Day 36

Chag Sameach!  Joyous Festival!  Happy Passover!

My father was a wandering Aramean,
and he went down into Egypt,
and he lived there as a small people,
and he became a great, powerful and numerous nation.
And the Egyptians treated us badly 
and afflicted us
and subjected us to hard labor.
And we cried out to the Lord,
God of our ancestors,
and the Lord heard our voice
and saw our affliction
and our toil
and our oppression.
And the Lord brought us out of Egypt
with a strong hand
and with an outstretched arm
and with great terror
and with signs
and with wonders (Deut. 26:5-8)

A suggestion for your prayer and meditation:

Tradition dictates that this passage serve as the focus of midrash - an extended discussion about the meaning of the story and its relevance to our lives.  Recite the passage and consider how you understand the story of the Exodus and where you might find yourself in this story.

(taken from Gould Farm Passover Hagada)
Pastor Patty Fox 40 Days with 40 Christian Mystics

For me this is part of a story, part of a heritage, part of the ongoing relationship between a people and their God. The ongoing retelling of the narrative at each Passover celebration reminds of our own Anglican retelling of the Last Supper in each Eucharistic prayer. There's something about the importance of remembrance and repetition as a collective and communal act.

"This day shall be a day of remembrance for you. You shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord; throughout your generations you shall observe it as a perpetual ordinance" (Exodus 12:14)

"Do this in remembrance of me" (Luke 22:19)