2011 Lent Study Guide - University Presbyterian Church

Special Activity: Seder Meal
All: As Christians, the Seder has meaning for us, not only because it helps us to understand the
original context of the first Lord’s Supper, but because it symbolically reflects so much of
our experience of God’s grace.
Leader: During the celebration tonight we will remember that the original Passover meal was
prepared in haste in Egypt as the people waited expectantly to follow God out to the
wilderness. This reminds us that we must at every moment be waiting and watching to
follow Christ into our own world.
All: We will eat bitter herbs which reminded the Jews of the bitterness of their bondage and
which will remind us of how bitter has been our own bondage to sin. And we will break
bread and drink the cup which reminded the Jews of God’s provision and salvation in their
affliction and reminds us of God’s provision of Christ whose broken body and shed blood has
set us free.
The Search for Leaven
Leader: We are commanded to remove all leaven from our houses. As it is written: “For seven days you
are to eat bread made without yeast. On the first day remove the yeast from your houses, for
whoever eats anything with yeast in it from the first day through the seventh must be cut off
from Israel.” (Exodus 12:15)
Since leaven or yeast in scripture often symbolizes the sin in our lives, this is the time to
cleanse our hearts from sin in order that we may be worthy partakers of the Lord’s feast. Let
us be as careful in the cleansing of our own hearts as we are in the cleansing of our houses
of leaven during this festival.
(Crumbs on the tables are dusted into an ashtray or wooden spoon with a feather.)
Blessed are you, O Lord our God, King of the universe, who has commanded us concerning
the removal of leaven. Let us silently confess our sins to the Lord, and be assured that the
Lord will forgive them just as thoroughly as if they were burned with this leaven.
All: (Pray silently)
Leader: (Lights feather and crumbs on fire and destroys them.)
Lighting the Candles
Leader: According to an ancient Jewish custom, it is the task of the mother to light the festival
candles in every service which takes place in the Jewish home. It was the woman in the
garden of Eden who first put out the light of God in the heart of all people, but it was also
a woman through whom God brought His light back into the world. Because of Mary’s
obedience, we too can praise God in the words of Simeon:
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