All stand as the leader welcomes those present.
We welcome all people to our meal here tonight - Jesus Christ who fulfilled the Passover when He died for us on the Cross a perfect man without blemish, accepts all people to Him - as Paul reminds us in Ephesians;
The hostess lights the candle and recites:
Praise be to you O Lord our God, King of the Universe, who has kept us alive by your commandments. May Christ the light of the world inspire us to heal and not to harm, to help and not to hinder, to bless and not to curse, and so serve you, O God of freedom. May this place be consecrated O God, by the light of your countenance, shining upon us in blessing and bringing us peace!
All: Amen
The first cup of wine is poured for the others.
All: Praised are you, O Lord our God, King of the Universe, who has created the fruit of the vine.
The first cup of wine is drunk.
All: Praised are you, O Lord our God, King of the Universe, who has created the fruit of the earth.
The celery is eaten.
All: Behold, this is the bread of affliction which our fathers ate in the land of Egypt. Let all who are hungry come and eat. Let all who are in want come in and celebrate the Passover with us. May it be God's will to redeem us from all trouble and servitude. Next year, at this season, may the whole house of Israel be free.
Why is this night different from all other nights? On other nights we eat with our families and we don't eat funny food. Why are we having this special service?
Tonight we are celebrating together this special meal to remember that Jesus changed it forever. We are no longer waiting for the Messiah to come. We all know that he has come because he is with us now. We are doing this so that we will understand a little better what it was like for Jesus' disciples at the last supper, and so we can understand communion better. We are eating it together because we are all part of God's family.
Why is this night different from all other nights? We usually have loaves of bread with meals. Why on this night are we eating flat bread?
We are eating flat bread tonight because we are remembering the hurry in which the Israelites had to leave Egypt after God had sent the ten plagues on the Egyptians. The Egyptians urged the people to leave their country, for otherwise they said, "we will all die!" So the people took their dough before the yeast was added, and carried it on their backs in kneading troughs wrapped in clothing. The bread is flat because it has no yeast in it to make it rise: in the Bible yeast is like sin and so it also reminds us that when we follow Jesus we have to get rid of all the sin in our lives.
Why is this night different from all other nights? Why did we eat this celery before our meal?
Celery is known as a bitter herb. We eat it to recall that the lives of the Israelites were bitter while they were slaves in Egypt. In Genesis we read that the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites and worked them ruthlessly. They made their lives bitter with hard labour with bricks and mortar and all kinds of work in the fields. In their hard labour the Egyptians used them ruthlessly."
Why is this night different from all other nights? On other nights we have sauces with our food, but we don't dip our food in them. Why tonight do we dip our food in salt water and charoseth?
We dip our celery in the salt water to remind us of the tears of sorrow the Israelites wept when they were slaves to the Egyptians. The charoseth reminds us of the clay that the Israelites were forced to make bricks from.
All: Who is like you, O Lord, among the mighty? Who is like you, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders? The Lord shall reign for ever and ever!! Hallelujah!
Sing a song of Praise.
Say Psalm 117 together.
O Praise the Lord all you nations:
O Praise him all you peoples.
For great is his loving kindness toward us:
And the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever.
Praise the Lord!
All: Praised are you, O Lord our God, King of the Universe, who has created the fruit of the vine.
The second cup is drunk.
Blessed are you, O Lord our God, King of the Universe, who brings forth bread from the earth.
The matzo is broken into pieces and passed around. Each person holds a piece in their hand.
All: Blessed are you, O Lord our God, King of the Universe, who has sanctified us by your commands and has commanded us concerning the eating of unleavened bread.
All: Blessed are you, O Lord our God, King of the universe, who has sanctified us by your commands and has commanded us concerning the eating of bitter herbs.
The bitter herbs are eaten.
At this point in the last supper Jesus predicts his betrayal by Judas.
There is special significance to this on two levels. Firstly, it was a sign of affection to give to friend the bread you had dipped.
Secondly, they had not yet eaten the meal together, so Judas was effectively excommunicating himself from the fellowship by not sharing the meal with them.
This was the custom of Hillel when the Temple in Jerusalem was still standing. He would put together a piece of the paschal offering, a piece of matzo and a piece of bitter herb together to fulfil the command: "With unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat the pascal Lamb." For us it reminds us that Jesus experienced the sweetness of a meal shared with friends and the bitterness of betrayal.
The sandwich is passed around and everyone takes a piece and eats it.
The prophet Jeremiah spoke of a new covenant, which God would make with Israel, which would be greater than the one he made with them when he brought them out of Egypt.
The Old Covenant was to be written on tablets of stone, but the New Covenant was to be written inwardly on our hearts.
The Law is God's standard of righteousness. It shows us what sin is. But no person can keep it. The penalty for breaking the Law is death. Therefore, the Law brings condemnation. But God, in his mercy, added the sacrificial system as his means of grace towards his people.
He desired a relationship with them and through the means of the priesthood and the Tabernacle, he provided a way into his presence. However, this was temporary and inadequate and only served as 'a shadow of the good things to come', that is, until the day when he would provide his Son, not only as the 'once and for all' sacrifice for sin but also as the High Priest who would open the way for all to enter the heavenly sanctuary into the presence of God.
Leader: Let us bless the Lord.
All: May the Name of the Lord be blessed from now to eternity.
It was at this point that Christ took the bread. This would have been a surprise to the disciples because there was never anything eaten after the meal itself, so Jesus was really now starting a new sort of remembrance ceremony.
The bread is eaten
This cup was known as the Elijah cup. The Jews believed that Elijah would come first to signify that the Messiah was about to come. For generations this cup had been present at each Passover but was never touched. Christ now breaks through and takes this cup vividly showing his disciples that indeed the Messiah had come. After supper he took THE cup saying;
Leader: Let us say the Grace
All: Let us praise God whose food we have eaten and by whose goodness we live. Through God's kindness, mercy and compassion the whole world is sustained.
Leader: Our God and God of our fathers, be ever mindful of us, as you have been of our fathers so that we may find grace, mercy, life and peace at this feast of the Passover.
All: Amen
All: Praised are you, O Lord our God, King of the Universe, who has created the fruit of the vine.
The third cup of wine is passed around and drunk.
Psalm 136
Response after each line
His love endures forever.
Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good.
Give thanks to the God of gods.
Give thanks to the Lord of lords:
To him who alone does great wonders.
Who by his understanding made the heavens,
Who spread out the earth upon the waters,
Who made the great lights -
The moon and stars to govern the night;
To him who struck down the first born of Egypt
And brought Israel out from among them
With a mighty hand and outstretched arm;
To him who divided the Red Sea asunder
And brought Israel through the midst of it,
But swept Pharaoh and his army into the Red Sea;
To him who led his people through the desert,
Who struck down great kings,
And killed mighty kings -
Sihon king of the Amorite
And Og the king of Bashan -
And gave their land as an inheritance
An inheritance to his servant Israel;
To the One who remembered us in our low estate
And freed us from our enemies,
And who gives food to every creature.
Give thanks to the God of Heaven.
All: Praised are you, O Lord our God, King of the Universe, who has created the fruit of the vine.
The fourth cup of wine is drunk.
As the Jews look in hope to celebrating the Passover again in Jerusalem in the New Temple, may we look to celebrating the eternal banquet in the New Zion, through the Grace of Christ our sacrifice.
Leader: The Lord bless you, and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you and have mercy on you! May the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace!
All: Amen, Amen, Amen.
A hymn is sung.
After they had sung a hymn they went out to the Mount of Olives
Leader: Go in peace to love and serve the Lord
All: In the name of Christ. Amen.
Thank you for sharing in this special time with us.