Passover is one of the most important Jewish festivals. It is a commemoration of the freedom and independence of the Hebrews, from the domination and repression of the Pharaohs of Egypt. The festival is celebrated with much enthusiasm and zeal by the Jewish community. Apart from them, the Christians also celebrate Passover in their own unique way and have their own special religious significance for the festival. According to the New Testament of the Holy Bible, Jesus has been portrayed as the final Passover Lamb, who was sacrificed in order to save people from their sins and vices, just like the lamb had been used to save the Hebrews from the repression of the Egyptian rulers.
Although the ways of observing the Passover festival differs from people to people, the basic rituals remain the same. Most of the people follow the custom of the Last Supper that the Lord had with His disciples. Why not make the festival special this year for your near and dear ones by dedicating a poem or two for them. This gesture will surely touch their hearts and bring a sparkle of happiness in their eyes. A short compilation of some of the most beautiful religious poetry for Pesach has been given in the lines below. Go through it and take your pick.
Christian Poems for Passover
Why Do I Remain In Exile?
Why do I remain in exile?
I say, "Next year in Jerusalem!"
Seders come and Seders go.
I feel the pull but not the pain.
I say, "Next year in Jerusalem!"
I do not mean it, not for real.
I feel the pull but not the pain.
My anguish must be self-imposed.
I do not mean it, not for real.
I mean it in my Jewish bones.
My anguish must be self-imposed.
I lie becalmed, and wait, and wonder.
I mean it in my Jewish bones.
Seders come and Seders go.
I lie becalmed, and wait, and wonder:
Why do I remain in exile?
(Author - Nicholas Gordon)
Incarnation
In a thistle-thick field,
The sun-baked clay with its break-spade soil
Had a summer-seared yield,
And the drought-sky-flouted dry ground foiled
All of Israel's trouble and toil.
But the Caretaker saw
And tilled that wilderness field with priests
And their ground-breaking law,
As the prophets' cry thinned high sin-weeds,
And the kings did their battle with beasts.
Then the Husbandman sowed
Pure virgin earth, and the germ took root.
When the gracious rain flowed
On the love-lit plot, it shot out shoots,
And it budded forth, bearing its fruit.
Now the fruit of our womb
Is blest grain bread and a vine grape wine
From the Passover room;
O incarnate Lord, O Christ divine,
Make the fruits of your flesh and blood mine!
(Author - Stephen Wentworth Arndt)
The Moses Soliloquy
And it began in the wilderness
With a voice calling out to me in the night
Calling me by name from a bramble
For that is all that grows there
It was as if it was consumed in flame
For it was lighting the darkness
And I have come to know the voice
As the Lord I Am who charged me
And laid this mission on me
To lead the tribes of his people Israel
But I was afraid and told him so
To let him find another but he would not
I am changed somehow by this task
I no longer am the man I once was
But somehow I am uplifted
By the tasks the Lord has asked
As if I have climbed a lofty mountain
And have left the normal world
I am transformed by what I do
And no longer watch the flocks
In the night and no longer do
The bidding of Pharaoh and his court and
For all the wonders the Lord has done
This change is the most miraculous
For what I Am has asked I have done
When he said extend your hand
My hand was extended and
When he said raise your rod
It was raised and Pharaoh and his
Magicians were confounded
As I now am confounded by
The workings of my God
Who rains meat for our pots
And grows bread for our table
And pours water from the dry
Stone of the desert at my command.
(Author - Doug Tanoury)
The Finger Of God
And the two tablets
Scribed with the law and
Written by the finger of God
His word captured in the stone
Were cast down and broken
At the mountain's base
And I am moved
By a message from God
Shattered and in pieces at our feet
Of covenants unkept and
Testaments unmet here
In the shadow of Sinai
And I have not seen God's face
Only his finger as he wrote
His presence fire on the mountain
A flickering and a flame
That melts an icy heart
In the company of the Lord
(Author - Doug Tanoury)
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