The Liturgy

Prelude

As you gather for the feast, take time to quiet your heart, still your mind, and focus your attention. Tonight we will remember the rejection, suffering, and crucifixion of Christ. You can pray this prayer to help you prepare for the evening together.

Gracious God, Thank you for your Son and his sacrifice on the cross. Jesus is payment for sin. Through faith, may I live in the righteousness of his life. He is the light of world. By believing in his name, may his light dispel all darkness in me. Jesus is the promised Savior. With full and complete trust, may I learn to surrender my life to Jesus as my Redeemer and Lord. May I humbly receive his love so that I can love God fully and love others truly. Amen!

As others gather at your table, greet them with the following words:

“Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” (Philippians 1:2)

As you wait for the service to begin, reflect on this passage of the Bible:

“For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in His footsteps: ‘He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in His mouth.’ When they heaped abuse on Him, He did not retaliate; when He suffered, He made no threats, but entrusted Himself to Him who judges justly. He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. ‘By His stripes you are healed.’ For ‘you were like sheep going astray,’ but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.” (1 Peter 2:21–25)

A First Word: An Invitation to Feast

“Doxology”: A Gathering Song

People

Praise God from Whom all blessings flow. Praise Him all creatures here below. Praise Him above ye heav’nly host. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

Greetings

Leader

Greetings in the name of Christ! This evening we come to feast. Around this symbolic meal, we gather to remember, to confess, to fellowship, and (even) to celebrate. As pilgrims longing for our permanent residence in “the city of the living God” (Hebrews 12:22), this feast strengthens us in our present sojourn as we trek together toward our future homeland. Tonight, the cross is at the center of our gathering, as it is ever at the center of our faith. The cross —that object which represents suffering, judgment, and death—is God’s divine instrument for salvation, forgiveness, and mercy. This evening, we invite you to listen, look, eat, sing, and pray—to engage your whole being—so that your faith will be nourished. As we will see, God really can “prepare a table in the wilderness” (Psalm 78:19). In fact, God can transform a wilderness feast into a banquet of joy and hope. Let us pray!

Prayer for Help

Leader

God of mercy and grace. We gather tonight to remember your love toward us in Christ. No greater love has there been than when you “[proved your] love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). But, we confess, our memories grow weak in this earthly wilderness. Our ears are often too dull to heed your word. Our eyes are too weak to see your works. Our appetites draw us away from that which satisfies. Our minds are easily shackled with falsehood. Our feet are prone to wander in sin. Our hearts are enticed by shallow loves Today, as all days, we need your mercy and grace and love. This night, may our encounter with your love help us to “love the Lord [our] God with all [our] heart and with all [our] soul and with all [our] strength and with all [our] mind” (Luke 10:27). Amen!

Feasting in Lament: Grieving the Burden and Bondage of Sin

Cup of Bitterness

Hold up the cup.

Leader

Please pour the drink into your cup.

Tonight, we remember and grieve the bitterness of sin. We drink this bitter cup to symbolically remember the burden of sin, grieve the pain of disobedience, and lament the presence of darkness in God’s world. Let us drink together!

Drink the cup.

Point (or hold up) to the unlit candle.

Light and Darkness

Leader

The unlit candle reminds us of the time at the beginning of creation when “the earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep” and “the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters” (Genesis 1:2). Into the vast and shapeless darkness, God spoke light into the world: “God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light” (Genesis 1:3).

Light the candle.

Leader

When God made the world, all creation was a perfect and flourishing paradise. All creation was guided by the light of God’s presence. All creation basked in God’s goodness. This paradise, however, did not last. Through pride and evil desire, the first humans, Adam and Eve, rebelled against God and infected God’s good world with sin. The world was in darkness, and humans were exiled from the light of God’s presence. Created noble in God’s image, humans were now sentenced to a life burdened with sin, shrouded with shame, shackled in fear, and destined for judgment. The darkness of sin and the gloom of evil had invaded God’s good world.

Blow out the candle.

The Egg and Our Sinful Condition

Hold up the egg.

Leader

This egg represents the beginning of life. With this symbol, we remember the creation of the world and the fall of humanity. In fact, we remember that we ourselves are guilty in Adam and born in sin. This evening, we gather to lament—to mourn evil in the world, to groan the loss of paradise, to protest the rule of darkness, and to grieve our own sinful condition. Outside of Christ, each of us lives in an exile of guilt, shame, and fear. Left to ourselves, we stand guilty before a holy God!

Take the egg from your plate. Let us eat in remembrance that we were born in sin.

Eat the egg.

People

“Truly, truly, I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.” (John 8:34)

Leader

“Just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, so also death was passed on to all men, because all sinned.” (Romans 5:12)

People

O God, we cry out to you in our sinful exile! Help us, O God!

Leader

“Surely I was brought forth in iniquity; I was sinful when my mother conceived me.” (Psalm 51:5)

People

O God, we cry out to you in our sinful exile! Help us, O God!

Leader

“The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? I, the Lord, search the heart; I examine the mind to reward a man according to his way, by what his deeds deserve.” (Jeremiah 17:9–10)

People

O God, we cry out to you in our sinful exile! Help us, O God!

Leader

“But your iniquities have built barriers between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He does not hear. For your hands are stained with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, and your tongue mutters injustice.” (Isaiah 59:2–3)

People

O God, we cry out to you in our sinful exile! Help us, O God!

Catechism Questions

Leader

What ruined God’s good creation?

Children

Sin.

Leader

What is sin?

Children

Sin is any lack of conformity to God: breaking God’s law, rebelling against God’s rule, doubting God’s word, and stealing God’s glory.

Bitter Herbs and the Bitterness of Sin

Hold up the horseradish.

Leader

The horseradish symbolizes our bondage to sin. Bitter herbs remind us of our bitter lives in sin. With Israel, we lament the harsh and painful slavery of a cruel and evil master. Oppressed by the tyranny of evil, we are born slaves to sin and exiles from paradise. With Paul, we grieve that we “were dead in [our] trespasses and sins, in which [we] used to walk,” subject to “the ways of this world and of the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit who is now at work in the sons of disobedience” (Ephesians 2:1–2). But, with Job, “[we] will not restrain [our] mouth; [we] will speak in the anguish of [our] spirit; [we] will complain in the bitterness of [our] soul” (Job 7:11).

Take a small spoonful of horseradish and place it on your matzah. Let us eat together to remember the bitterness of sin and to long for better days to come.

Eat the horseradish and matzah.

Leader

“For my iniquities have overwhelmed me; they are a burden too heavy to bear.” (Psalm 38:4)

“I am bent and brought low; all day long I go about mourning.” (Psalm 38:6)

“For my loins are full of burning pain, and no soundness remains in my body. I am numb and badly crushed; I groan in anguish of heart.” (Psalm 38:7–8)

“My heart pounds, my strength fails, and even the light of my eyes has faded. My beloved and friends shun my disease, and my kinsmen stand at a distance.” (Psalm 38:10–11)

“Many are my enemies without cause, and many hate me without reason.” (Psalm 38:19)

People

“Out of the depths [we] cry to You, O Lord! O Lord, hear [our] voice; let Your ears be attentive to [our] plea for mercy.” (Psalm 130:1)

Leader

“So we called out to the Lord, the God of our fathers; and the Lord heard our voice and saw our affliction, toil, and oppression.” (Deuteronomy 26:7)

People

Blessed are you, our God, Creator of the universe. All that you made was very good. But, the first man ate wrongly, loving the food more than the Giver of food. All creation was struck and groaned. We have been struck and we groan. Great giver of all good things we taste the bitterness and long for something greater. Amen.

“Psalm 3”: A Lament Song

People

Verse 1

How many are my foes? They rise up like the sea. Reputation in the dust, No salvation for me.

Chorus

But you are my shield— My glory, shine around. Lift up your head. Answer me As I cry to you

Verse 2

I lay down and sleep. In the morning you woke me. I will not fear Though a thousand form against me.

Chorus

But you are my shield— My glory, shine around. Lift up your head. Answer me As I cry to you.

Bridge

Get up Lord! Save my soul! Get up Lord! Strike your blow! Get up Lord! Let them know! Salvation is yours!

Feasting in Confession: Acknowledging Our Guilt and Shame

Cup of Confession

Hold up the cup.

Leader

Once again, please pour the drink into your cup.

Tonight, we offer ourselves to God in full disclosure. We drink this sour cup to symbolically remember that we deserve the judgment and wrath of God. But, as Christians, we do not “grieve like the rest, who are without hope” (1 Thessalonians 4:13). God hears our pleas for mercy. As we drink, we acknowledge that we are guilty sinners before a holy God who is ready and willing to hear our confession. Let us drink together!

Drink the cup.

Parsley and Our Remorse for Sin

Hold up the parsley and salt water.

Leader

Tonight, the parsley represents the hope that God offers pardon for sinful people. Parsley’s bitter taste, cleansing scent, and refreshing savor encourage us to seek God to cleanse us from our sin. The salt water represents the tears of God’s people, suffering in the bondage of evil. We dip the parsley into salt water to represent our own tears, mourning our bondage to sin. More than tears of regret, these tears remind us of the cleansing power of confession to God.

Dip the parsley in the salt water. Take a bite of the sprig of parsley.

Eat the sprig of parsley.

People

“My eyes overflow unceasingly, without relief, until the Lord looks down from heaven and sees.” (Lamentations 3:49–50)

Leader

“Have mercy on me, O God, according to Your loving devotion; according to Your great compassion, blot out my transgressions. Wash me clean of my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. Against You, You only, have I sinned and done what is evil in Your sight, so that You may be proved right when You speak and blameless when You judge.” (Psalm 51:1–4)

People

“God, have mercy on me, a sinner!” (Luke 18:13)

Leaven and the Cleansing from Sin

Hold up the leaven or leavened bread.

Leader

God promises to cleanse sinners who confess their sins in genuine faith and sincere repentance. Leaven, the element that makes bread rise, is often used throughout Scripture as a picture of sin. Tonight, we remove the leaven from this place to symbolize God removing the impurity of sin from our lives. The Scriptures warn us:

“A little leaven works through the whole batch of dough.” (Galatians 5:9)

“Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, and nothing hidden that will not be made known. What you have spoken in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the housetops.” (Luke 12:1–3)

“Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven works through the whole batch of dough? Get rid of the old leaven, that you may be a new unleavened batch, as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with the old bread, leavened with malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and of truth.” (1 Corinthians 5:6–8)

Like sin can be hidden in our hearts, leavened bread is hidden throughout this room. All the children can stand and try to find all the bread in the room. Once you find some bread, your need to bring it here in the open so that it can be removed.

Instruct the children to find all of the leaven or leavened bread in the room. Bring it to the center and remove it from the room.

People

Blessed are you, our God. It is you who makes us holy and commands us to go and sin no more. As a picture of our scorn of sin and worldly, lesser desires, we remove the leaven of this place. May we always be so fervent in removing those things that harm our relationship with you, harm our relationship with our neighbor, and harm ourselves. Any leaven which is in our possession that we did not see, any sin in us that we did not see, which we did not remove, we leave in your hands to rid. Amen.

Haroset and the Confession of Sin

Hold up the apple mixture.

Leader

This apple mixture (called haroset) is a sweet blend of apples, walnuts, honey, and cinnamon. The thick texture reminds us of the heavy bondage of sin, a bondage the Israelites felt during their time as Egyptian slaves. Their Egyptian taskmasters, “worked the Israelites ruthlessly and made their lives bitter with hard labor in brick and mortar … [and] every service they imposed was harsh” (Exodus 1:14). Greater than the burden of brick and mortar, we were all burdened under the harsh rule of sin and Satan. But, God did not leave us in our bondage. In this way, the thick and sweet apple mixture reminds us of that genuine confession to God brings the sweetness of freedom and redemption.

Take a piece of matzah and put some haroset on it. Let us eat to remember the burden of sin and sweet freedom of confession.

Eat the haroset.

People

“O Israel, put your hope in the Lord, for with the Lord is loving devotion, and with Him is redemption in abundance. And He will redeem Israel from all iniquity.” (Psalm 130:7–8)

“Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whose iniquity the Lord does not count against him, in whose spirit there is no deceit.” (Psalm 31:1–2)

“There Is a Fountain”: A Confession Song

People

Verse 1

There is a fountain filled with blood Drawn from Immanuel’s veins; And sinners, plunged beneath that flood, Lose all their guilty stains: Lose all their guilty stains, Lose all their guilty stains; And sinners, plunged beneath that flood, Lose all their guilty stains.

Verse 2

The dying thief rejoiced to see That fountain in his day; And there may I, though vile as he, Wash all my sins away: Wash all my sins away, Wash all my sins away; And there may I, though vile as he, Wash all my sins away.

Verse 3

Dear dying Lamb, Thy precious blood Shall never lose its pow’r, Till all the ransomed Church of God Be saved, to sin no more: Be saved, to sin no more, Be saved, to sin no more; Till all the ransomed Church of God Be saved to sin no more.

Verse 4

E’er since by faith I saw the stream Thy flowing wounds supply, Redeeming love has been my theme, And shall be till I die: And shall be till I die, And shall be till I die; Redeeming love has been my theme, And shall be till I die.

Feasting in Faith: Celebrating Redemption in Christ

Cup of Faith

Hold up the cup.

Leader

Once again, please pour the drink into your cup.

Tonight, we remember God’s gracious redemption for all who place their faith in Christ. God sent his Son into the world to rescue sinners from eternal judgment. For those who turn to Jesus in faith and repent from their sin, God offers freedom from guilt, shame, and fear. We drink this savory cup to symbolically remember the sweetness of God’s redemption. Let us drink together!

Drink the cup.

People

God who gives unending joy, we drink this cup in celebration of Your immeasurable greatness, imaginable generosity, and countless mercies. We love you! Amen.

Jesus as the Light of the World

Point (or hold up) to the unlit candle.

Leader

God sent his son, Jesus, into the world to save us from our sin. Into the darkness of a sinful and broken world, God sent the redeeming light of his Son, Jesus.

Light the candle.

People

“Jesus spoke to the people and said, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me will never walk in the darkness, but will have the light of life.’” (John 8:12)

“In Him was life, and that life was the light of men. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” (John 1:4–5)

As the light of the world, Jesus rescues us from the darkness of sin, death, judgment. We celebrate this work of salvation on the cross. The Bible testifies to this work of salvation.

Jesus as the Savior of the World

Leader

“The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His nature, upholding all things by His powerful word. After He had provided purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.” (Hebrews 1:3)