Ralph Polendo

Disclaimer//Seder

Ralph Polendo — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 23:04:10 -0700

First, the disclaimer.

I realize that my posts are few and far between and I apologize for this. I never really considered myself to be much of a writer, even though I’d love to author a book one day. I’ve always felt like I’ve communicated better through speaking. However, I do enjoy writing and trying to form my thoughts into digital ink to be distributed into a sea of faceless names. It’s also exciting to see when you guys comment on something I’ve written. I really appreciate it and it warms my heart (and probably boosts my ego) to see that I’ve connected with someone I’ve never met.

All this to say, please forgive me and I’ll try my best to write more regularly.

On to the Seder.

If you’re a Christian and you’ve never participated in a Seder dinner you’re really missing out (not that I’ve been doing it for years – we just had our first one on Wednesday). If you’re not sure what it is, it’s just a fancy name for the Passover dinner. For a more thorough description, head over to Wikipedia and read their brief article.

I’d like to share just a few of the symbols that excited me and their relevance to us as Christians.

Candle
At the beginning of the dinner, a woman is asked to light the two candles. The rabbi’s believe that since sin and darkness entered the world through a woman (Eve), then it follows that through a woman the hope of salvation and light would come. This is such a fitting description and prophecy of Mary. Where Eve was disobedient, Mary was obedient and glorified God. Where Eve was the Mother of the human creation, Mary was the mother of Christ, and He has called us to be a new creation. Eve was cursed with childbirth, Mary was blessed because she was chosen by God to give birth to His Son – our Savior and King.

Matzah-Tash
This is a bag that’s used to hold the Matzah (unleavened bread) during the ceremony. The really interesting part about it is that it is a single bag, with three dividers on the inside. The bag is also known as “Unity” and it holds three pieces of Matzah. At one point during the dinner, you remove the middle Matzah, break it in half, then wrap one of the halves in a cloth and “bury” it. The piece you hide is know as the Afikomen which roughly translates to “He came.” Then, later on during the dinner, you uncover the Afikomen and reunite it with it’s other half. Holding up the two pieces as one, you say, “What was broken has now been made whole.” It’s at this point that you break the Afikomen into pieces and pass them around to everyone at the table to eat. Following me so far?

Here’s the amazing part…this was all built into the Seder dinner before Christ. Although there are several theories as to why this is part of the ritual, there is no definitive or unified reason. For us as Christians, we see it as a beautiful symbol of the Trinity, who’s second person (Christ) was separated from the unity, broken, buried, and restored. Not to mention the fact that His body was offered up to us and we are commanded to eat of it in remembrance of Him! If you go back and read the Gospels, you’ll see that it was at this part of the Passover dinner that Christ was speaking to His disciples about eating His body and drinking His blood.

Cup of Redemption
During the course of the dinner, there are four cups of wine that each carry meaning. They are the cup of Sanctification, Judgment, Redemption, and Blessing. What’s interesting is that the cup that is offered up right after eating the Afikomen is the cup of Redemption. This is the same cup that Christ offered to His disciples for them to drink in remembrance of Him. In Christ, we have atonement and it’s by His blood that we are saved and cleansed. I don’t think it’s coincidence that these symbols of the Messiah were built into the Passover dinner and then used by Christ to illustrate deeper truths to his disciples.

I love the fact that God uses props to teach His people. It’s not that we’re dumb or that He’s unable to speak plainly to us. I happen to think that there are times when a prop or story or analogy can speak on a much more profound and deeper level than a mere bullet-point answer ever could. There is so much beauty and symbolism contained within the Bible and our history that you could peel back the layers of meaning and still find more underneath. God is amazing like that. He’s the ultimate storyteller, the ultimate teacher, the ultimate plot-weaver.

Hopefully I’ll share more insights about the Seder dinner in another post, but for now be encouraged to examine and embrace our rich heritage and story. After all, as Michael Crichton once said, “If you don't know history, then you don't know anything. You are a leaf that doesn't know it is part of a tree.”

Peace.

God is in the intimate moments...

Ralph Polendo — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 21:57:24 -0800

I just got back from Africa.

I spent two weeks with a team from my church (RockHarbor) working in Uganda. It was an incredible experience and definitely one I will not soon forget. Before I left, I was extremely expectant that God would reveal Himself in amazing ways to us. I wanted nothing short of miracles–supernatural healings, unexplainable phenomena, the casting out of demons...those sorts of things. I really wanted Him to pull out all the stops and show this western-thinking evangelical what He could really do.

It didn't happen that way. There were no special effects, no one rose from the dead, and the Nile River didn't turn to blood. Yet I learned something very important on that trip...although God definitely still moves in huge, supernatural ways, He is most often found in the quite, unassuming, intimate moments. The ones that we pass over too quickly. The ones that we ignore because they're not big enough or they don't make us look like super-Christians.

I didn't see a blind man receive sight, but I did get to experience a man leaving behind his destructive ways to forge ahead as a new believer. Some may say he was blind and now he sees.

I didn't see anyone rise from the dead, but I did get to experience the overflowing gratitude many people had for medical care we administered. Some may say their spirits were raised from hopelessness and despair.

I didn't see a lame person walk, but I did get to experience a community of believers who continue to lean on Christ amidst all of their pain and suffering. Some may say they were crippled but have found the strength to take another step.

I may not have seen an outright miracle, but I know this: God continues to work in and through His people...for His reasons, for His glory, for His purposes. I hope that as I continue to learn and grow in my relationship with Him, I will be more observant and much more appreciate of the intimate moments–where I can see Him at work the most.

Spiritual Music? (or, "The Baby and the Bath Water")

Ralph Polendo — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 22:19:45 -0800

I've been mulling over a sermon that my pastor, Mike Erre, gave a few months ago (look up his blog...he's a swell guy). Anyway, he was talking about how as Christians, we have the freedom to claim truth wherever we find it. All truth is God's truth, and since we are the children of God, we can claim it as our own. It's an amazing and liberating concept (there's a chapter about this in Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell). One of the examples Mike gave was of a song by Linkin Park called "In the End". Now, Linkin Park is a secular band, yet this song is basically a rewrite of Ecclesiastes...anything you strive for on this earth is essentially meaningless and unfulfilling. As a Christian, I can claim this song as proclaiming God's truth (whether or not it was the intention of the band). It got me thinking about what other songs by secular bands (those not signed to Christian labels or part of the CCM scene) also contain spiritual truths that resonate within me whenever I listen to them. I've listed a few below off the top of my head and I hope you all can add some more to the list. If you get a chance, listen to the songs...Google the lyrics...find the truth within and claim it as yours.

Bad Religion - "Sorrow"

Angels and Airwaves - " A Little's Enough"

Killswitch Engage - "The End of Heartache"

Thrice - "For Miles"

Brand New - "Jesus Christ"

Puzzle Pieces

Ralph Polendo — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 19:14:41 -0700

As I sat here trying to think of what to write for my first blog (ever, by the way), I figured that a good place to start would be a summary of what I've been discovering over the past few years. Puzzle pieces. Let me explain...

Do you remember how annoying/frustrating/humbling it was as a kid to be working on a huge puzzle and none of the pieces seemed to match? Especially if you were working on a section of, say, a sky where everything was blue and there was no reference to anything else? Come on, I'm not the only one. Then you'd try and start cramming two pieces together as hard as you could only to discover that they weren't supposed to go together and now they were all tweaked and messed up? Work with me here.

I've found that life has been like that recently...actually, probably longer, I just never realized it. I've also come to believe that God uses puzzle pieces in real life, only instead of being made of cheap cardboard, they're made of situations, choices, and trials that come our way. There have been so many times in my life that I've looked back on a situation and seen how God was orchestrating different areas of my life to come into sync at one amazing moment. Yet, as I was stuck in the middle of it, it only seemed as if these strange puzzle pieces were being thrown at me and none of them fit with the others. It was only later that I could step back and see that there was a corner here, a middle piece there, an edge down there.

With that in mind, I've now been trying to switch my mindset from trying to force all the areas of my life to fit together and make sense, to sitting back and merely seeing "puzzle pieces", knowing that God is at work somehow and will one day make sense of it all. I've seen it before, I know it'll happen again. When I try and make things happen on my own accord, I just end up with tweaked out puzzle pieces and a jumbled picture.