Letter to the Congregations: 15th February 2025

Our Dear Brethren,

“Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said to them, ‘Pick out and take lambs for yourselves according to your families, and kill the Passover lamb. And you shall take a bunch of hyssop, dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and strike the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin. And none of you shall go out of the door of his house until morning” (Exodus 12:21-22).

It was the onset of the fourteenth day of the first month. The Passover lambs had been slaughtered. Looking back at that night we can easily see that their blood was representative of the blood of Jesus Christ. Each year, as we gather, we take the bread and wine like Jesus has taught us, and memorialize His death. Just before that we also take a moment to wash each other’s feet as a sign of our love for each other and as a sign that we are disciples of Jesus. “You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another’s feet” (John 13:14). At the end of the service we sing a hymn and depart for the evening just as Jesus did as He and His disciples headed into the dark of night before His arrest (Matthew 26:30).

The day after the Passover service is what is referred to as “the Preparation” as we make all of our final preparations for the onset of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. That evening was the same evening when God brought His people out of Egypt. “Observe the month of Abib, and keep the Passover to the Lord your God, for in the month of Abib the Lord your God brought you out of Egypt by night” (Deuteronomy 16:1). To celebrate this evening, to remember the salvation of Israel, and to celebrate our own salvation from sin and death, we gather with family or brethren and feast together. “It is a night of solemn observance to the Lord for bringing them out of the land of Egypt. This is that night of the Lord, a solemn observance for all the children of Israel throughout their generations” (Exodus 12:42).

It is on that night, and for the next seven days, we refrain from leavening in our homes and in our meals, signifying the fact that we have committed ourselves to live without sin. “Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth” (1 Corinthians 5:7-8).

We have less than two months until the next Passover. It’s a somber, thoughtful, and exciting time of the year. As we prepare ourselves individually to take the symbols of the body and blood of Jesus Christ, let’s also remember how God saved His people from their enemies and has saved us from ours!

Lewis VanAusdle

Pastor, United Church of God

NYC, NJ, CT, Malawi, Zimbabwe