This year our church committed to keeping the seven Levitical feasts of the Lord (Lev 23). Four times as He describes the feasts, God tells His people: "It shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations". We don't believe the feasts need to be kept exactly as prescribed; we aren't killing any lambs. And we certainly don't believe the feasts to be salvific. But we did commit to keeping them in spirit if not letter because God constantly reminds His people to remember what He's done for them: "One generation shall praise Your works to another, And shall declare Your mighty acts." Ps 145:4

The first three feasts of the Jewish year are Passover, Firstfruits, and Unleavened Bread, and they fall over the course of 8 days in the Spring, usually about the same time as Easter. This year Passover and Easter were about a month apart, as far as they can get.

We celebrated on two days. We had a Seder or Passover meal on Friday night at Claire's farm, and recognized the next two feasts on Sunday.

Before the Seder, Hamish and a friend had a play date to bake unleavened bread. Their bread was pretty good, actually. Especially with a bit of honey.



 

This was our third Seder meal with these friends, and the weather was perfect to do it outside under the pavilion. Before we sat to eat, the kids wandered around the farm, meeting goats and rabbits and all the other amazing things to see there.




Chris started with a lesson just for the kids. They sat around him on the ground and proved that they already knew a bit about Seder.

 

After that we tried to keep the kids with us while Don and Chris taught on God's deliverance of the Israelites from Egypt, but of course the Manimal had to yell across the table when he saw his friend: "I need my Mabel!!!" After that, the kids played in the green house with blocks and a sand table while we listened and tasted the traditional food. Once we were ready for the real meal--pot roast and salad--the kids came back and ate with us.






On Sunday morning, we recognized the feast of Firstfruits (out of order, actually the third Spring feast day giving God the first of the barley harvest) with an outdoor church service near Micah and Erin's house. He had invited his neighbors, but the harvest was not bountiful. We still had a nice morning. The kids had a playground to play on right by our pavilion, and the guys played Frisbee afterward.




Sunday evening, we celebrated the feast of Unleavened Bread during our normal Sunday evening gathering. We followed the Jewish tradition of taking the children to search out the hidden leaven in a dark room. They brushed the crumbs they found onto a wooden spoon with a feather, put it into a paper bag, and tossed it into the bonfire.