Later, when the Israelites looked back on their time in the desert, they remembered the moments of high action. They didn't tell of the slow walk toward Canaan, or of making their home there with the other people already living there. They didn't tell of slowly coming in from the hillsides, finding their place in the villages and towns. They didn't tell of coming, ever so carefully, to trust their new neighbors in the land of plenty. They remembered, instead, as we all do, the day their God struck them free. Even though the escape from Pharaoh happened to their parents and grandparents, even though they did not remember it, they knew the stories.

In the stories that the children and grandchildren of the journey told, they said, "The day we left Egypt was the day we were free." They told the story again and again so that their children and grandchildren would learn: once we were slaves, and now we are free. But some of them knew the truth within those stories: freedom did not come the moment the reeds of the marsh parted to let them through. It did not come when Miriam sang and danced on the edge of the desert. Freedom came along the journey, stealing in at some moment in the night.

Freedom came quietly, making itself known in that moment when each person knew for herself that she would continue on, forward, rather than go back to servitude in Egypt. Freedom came not at one great moment for all the people, but along the long journey of a lifetime. It came as the Israelites became the people who could be free. The journey from bondage to the desert to the land of plenty changed them into the people who could be free.

Today, Jewish families gather all over the world at the seder table to bring these stories alive for new generations of the faith. First Unitarian families will gather tonight to share these stories. The stories are not just tales for children; they are a way for modern families to enter the story of those long-ago ancestors. The stories create the people; and the people, in their practices, people like us, recreate the stories.

Our church family will gather on the second night of Passover. With Jewish families and communities everywhere, First Unitarian will celebrate the feast of Passover. On these nights, candles are lit on the table. Relaxing, enjoying the meal in freedom, communities break matzah to remember when their ancestors left Egypt so quickly the bread had no time to rise. They eat bitter herbs to remember the bitterness of slavery. Their dinner is ready, waiting for them, but before the feast, the youngest child asks, "Why is tonight different from all other nights?" The adults respond with the telling of the story of the Exodus, the suffering of the Israelite slaves in Egypt and their daring escape in the middle of the night.

The story brings us, gathered at the table into the experience of the sojourn in Egypt, the struggles of slavery, the night of escape and the freedom of the desert on the other side of the Sea of Reeds. It weaves our lives in with the lives of all those the rabbis have spoken to through the years. It speaks to us in our times of struggle, whatever they may be. The story reminds us to celebrate our blessings. The story connects Jewish families to their millennia of history and culture, reminding them that they, too, have been freed from their bondage, whatever it may be. It connects us to these truths from our Jewish heritage.

Passover lasts eight nights, a mere moment in the course of a year. But the story and the eight nights of Passover sustain us on our lives' journey into freedom. We need our holy days to remind us of our lives' highest callings: to do justice, and love mercy, and walk humbly with our Holy One.

In faith,

Rev. Sarah Stewart