
Leader: Tonight we eat bitter herbs to remind us of how bitter our lives were as slaves in sin. As sweet as our lives are now, we must never forget the bitterness of our bondage.
Leader Command: Let us dip the unleavened bread into the bitter herbs and eat just one bite.
Leader Command: Let the people read Exodus 1:12-14.
People: The Egyptians came to dread the Israelites and worked them ruthlessly. They made their lives bitter with hard labor in brick and mortar and with all kinds of work in the fields. [Exodus 1:12-14]
Leader Action: The leader takes the bowl of Charoset and holds it up for all to see.
Leader: The Charoset is a sweet mixture of apples, honey, and nuts. It symbolizes the mixture of clay and straw that the Israelites used to make bricks for the cities of Pharaoh. The honey of the mixture represents the hope in a future from God that sweetened the misery of the Hebrew’s slavery. Often, life is a mixture of the bitter and the sweet, of sadness and joy.
Leader Command: Let us now dip unleavened bread in the Charoset to remind us of the sweetness that God can bring into the most bitter of our circumstances; and let us eat of it.
Leader Command: Let the people read Psalm 119:107 and 103.
People: I am sorely afflicted; give me life, O LORD, according to Your word! How sweet are Your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! [Psalm 119:107, 103]
Leader: Tonight we eat with special ceremony because in each generation, every person should feel as if he or she has actually been redeemed from Egypt. We tell the story because we are the redeemed of the Lord, and we can sing a new song of praise because of His grace. And yet it is not a new song, because it has been sung by countless people throughout the centuries as generation after generation have experienced the deliverance and redemption brought by our God and our Savior Jesus Christ.
(HYMN) Leader Command: Let us now sing a hymn of God’s Grace. (Hymn #330)
THE THIRD DRINK: REDEMPTION
Leader Command: It is now time to reveal that which has been hidden. Let us uncover our hidden piece of unleavened bread from the napkin. Just lay it on your plate for now.
Leader: The unleavened bread has traditionally symbolized hope for the future, a symbol of redemption, as God again acts in history to proclaim good news to the poor, to release the captives, to recover sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor [Isaiah 61:1-2 quoted in Luke 4:18-19].
Leader: As we have found the unleavened bread that has been hidden, we celebrate the fact that our long hoped for Messiah has come, and brought us a new freedom from a very old slavery. Jesus said, “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free. Truly, truly, I say to you, every one who commits sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not have a permanent place in the household; the son has a place there forever. So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.” [John 8:31-34]
Leader Command: Let the people read Revelation 1:5-6 and the declaration of freedom.
People: To Him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by His blood and made us a kingdom, priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. [Revelation 1:5-6]
People (Declaration of Freedom): Jesus has brought to us a new freedom from the chains of oppression and sin that enslave us. Jesus celebrated Passover with His disciples on the night before He was betrayed and delivered up to be crucified. He commanded that His disciples partake of the bread and the wine as emblems of His broken body and shed blood. We partake of these elements to participate in the new life, in the new birth that God in Jesus the Christ has provided for us.
Leader: We praise You, O Lord our God, Ruler of the Universe, and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. We thank You, O God, for giving us Your one and only Son, who suffered and died and rose again, that we might be reconciled to You. How great a love You have bestowed on us! As we now eat this bread and drink this cup, may You forgive us of any sin that we secretly harbor in our hearts. May You give us the freedom that comes as You transform us into the image of Your Son, and may You fill us with Your presence through the Holy Spirit that we may truly become Your people.
Leader Command: Let us pick up the unleavened bread; the piece that was hidden.
Leader: In 1 Corinthians 11:23-24, the apostle Paul testified, “For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, ‘Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me’.”
Leader Command: Take and eat this, remembering that Jesus died for us, and in so doing accept the grace of God that brings freedom from the bondage of sin.
(EAT) Leader and People Action: All eat the bread.
Leader Action: When finished, the Leader holds up the cup for all to see.
Leader: In verses 25-26, the apostle Paul continued to testify, “In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.’ For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes.”
Leader Command: Drink this, remembering that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, and in so doing accept the grace that transforms us and brings us from darkness into His marvelous light.
(DRINK) Leader and People Action: All drink of the cup.
(HYMN) Leader Command: Let us sing a song of praise for God’s grace. (Hymn #227)
THE FOURTH DRINK: THANKSGIVING
Leader: Our Passover meal is now complete, just as our redemption is complete. We rejoice with thanksgiving, and yet are humbled by God’s love!
Leader: Yet, the story of God’s redemption is not ended. We celebrate what God has done in our history, and what He has done for us, but at the same time we still await a new future. All creation still longs for its final redemption. As Jesus left, He promised He would come again and restore all things. We have faith enough to believe that God will not leave the world the way it is, so we await the day in which He will again come and bring His Kingdom in fullness.
Leader Action: The leader raises his glass in front of the people.
Leader: We raise our glasses a fourth time in Thanksgiving for God’s enduring grace and love toward us. Blessed are You, O Lord our God, Ruler of the Universe, who has adopted us as Your children, and allowed us to call You Father.
(DRINK) Leader Command: Let us drink in thanksgiving.
Leader Command: Let us now say the Lord’s prayer together.
People: Say the Lord’s Prayer.
Leader Command: Let us conclude by turning towards one another and saying our farewell.
Farewell: May we meet again in the New Jerusalem.
Leader: “The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you; the LORD lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace” (Numbers 16:24-26).
Leader Command: You are now dismissed!
