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TITLE: Please Pass Over Me By Sheila Koester 01/23/07 |
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Hannah hugged her shaking knees as she listened to her classmates discuss their holiday reports and favorite family holiday events. Her family’s holiday celebrations were different from those of the kids sitting at her table.
“We go to church at Easter and look for Easter eggs afterwards,” Emily said.
“My Mom reads stories about the three kings who visited the baby Jesus during Christmas,” Brian added.
“I like to watch the Irish dancers, listen to the marching bands, and watch the floats go by at the St. Patrick’s Day parade with my family and friends. What holiday do you like to celebrate with your family Hannah?” Samantha asked.
“I don’t have a favorite family holiday celebration,” Hannah shrugged. She was
embarrassed about going to the synagogue to attend Passover Seder services with her parents. She didn’t think the other kids would want to know which family celebration she liked the best because it would seem so weird to them.
“It’s time for your holiday reports, “Mrs. Armstrong said. “On Friday I told you to bring something to show and tell the class why your family’s holiday celebration is special.”
Six kids read their reports. Some had stuffed animals. Others passed around objects used in their family’s holiday celebration.
Hannah’s anxiety grew as she listened. She was afraid her classmates would laugh at her, but had no choice when her teacher called on her.
“Every spring all the members of my family come to my father’s house for a special meal called a Passover Seder.” No one laughed and she continued. “It’s a fun and happy time for me. We eat, sing, dance, and play games.”
“My father told me what this time means to my family. It’s a celebration of an event that happened one night many years ago in ancient Egypt. God commanded the Jewish people to take the blood of a lamb and place it on the two side posts and on the upper doorpost of their houses.” Hannah held up a stuffed white lamb then handed it to a classmate to pass around the room.
“He was planning to kill the oldest babies of the Egyptians because they were bad and didn’t do what God told them to do. Israelites that lived in the houses marked with the lamb’s blood listened to God and were good. He would pass over their houses and allow the first born to live. Today Jewish families all over the world remember this time.”
After she finished Brian gave her the white lamb. She went back to her seat.
“That was nicely done, Hannah. Who wants to go next?” Mrs. Armstrong asked.
Emily raised her hand.
“Yes, Emily,” Mrs. Armstrong said.
“I have a report that ties in with Hannah’s report. May I go next?”
“Go ahead.”
“Jesus is another Passover lamb that came later. I brought in this red lamb to show the class. It represents Jesus as the Passover lamb. On this day in our church there is rejoicing and singing hymns of praise. The church is decorated with flowers.”
“We share a special communion at Easter because it is the celebration of Jesus coming back to life. The last supper that Jesus and His disciples celebrated was the Passover Seder that Hannah told us about. During the Seder He used symbols of the Passover to point to Himself. He knew that He was like the lamb in the Old Testament Passover. He told His disciples they should remember Him whenever they ate the broken matzo or flat bread and drank the wine.”
Later at recess, Hannah and Emily played with the two lambs they used to show the class.
“We have something in common. I’m glad that there’s a connection between both Passover and Easter,” Hannah said.
“Would you like to come with us to church next Sunday?” Emily asked.
“I’m not sure my father would let me go, but you can come over to my house some time. We can play on my new swing set.”
“That would be fun. I’ll ask my parents if I can come.”
Hannah smiled. She wasn’t so different from other kids her age.
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