The Herb Family: Easter 2025

We enjoyed a wonderful Holy Week and Easter. We have been doing a study of the last week of Christ's life and digging in deep with out study. It's been so nice and makes Easter so much more meaningful.

We also made some time to color eggs too. The kids always love coloring eggs because we use the "egg-mazing" coloring machine and it's so fun.

We also went to Mtn. Home for Easter weekend. It was supposed to rain all weekend, but it actually turned out to be wonderful weather. But because we were unsure about the weather, we went ahead and did our egg hunt early, on Friday.

We also had our Christian Passover feast. This year I redid the script and I feel like it made the whole experience more meaningful for me. I learned about a traditional Jewish Seder and it was so interesting. I included the new script so we don't lose it.

A Christian Passover Feast-

The Haggadah- the telling of the story through our lives and perspectives,

calling to mind the miraculous acts of God and His mighty hand.

Before the great Exodus, Moses asked Pharoah to let the Israelites go. Because Pharoah was unwilling to release the Israelites from slavery, God sent plagues to punish Egypt. Before the Exodus, God commanded the Israelites to sacrifice a lamb and smear the blood on their doorposts as a sign for the destroying angel to pass over their homes. Once the Israelites were in the wilderness and the Tabernacle was established, the Passover lamb was sacrificed at the door of the tabernacle. Today Jews still celebrate the Passover but it is now called “Seder”. It is a time for family, reflection and remembering the events of the Exodus. Seder is the ritual meal but it does not include any animal sacrifice or blood on the doors. The focus of the meal is on remembering the Exodus and celebrating freedom, remembering the coming of Christ, his ministry, atoning sacrifice and resurrection and also looking forward to the coming of our Savior again.

Table Narrator: Father in Heaven, we thank you for making us holy through the blood of our Lord, Jesus Christ and helping us to remember Him as we celebrate his Last Supper. Thank you for this feast, when we can remember how you freed the Israelites from Egypt through the Passover and how you freed us from sin through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Narrator: The meal of lamb represents the Lamb of God and his sacrifice for us. We no longer sacrifice the firstlings of the flock, the unblemished lamb of the flocks because the Lamb of God, our Savior Jesus Christ, has already sacrificed himself for us. The only sacrifice we are now asked to make is a broken heart and contrite spirit- to repent and partake of the atonement that he freely gives us.

Person 1: Why are we eating unleavened bread tonight?

Narrator: When the Israelites were told to leave Egypt there was no time for their bread to rise, and in remembrance of we eat unleavened or unrisen bread today. Sin, like yeast, puffs us up and makes us feel bigger and better than we are. This bread has no yeast, like Jesus, who was never puffed up with sin. As we eat this bread, we remember the perfect example of humility, Jesus Christ, and we strive to be more like him.

As we look inside our Matzah cover, we find three pieces of Matzah, representing God the Father, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. Please remove the middle piece of Matzah. Look closely at the unleavened bread. See the stripes, the bruising and the piercings. This represents our Savior who was bruised and broken for us. He was pierced for us. And through his stripes we are healed.

Break the matzoh in half and place it inside the Afikoman. Everyone closes their eyes. One person leaves to hide the Afikoman.

Pass the rest of the Matzah around, each person taking one.

Person 2: Why are we eating bitter herbs?

Pass the bowl of horseradish.

Narrator: We eat bitter herbs to remember the suffering and bitterness of slavery the Israelites endured under the rule of Pharaoh. We also remember all the people who have suffered or died so that we may worship Jesus freely. We remember the bitterness of sin and trials of mortality. We also remember how Jesus suffered and took on all the bitterness of our sins.

Everyone places some bitter herbs on Matzah and eat it. The tradition is that everyone puts on enough horseradish that they cry when eating it.

Narrator: Why do we eat charoset?

Pass the charoset. Everyone places some bitter herbs and charoset on their matzah and eat it.

Person 5: We eat this sweet apple paste to remember the bricks and mortar the Israelites had to lay as they did the Pharaoh’s work. Its sweetness reminds us of the hope we have in eternal life with Jesus. We remember that even during trials and suffering, there is sweetness to be found. Because of our Savior, we can find home and peace through suffering and trials.

Person 3: Why do we eat parsley dipped in salty water?

Pass the parsley and a small bowl of salt water.

Person 4: Parsley reminds us of the branches that the Israelites used to wipe lamb's blood on their door frames so that the angel of death would know to pass over their homes. It also reminds us of the new life we find in Jesus. We dip our parsley in salty water to remember the salty tears the Israelites cried during their years of slavery. This also represents the tears we cry during our suffering and trials.

Narrator: In the middle of the table sits a cup of the fruit of the vine. The Israelites never drank from this goblet, saving it for Jesus. Since Jesus has already come, we can drink from this special cup. We drink in hope for our future and joy in Jesus!

Pass the special cup.

Person 6: The Israelites avoided death by the blood of a lamb painted on their door frames. Jesus is called the Lamb of God because His blood saves all of us from our sin and the death we deserve. This fruit of the vine represents the blood of Savior that was shed for each of us.

Person 7: We will eat a special dinner of lamb, new spring vegetables and new baby potatoes to symbolize the new life we all have thanks to Jesus Christ.

Ask children to find the Afikoman.

Narrator: Afikoman means “I have come”. This represents our Savior who was taken, broken, hidden and is now revealed. This also points to the Savior’s second coming and his redemption of the whole world. This is our blessed hope as well as our declaration- He came and he will come again.

Narrator: Offers a prayer to bless the food, offering thanks for the atonement, for saving the Israelites from Egypt, saving us all from our sins and for our eternal life through our Savior, Jesus Christ. Asking for his blessing as we take his gospel to the rest of the world, inviting all to come and enter into a covenant relationship with Christ.

We also celebrated Tucker's birthday with Nanny, Papa and Aunt Laura. Because it's just a family party year, we figured we might as well celebrate with as much family as possible.

Tucker opened all his presents and was so happy with all his gifts. He also requested a German chocolate cake and so Nanny and I made that for him. He was so excited about his cake.

I can hardly believe Tucker is almost 11-years old. He's getting so big and grown up. We sure love our Tucker boy.

Chris and Tanner also spent all weekend working on my Grandpa's old truck. Tanner really wants to drive the truck but it wasn't starting. So Chris and Tanner worked really hard to get it going. They had to take the truck bed off to get to the fuel pump and they replaced so many different parts. By the end of Easter weekend the truck was running but it wasn't quite ready to drive home yet. So we will keep working on it and hopefully we will get to drive it home soon. Nanny and Papa were gracious enough to gift it to us. I think Papa was a little excited to have the room back in his shop. I think it's a win-win for everyone. Tanner is so excited to have his own truck.