Last night, my children and I were part of a group of Channing folks who celebrated Passover together with a seder. It was wonderful to get together, meet some new members of our church and learn more about this holiday. Up until last year, I had never been to a seder and did not know very much about any of the stories from the Bible. My first exposure to the full story of Moses and the Jewish slaves in Egypt was when I was preparing lessons for our Religious Education classes. Last year we did a pillar on Jewish and Christian Heritage (Bible Stories) that opened up my world quite a bit.

As I spent time learning some of the more basic stories from the Bible, I was struck by a huge, "A-HA!" All sorts of cultural references clicked into place. Suddenly the Monty Python movies made a lot more sense, as well as countless novels, television shows and public policy debates. Learning the stories of the Bible gives us a deeper understanding of this culture we live in, because so much of our American society is based in Christian theology. I am not here to argue whether it should be that way, but this is how our culture works, even with the influence of global cultures. This is especially true here in New England, where laws and religion have been purposely intertwined from the beginning.

This year's seder for me was less a new learning experience than a chance to absorb and feel what Passover is about. I worried less about doing something wrong and thought more about how the rituals applied to my life. I was able to see connections between the 10 plagues in Egypt and our modern plagues of greed, fear, poverty and injustice. Most of all I felt huge joy in having my children with me. Our seder ended with a celebration of the future, our children. What we teach our children is the world in which we will live. Our children are constantly picking up clues about what is important, what they mean to the world. Let's take time to tell them our traditions, our stories- gifts that will help them build the future.