A Simple Seder

SET UP:

One closed door (for Elijah)

One empty chair (for Elijah)

Pillow on the floor

2nd door – red cloth over door (cross and crown of thorns underneath if you have these)

Foods – to be placed on plates and eaten at specific times:  Parsley, horseradish, salt water, romaine lettuce, apple sauce, matzah, lamb meat, lamb shaped cookies, hard boiled eggs, chocolate eggs.

Juice / Drinks – cups (juice boxes could be used for smaller children - they will take 4 sips at designated times)

Music:  Moses by Travis Cottrell, We shall remember, any hymn or chorus about the blood of Jesus

To start out - have the children share stories of their time in slavery (remember the hand-cuffs).

Explain these terms:

1. Seder = (Hebrew for order) order of events for the telling

2. Haggadah (Hebrew for telling) = Instructions in a book for the Seder.  This Simple Seder Outline is your "Haggadah".

In a Jewish Seder, they read from the Haggadah with lots of responsive readings - we won't do much of that in this Seder, we'll just a few times of blessing.

PASSOVER SEDER A Jewish Seder is Always at Passover (March / April)

1. Commanded of the Lord for the children of Israel

2. Believers today – commanded to take the Lord’s supper

3. Must have a circumcised heart to participate – do not partake with unconfessed sin

We must have a clean heart:  The Jews use feathers and the children clean search the house for crumbs representing sin.  (Actually - this is done when they celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread, but we will include this part in our Simple Seder).

FEATHERS – clean the house represents cleaning our hearts:  Jelly beans could be used to symbolize crumbs.  Have kids dust up some jelly beans!  (The kids will love this and right from the start you will have their interest!)

The Jewish Seder includes FOUR Questions

asked by the youngest child. 

The questions asked lead to the telling of the story:

Go ahead and ask the question and give the answer.

Tell kids to remember these answers for

a “pop quiz” later on with prizes!

1. Why is this day different from all other days? Why do we eat only Matzah on Passover?

We eat only matzah because there wasn’t time to bake bread when we left Egypt.

2. Why do we eat only bitter herbs at the Seder?

We eat bitter herbs to remind us of the sadness we felt when we were slaves.

3. Why do we dip foods twice?

 First, we dip the bitter herbs into charoset which reminds us of the clay the Jewish slaves used to build Pharaoh’s cities.

 We also dip the parsley into salt water. The salt water reminds us of the tears the Jewish slaves cried when Pharaoh was cruel to them.

4. Why do we lean on pillows when we eat?

We lean on pillows to remind us that we are not slaves.  Because of Jesus we are free.

Seder – a TELLING THE STORY

to answer the questions:

Instead of actually telling the story of Moses, we will play the song entitled Moses (Great version: Travis Cottrell you can find this on i-tunes)

Remind the children that:

 Moses is called back to his country where they wanted to kill him.

 Moses was to lead approximately 2 million slaves (Jews) out of the land (think about it!)

Ask Questions about the Plagues

Below are suggested questions - lots of them!
(You do NOT need to ask all of these questions. 
Younger children may be able to answer 10-15 questions)

We plan to have a prize basket to reward the children for their correct answers.

The ages of the children at our family Seder

will be one year - 17 years old

1. What was the first plague? Water to blood

2. What happened to the fish? They died

3. What was the color of your food and drink on the day of the first plague? Red

4. What was the name of the special river? Nile

5. What god did they worship when the water was turned to blood? The Nile River – water was their source of life instead of God.

6. What was the 2nd plague? Frogs

7. What god did they worship when they had frogs? The frog-god, the god of fertility and save deliveries.

8. Did you eat anything special to remind you of this plague? What? Frog cookies!

9. Who experienced this plague? Both Egyptians and Hebrews

10. What was plague #3? Lice / Gnats

11. What was turned into lice? Dust of the earth – did you go to a park and see the sand?

12. What was Pharaoh’s heart like after these plagues – hard or soft? Hard!

13. What did Moses say every time he went to Pharaoh? Let my people go!

14. What was the 4th plague? Flies

15. Why did God send flies? They were worshiping the flies which was the god of this world.

16. Who does is the “god of this world”? Satan

17. Did the children of God experience the flies? NO

18. What was the 5th plague? Disease of livestock

19. Did you have a special cookie on that day? Yes

20. Did any of the cows of the children of Israel die? No

21. When did God say the plague would come? Tomorrow

22. What was the 6th plague? Boils

23. How did you remember this plague? Band-aids

24. What did Moses throw up in the air that became boils? Ashes

25. Why did God send this plague? They were worshiping the goddess of healing rather than Almighty God.

26. What was the next plague - #7? Plague of Hail

27. When was God tell them the hail would come? Tomorrow

28. So did God give them a warning? Yes

29. Why did God send this plague? To show His power and so that His name would be proclaimed through all the earth. So that they would KNOW Who is God.

30. Was there something mixed in with the hail? Fire

31. What happened when the hail came to the land? It killed the animals and plants and servants who were in the fields

32. Who can tell us about the Plague of Locusts? Grasshoppers on the land so the land was dark.

33. Were the grasshoppers in their houses? Yes

34. Why did God send the plague of locusts? So that you would tell others about the power of God and what He did.

35. What was the 9th plague? Darkness

36. Did you have a very dark day at your house? Yes

37. What did you wear to make it dark during the day? Sunglasses

38. What does the darkness represent? Hell – life without God

39. Who is the light of the world? Jesus!

GREAT JOB! EVERYONE RECEIVED PRIZES!

In a real Seder the Jews eat special foods

to help them remember:

They also drink four times from the cup

as a toast or celebration

We will eat these foods and then talk about the final plague – The Passover Plague

 Cup of Sanctification –

 Blessing: Thank you God, King of the Universe, who gives us life to enjoy this holiday! DRINK (SIP) of the cup

KARPAS (Parsley) – dip parsley in saltwater to remember salty tears shed by Israelites while in slavery

Blessing: “Blessed are you, O Lord our God, King of the Universe, who creates the fruit of the earth.”

EAT the parsley

MATZAH (Hebrew = unleavened bread) – Comes in a set of 3. Leader breaks the middle Matzah in half, leaving one part, and placing the 2nd part in a napkin.

The one special part of Matzah (hidden in napkin) is  (Hebrew = I came) referring to Jesus the Messiah who came in fulfillment to prophecy. The afikomen is hidden to be found later. The rest of the afikomen represents the bread they ate in Egypt.

Remember the 1st FOUR QUESTIONS – they lead to the story ~

the story of LAST PLAGUE –

Plague of slaying First Born (Passover)

RED CLOTH

1. No blood brought death

2. The blood over the doors = blood over our hearts

3. Why blood? There is no covenant without the blood

 * * * Read Hebrews 9 * * *

4. Jesus came into Jerusalem AS THE PASSOVER LAMB

5. Jesus came DURING PASSOVER

SHANK BONE – reminder of the blood sacrifice

HYSSOP (a flowering plant) – dip in blood and apply to top and sides of door SYMBOLIZING a picture of the cross

“Worthy is the Lamb that has been slain, to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and might, and honor, and glory, and blessing.” Eat lamb meat / cookies

Cup of Deliverance

“Blessed are you, O Lord our God, King of the Universe, who redeemed us and our ancestors from Egypt, and has brought us to this night. So, O Lord our God, bring us to other festivals in coming days. DRINK 2nd cup

MATZAH – Break and distribute

BITTER HERBS – Place a bit of horseradish on matzah and on Romaine(2nd dipping of Passover)

ROMAINE - bitter herb with horseradish

CHAROSET – add mixture of apples, raisins and nuts to the matzah and bitter herbs (matzah sandwich)

HIDDEN MATZAH – children search for the afikomen matzah – the one who finds it receives a prize

The Last Supper is the same as THE PASSOVER

and there was Jesus breaking the bread

and drinking from the cup with them!

Jews remember what happened THEN / Christians remember what happens NOW – the cross and resurrection.  It is all the same celebration, but from different perspectives. One day – the Lord will remove the scales from their eyes. Daniel 7

Cup of Redemption used by Jesus at the Lord’s Supper (Last Supper): “And He took the cup and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink from it, all of you, for this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins.” DRINK of the 3rd cup

Cups of Expectation and empty chair for Elijah’s arrival A prophet like Elijah was to come and announce the arrival of the Messiah. The Jews leave an empty chair and open door symbolizing Elijah’s arrival.

John the Baptist was this prophet.

Send child to open the door –

TODAY this represents the door of our hearts

Cup of Acceptance – The promise that Messiah will come again and we look forward to that day. DRINK of the 4th cup

EGG = new life in Christ – we recline on a pillow because we are no longer slaves – we are free!

Eat eggs (hard boiled or stuffed and/or chocolate eggs)

SING SONG or HYMN about the blood 

We shall Remember