For the holidays, I received permission from my pastor to celebrate the Jewish feasts during children's church.  Our God is a fun-loving Daddy, who planned occasions for His children to get together to remember the things He has done for them.  Last Sunday, as we celebrated Passover, we discussed how it compared to Thanksgiving.

I told the children how the Jewish Passover is a time to celebrate their freedom from bondage in Egypt.  Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of this feast because He became our Passover.  This feast is a time to remember all that God did for the Jews as they led them out of Egypt on a journey to their promised land.  For us as Americans, Thankgiving is a time to remember what God has done for us.  The pilgrims, who were persecuted in England, found refuge in Holland, which could be compared to the Israelites' time in the wilderness.  Their passage to America on the Mayflower was compared to the Jews crossing through the Jordan River.  Finally, the pilgrims reached a land flowing with milk and honey.  There were hardships when they reached their promised land, but God was with them.  These hardships were compared to the battles that the Jews had to fight once they reached their promised land, the first of which was Jericho. 

As we ate the Passover Seder, we discussed how our Thanksgiving foods help us remember the foods the Pilgrims found in their new land.  After finding the Afikomen, the children were given pilgrim's hats (chocolate covered marshmallows on fudge cookies) for dessert.

I'm sure Passover or Thanksgiving has not been celebrated like this before and maybe never will again.  While planning the feast celebrations for this holiday season, the similarities were so interesting I just had to talk about it.

Around Halloween, we celebrated Purim by making masks and shakers and trying to stamp out the name Haman.   Then we celebrated the feast of unleavened bread.  I hid bread in sandwich bags around church and there was a hunt to find all the slices.  Then we took them outside where it was so windy we could hardly get our fire started to burn the leaven.  After Thanksgiving, we will make a hut with branches and talk about the Feast of Tabernacles.  Around Christmas, we will celebrate Hannakuh and at the New Year's, we will celebrate Rosh Hashanah.  These celebrations are a reminder of who Christ is as we celebrate His fulfillment of each of these feasts.  We have been having such a good time and the children look forward to each party.  It has been a fun way to remember what Christ has done for us.