The Feast of Passover

In one paragraph

Palm Sunday fell on the same morning as the beginning of Passover, and Pastor Brian used both to frame where the church is in the yearly cycle of what he calls God's family traditions. He gave a brief account of the triumphal entry and then pivoted to the seven feasts of the Bible, which Tribe has been walking through together for several years. The bulk of the message was an introduction to...

Read together

1. Exodus 12:1-14 passage announced for congregational reading to begin the Passover teaching, though not yet read in the transcript
2. Zechariah or the Olivet Discourse (unspecified) Brian referenced Jesus saying 'you won't see me again until you say, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord' but did not cite a specific book or verse

What was said

• Read Exodus 12:1-14 this week and notice how the details of the Passover point to Jesus.
• Take a few minutes to write out your own version of the 'it was sufficient' prayer, filling in the blank with something specific God has done for you and then listing what he kept doing after that.
• If you have never looked into the seven feasts God laid out in the Bible, spend some time this week finding them and asking what each one might mean for your faith.
• Press into whatever physical or emotional healing you need this week, treating that pursuit as an act of worship rather than a burden, the way Lissa described it during the prayer time.
• Come back next Sunday with someone who has never been to Tribe, since Brian mentioned he would rather have a packed room of hungry people than a half-full one of observers.

Talk about it

1. Brian described the word 'hosanna' as the desperate cry of someone who has nearly drowned, calling out to a rescue boat with their last breath. When in your own life have you come to God with that kind of desperation rather than a polished request?
2. Brian said God described the seven feasts not as Jewish religious holidays but as his family traditions, and that if we are going to be in his family we get to partake in those traditions. What family traditions, either in your earthly family or your church family, have shaped the way you understand who you belong to?
3. The three reasons Tribe honors the feasts are to remember, to recalibrate, and to rehearse. Which of those three feels most alive to you right now, and which one feels like the area where you most need to grow?
4. Brian used the image of a guitar going out of tune the more it is played, and said God gave us these yearly feasts partly as a way to recalibrate. Where in your life do you notice yourself drifting out of tune, and what practices help you get back?
5. During the Passover Seder the night before, Brian heard the repeated phrase 'it was sufficient' after each thing God had done, and then the story kept going with more. How does that pattern speak to the way you tend to think about what God has already done for you versus what he continues to do?