Passover

Dear friends,

Loving greetings of peace and congratulations on being invited to a Passover Seder, which is a ritual dinner with matzah (unleavened) bread, wine and other goodies. Lord Jesus was celebrating and leading a Passover Seder with his disciples at the Last Supper. When he told them, "This is my body and this is my blood," he was holding up the matzah and the wine used during the Seder ritual -- which is an annual retelling of the Exodus from bondage in Egypt (three thousand years ago) across the Red Sea, through the wilderness and into the Promised Land.

This festival meal and telling of the tale is enjoined on us in scripture -- each generation shall tell of this to your children, "how we were slaves in Egypt and God freed us with an outstretched arm and a strong hand."

Whether this ancient tale (The Ten Commandments) is legend, myth or history is not as important as is its allegorical meaning to those today who choose to embrace this ritual. For we are all in bondage to any number of old programs running through our minds somewhat automatically if anything sets them off -- like repeating tape loops And often these hard-wired reaction patterns are of no use to us or anyone else whatsoever. To be freed from this bondage is in fact to be in a state of freedom, liberation and joy -- which is the Promised Land, and which is our true heritage.

That's what the Passover ritual dinner is really all about. Keep that in mind as you enjoy the meal and re-telling of the exodus from Egypt.

Passover begins at sundown Saturday and goes for eight days. Seder dinners are celebrated on the first and often the second evening of Passover.


What if?
Egypt in scripture is the material world
Pharaoh is the ego
Moses is the ear that hears intuition
and the eye that sees revelation
Blood on the doorway is the dedication of our own lives
The death of the first born is the first negative thought
that clusters like grapes and like yeast
into our on-going complaints and worries
Waiting for bread to rise is procrastination
Miriam is the well of devotion in our hearts
Aaron is the love in our hearts
Crossing the Red Sea is transcendence,
The promised land is enlightenment and liberation, and
The children of Israel are the white cells
the healing truth seekers

And what if
Our bondage is what runs us from behind
Old wiring that we need only see and put out in front of us
And thank it for sharing
But today we're choosing more noble possibilities.

And what if
The ten plagues are the other side of the ten commandments
Ten words, ten sacred letter symbols, and
What if all the letters in the Torah are one long name of God
And each letter is a pathway
And every two letters make a gateway that
We pass through just by meditating on the letters.

And what if
Elijah is that person who came over the other day and
Helped get your car started when it wouldn't go.

And what if
Drinking wine with a blessing is playing the game of faith,
Eating matzoh is playing the game of passing over, and
What if you're the lamb of sacrifice, so your entire life is
For the benefit of everyone everywhere.

Set Free in the Open Country

The ritual for a leper to be cleansed:
Leprosy, afflictions have come to the surface

When the priest or priestess outside the camp
Sees a leper is healed of scaly affection
(Infection and affliction)

Once we face it clearly and take responsibility completely
Without blaming anyone, even ourselves
The healing has begun

Bring two live clean birds, cedar wood
Crimson and hyssop leaves
Also freshwater in an earthen vessel
Gather the elements for a ritual

Dip all in the water
Sprinkle that water seven times on the one to be cleansed
Now set the birds free in the open country

Ritual is playing with God to alter consciousness
Be free in the open country (mantra)

You who were sick can now go wash your clothes
We wear our actions like a coat of colors
Selfless actions wash our clothes

Shave your hair
Re-dedicate one’s life to God, serving all

Bathe in pure water
Investigate scripture

Be clean and enter the camp
Thus we are purified for service in the family of humanity

But stay outside your tent for seven days

Your tent is code for The Tent of Meeting
Which is realizing you are the oneness of everything always
Let's prepare seven days for this reunion on the eighth day
The day of infinity, the day beyond time and space

Selections and Notes on Leviticus 14 Metzora