The Passover Sader

The Passover Sader a good experience, though different then I thought it would be.
When we arrived, we saw at the door that there were security guards checking everyone with metal detector wands, and then we noticed the sign that said, "no weapons of any kind."
Later, we found out that some people had been threatening demonstrations or the life of the guy leading the Sader. ...I suppose that is a big deal for the little town of Ridgeway (ten miles from our B&B in Ouray)...it only has one stop light!

Above, is the tray of...ummm, symbolic foods, if you will...the bitter herbs, boiled egg, piece of lamb (actually chicken), etc... Aaron was disappointed that our wine was sparkling grape juice, but I was glad because then I could take part.

You can't see it, but Aaron was wearing a head covering...similar to a yamaka (sp), but not, because yamakas are only worn for Hannakah, I heard...though, I could be wrong. Anyway, one of the hats was given to Aaron when we checked in for the dinner, as well as a book and song sheets. We had some things to repeat back to the leader during the dinner and we sang, or attempted to sing, songs in both Hebrew and English.

I know that I'm leaving out a lot of the details of the actual ceremony, but in truth, I was a little dissapointed with it all. I thought that the Sader was going to be given from a Christian point of view...it was put on by a Christian church that joined up with the Jews for Jesus for the dinner, or so I heard. But, whether the leader was a Messianic Jew or just a Jew...none of the symbolism was explained in terms of Christ.
Aaron really got a lot out of it though. Talking about what the Jews went through, and how they were all are bound together in one heritage and one suffering...one hope of the future (liberation if you don't believe in Christ...Christ if you do), reminded him of the military and the comraderee that you go through when you are suffering through the same experiences. I understood why he felt the way he did about it, but I still felt like an outside observer...a Christian partaking of a very Jewish experience, not as a Christian learning the true meaning of the Jewish symbolism, as it relates to my Lord...if that makes any sense.

All in all, again, it was a very good experience...and an excellent way to spend a free evening (especially since the whole four hour dinner was free). After dinner we were approached by three homeschooled sisters (8yr old twins and a 10 year old) who felt the need to question me about my due date. It went something like this... them- "Wow, your pregnant...when are you do?" me- "In June." them- "wow, you're really big..." "yeah, you look like you could have the baby at any time!" me- "I know." them- "Is it a boy or a girl?" bla bla bla We found out all sorts of things about them too, like they are from Grand Junction also, they have an older brother and sister and so like 4 nephews and nieces already...and how old they are. Really, they were very sweet girls, and it was an amusing conversation. On the way out of the Community Center, a woman asked Aaron how much longer I had, and then as I commented on how I should just say two more days instead of two more months so that the size of my stomach would make better sense to everyone, another woman approached me. She sort of grabbed my arm in a grandmotherly sort of way and said, "Do you know, I told the lady I was with that you must have a pumpkin under your shirt...you look beautiful." That last comment saved her! Mostly, I don't mind the attention too much, but it does sort of get annoying after a while...especially if they don't add the "you are beautiful" part at the end, haha. Actually, that afternoon, before we left Grand Junction, we stopped to eat lunch at Subway and the guy making our sandwiches noticed my stomach and was like, "Oh my gosh, that is so cute...how far along are you? Wow, hey look at her, isn't that adorable!" He seemed really excited about my stomach for some reason, and not at all embaressed to let me know about it, even in front of Aaron. Aaron didn't mind me getting a compliment though, and since it was given so sincerely, I was okay with it, myself. Too bad I won't get this much attention after Justus comes... the only thing people will have to comment on is how long it takes my stomach to flatten out, and I'm sure that will all be said behind my back :-)