the joneses do passover.

Our church tradition doesn't typically pay much attention to Holy Week. I'm sad to admit that publicly, but what's true is true. Individually, though, and in my family, Easter -- and the events leading up to the remembrance of Christ's resurrection -- is a happily celebrated tradition. 

This year, Jordan and I decided we wanted to do more than dress in our Sunday best and dye eggs. I'd been reading a lot about the ancient Jewish traditions, how they can mean so much to our faith as Christ followers, and so we decided: We would eat a passover meal. Somehow, we managed to convince members of our family to join us (thank you for complying, Sherlocks!), and I began reading up on how to make the passover meal something we could celebrate together as believers. 

So I cooked lamb, baked my own matzo, and found this script for the evening online. 

As we sat around our table filled with bitter herbs and salt water, giggling every once and a while through the prayers, it hit me why this is so important, why this shouldn't be ignored.

This is what Jesus did. 

How can we fully grasp the communion or the Lord's Supper we take every Sunday until we fully understand the significance the Passover held for the Jews, for Jesus and His disciples?

That last night as Jesus sat talking and joking with His followers, enjoying one final tradition of their faith, they were remembering God's promise of deliverance. How on one dark night, God rescued them from their bondage. The food they ate was symbolic of their journey. The prayers they said, the wine they drank, the discussion they had... It had meaning, purpose. And because it held meaning for Christ, it should hold meaning for us.

The way the Passover meal and the communion meal weave together is absolutely beautiful. I don't think I fully realized that until tonight, as I sat communing with people I love, remembering that other fateful night, the night God rescued us from our own bondage through the power and blood of His perfect Son.

Sometimes I think faith is like a puzzle. There are crucial pieces we're missing. It's true, I think, that the Jews are missing the piece that is Christ, the Messiah who has already come once and is coming again. But there are pieces of my puzzle missing too. Pieces like this simple tradition, looked over sometimes by the Christian faith, but treasured by the one we call our King.