MAUNDY THURSDAY

Last evening we celebrated Maundy Thursday -- the evening Jesus and His disciples celebrated the Passover before He went to be crucified.  We had a special service where Joe presented a Seder showing how it displayed Christ (Christ in the Passover).  He did such a good job.  Yesterday was the first day he actually felt like himself again.  He is still blowing his nose a lot, but he is so much better.

I did not film it, but I took some pictures of what was going on.  I lit the candles and said the Jewish prayer but no one got a shot of that.

Joe reading the opening prayer and telling about the Seder plate.
 

And here's the plate.  It has six elements:  bitter herbs (parsley dipped in salt water to represent hardship and tears), horseradish, romaine lettuce, charoset (made with chopped apples, dates, apricots, raisins, walnuts and cinnamon) which represents the mortar used with the bricks the enslaved Jews made, a shank bone for the Passover lamb, and a roasted egg.
 

Joe did a really good job of explaining things to us.
 

 This is what the matzah was in.  I forget what it is called.  I know there is another silk envelope inside with a broken piece of matzah in it.  It represents the broken body of Christ.  It is hidden and then we had to look for it.

Carolyn was the youngest person there so she had to play the role of the child and ask the four questions.
 

Another shot of Joe.  He had lost his yamaka so at the last minute I quickly crocheted one for him.  And I do mean the last minute.
 

 Carolyn found the hidden matzah and Joe gave her money to redeem it.  He had to pay a price as Christ paid a price to redeem us.

It was all so fascinating.  After Joe explained the four cups of wine (grape juice in our case), he said this is where Jesus would have said, "This is my body...this is my blood" and we had communion service.

It was such a beautiful service and so meaningful.  I'm so glad Joe was up to doing it.  Now we are getting ready to go to church for our Good Friday Service.  I'll be telling you about that tomorrow.

Kathy