Transformation is the word

Easter fire

If it is about anything, our Easter faith is about transformation.  That is not a way or ideal we often contemplate, for we generally just go along with the everyday, doing our bit, living life as best and as joyfully as we can.  By the way, what is wrong with that?  It just is that life is about much more than just the routine.  It has a deeper meaning and purpose.  

Okay, where is this heading?  Let's get real.   

I recently attended the opening of an art exhibition, arising out of the revolution in Myanmar.  The exhibit and the whole event spoke of the warm and life-giving spirit of the people of Myanmar, who have suffered for far too long, at the hands of their own military.  As a people, they know very well the killings, the arrests, the torture, the destrucion, endured for decades, under military rule  They are an oppressed people, but with a strong spirit, knowing that life is about so much more and yearning for that for so long.   

So they rose up in solidarity to say, "No more", acting to transform their society into something better, something they deserve.  In the face of so much injustice and suffering, this is a seemingly insurmountable challenge, but one that the people have chosen to meet.  While not the chosen way, armed struggle has tragically become their reality, as they saw no other choice in a world that was failing them.   Whatever happened to human solidarity?

As I heard said by a speaker at the opening, a revolution is fuelled by heart and passion, not by weapons.  Passion is the energy for the human struggle, in which we share to transform our world and self into the image of God.  Passion is the essential ingredient in a world where relationship with the mystery, the sacred of life is at the core of human existence.  Ultimately, love and passion, not violence, win the struggle for all to enjoy the fullness of life.    

Art and culture lie at the heart of this transformation.  I saw and experienced this at the opening of this wonderful art exhibit, fuelled by the people's passion for their revolution - with its live performance of music of the revolution, quilting made up of pieces of cloth from the clothes of political prisoners, pictures of body art used as a way to protest against brute violence and oppression.  

We all need to be transformed.  I surely do.  Our world needs to be transformed - just look at Myanmar, Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan +++++  Transformation may not be talked about much, but that is not to unerestimate its importance in our world and lives.  It surely does not happen easily and that is why it arises mostly out of our human suffering and chaos.  

Such is transformation!  Such is Easter!  

A message of the art exhibit