At Westgate Chapel, it is common for many of our small groups to celebrate the Passover Seder.  We do this to honor the Jewish roots of Christianity and to more fully understand the practice of Communion, or the Lord's Supper, which began as a Passover Seder.

The Passover is a holiday that is closely identified with the Jewish religion.  Is it appropriate for Christians to celebrate it?  Obviously, we believe the answer is, “yes”. 
Jesus celebrated the Passover.  The “Last Supper” was a Passover Seder (service).  When He said, “Do this in remembrance of Me.” He was referring to observing the Passover.  While churches throughout history have developed various forms of observing “The Lord’s Supper”, the service we enjoy tonight will be much more in keeping with the traditions Jesus and His first disciples than most Christians have ever experienced.

Luke 22:19
    And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me."  [NKJV]

Also, Paul writes to the church in Corinth about their observance of the Passover in 1 Corinthians:
1 Corinthians 5:7-8
    Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.  [NKJV]

God felt that the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread were so important that He commanded that anyone who refused to eat the feast be cut off from all Israel.  Passover is a picture of the history of God’s interaction with man, a foreshadowing of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, and a sensory reminder of how God takes each of us from slavery into freedom.
While Christians are not obligated to follow the Law of Moses to gain their salvation, it is appropriate that we remember Jesus in the way he asked us to at His last Passover.  It is also a time to honor the Jewish roots of our faith.  For the first several centuries, Christianity and Judaism were closely related.  As the political center of the church moved from Jerusalem to Rome, bitter division developed between those who were culturally Jewish and those who followed Jesus.  As we observe this feast, may we also remember God’s love for the city of Jerusalem and the Jewish people.