The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt, “This month is to be for you the first month, the first month of your year. Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household. If any household is too small for a whole lamb, they must share one with their nearest neighbor, having taken into account the number of people there are. You are to determine the amount of lamb needed in accordance with what each person will eat. The animals you choose must be year-old males without defect, and you may take them from the sheep or the goats. Take care of them until the fourteenth day of the month, when all the members of the community of Israel must slaughter them at twilight. Then they are to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the lambs. That same night they are to eat the meat roasted over the fire, along with bitter herbs, and bread made without yeast. Do not eat the meat raw or boiled in water, but roast it over a fire—with the head, legs and internal organs. Do not leave any of it till morning; if some is left till morning, you must burn it. This is how you are to eat it: with your cloak tucked into your belt, your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand. Eat it in haste; it is the Lord’s Passover.
“On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn of both people and animals, and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the Lord. The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are, and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt.
“This is a day you are to commemorate; for the generations to come you shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord—a lasting ordinance." - Exodus 12:1-14
When a new king was crowned, they would start numbering the years based on that year: "In the 14th year of King so-and-so..." Same here: "In the month of Yahweh's Passover..." It marked a new era in Israel's history, one marked by God's defining act, to be celebrated with the Seder, a series of actions and words which recall how it all got started. And people have been celebrating this day, through good years and bad, for a good 4,000 years probably.
We also have those defining moments in our lives. Maybe not as momentous as the Passover was to the Israelites, but still key dates that mark God's work in our lives. The day I confessed to God that I couldn't stop doing bad stuff without help. The day I came home from Eureka to find my parents had starting going to church. The day Jeff Blatt told me I should apply for a job at Award Software. The day I told my small group I'd fill out the application as a short term missionary. The day I realized Helen said yes. The day CBFMS told me they would rescind our appointment as missionaries. The day we decided to leave Fremont and move to El Dorado Hills. The day I started working at Insyde. The day Helen said she wasn't going to keep going to Cornerstone with me. And more-births, deaths, beginnings, endings and transitions. Each of them marked a new season in our lives and the days after that were numbered-fundamentally identified-as being before or after that date.
Sadly, I don't remember the exact timing of a number of these. But that's ok. We don't know when Jesus was born or when he died, so we picked a day to remember his actions. So I will choose my birthday each year to reflect on those turning points in my life, thank God for bringing me through them and "changing me gently" as I prayed long ago. Maybe we don't have roast lamb, bitter herbs or bread with no yeast. Instead, we have French Dip, french fries and german chocolate cake.
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