Dear
Friends in Christ, April
1, 2010
In this season of
remembering Christ’s death and resurrection we are called to remember and
reflect upon the Passover of God, what we know as Easter. It is our time for
introspection and self-examination of our faith and life in Christ. This is a time for us to remember the
fulfillment of God’s promise of salvation, not only for His people but also for
the creation.
The Passover of Israel was the Covenant
that originated with their salvation and deliverance from
The Passover festival
was "a thanksgiving for the facts
past and present" in the
representation of the Exodus from
The Kiddush meal is
the major event from which the Lord's Supper is derived. The elements of the
Kiddush provided Christ with the liturgical symbols of the Eucharist. The Kiddush bread, symbolic of the faith in
God’s deliverance through the Passover, was used to symbolize the body of
Christ. The Lord took the thanksgiving
liturgy of the Passover and used the example of "to recall the Messiah" to be replaced it with the “recalling” to do this "in
remembrance of Him" (the Messiah) and to
look to that future when He will come again.
In this he took the
use of the facts past and present, and changed them into the facts past and future. He took the covenant
of the Exodus Passover and changed it to the New Covenant of remembering His
having come as the Messiah, and His promise to return. Now Salvation was not limited to the
Jews. The people of the world had become the “chosen people” with the Jews as part of God’s Covenant
and salvation plan for creation.
The
Eucharist is to remember the one
sacrifice of Christ for all time, and all people. It is the sacrament that reminds us of Christ
presence with us in the meal and in our life, and in our faith. The Eucharist as a meal,
is not to be taken without meaning. John
Calvin states in the words of