THE ESCAPE

It was a cold and windy day when I took this picture at a Ladner Dock. It was quiet and the only activity was a man in a wet suit getting ready to go out in his Kyack. He was looking forward to the freedom of being out on the water and using his skills to navigate.
PASSOVER.
Passover is a Jewish tradition which is a celebration and a meditation on freedom. Like so many celebrations they have a story to help us remember and to relive the past. This story tells of an enslaved nation finding courage to leave behind what they knew and journey a difficult and dangerous path to freedom. The symbols of the seder table include bitter herbs to remind guests of the bitterness of slavery, a mixture of nuts and wine called charoset to represent the motar the slaves used in their forced labour, salt water for their tears, and a lamb bone to acknowledge the blood the Isrealites swabbed over their doorways so that the angel of death would pass over their homes as the final plague would devastate their captors. The innocent suffer in the hands of controlling evil that refuses to give up their power. They took with them the unleavened bread that had no time to rise.

The passover has become a part of the Christian story as we use words like the lamb of God and the cup of suffering and the bread of humility. To-morrow is a day when we remember the ride of Jesus into Jerusalum riding on the donkey while crowds shout hossanna to the one who they want to be king and to free them from being a nation under the rule of a more powerful nation. They shouted for joy in the hope that this man would lead them into victory. Their hopes would be dashed upon a cross that held their bloody savior, innocent but condemed to die. His death made his life a reality of spiritual truth that can never die.
We all have our personal challenges to face and find hope that we can embrace and live by.

"You don't have to be Jewish to appreciate Passover's message."
The Vancouver Sun editoral.