Thinking Anew:LAST YEAR, on the feast of the Transfiguration, a single sunflower opened in the garden. It had taken root in a place where five great chestnut trees had stood until progress demanded their felling. The sunflower, alone among the stumps, transfigured the sad memory of what we call development. That is the way of the city; to remove, discard and obliterate the things that do not suit its present purpose.
Chestnut trees are not the only victims of human convenience. People, animals and the environment regularly fall victim or prey to the wants of those who have power to decide. But in the devastation that they leave in their wake there is a chance for something else to restore hope where all seemed lost. For the individual Christian the power of Christ transfigures all life. Broken by the sins of the one or the many the collateral damage (as it is called by the military) of human living needs regular transfiguration.
Transfiguration is an interesting word. It is different from the more common transformation. The difference lies not in its etymology but in its sense of where change comes from. When the outsider changes something it is a transformation; when the change comes from within it is a transfiguration. Regardless we will use the word transformation for both in ordinary speech. The recovering addict is in the same form as during the addiction so there is no transformation there. What has happened has come from within. A strength has arisen, a decision has been made and a confidence or freedom is portrayed. Painting a wall transforms a room; opening the curtains transfigures it.
Monday’s feast is all too easily dismissed as a minor apparition when Jesus’s followers realised who he was. That is all the more tragic when we live in an era in dire need of transfiguration. We are angry with our leaders, bitter about our past, unconvinced of the future and reckless in our relationships to one another. Like a bunch of awkward Pharisees we argue to and fro about miniscule differences that bring a misdeed safely over that narrow line which separates right from wrong. If it isn’t against the law then there is nothing wrong. That is the base line of contemporary morality.
Viewed from a comfortable armchair it is easy to despair of the lifetimes of other eras when people lived in horrid conditions. Will future generations look back on our times as a dark age? Count how many times your details and movements are recorded and logged in any given day; then ask yourself to define what a police state is. Listen to the voices of pupils and students reeling off their rote answers; then ask yourself what indoctrination is. Read of the violence, murder and fear; count the security checks and cameras and ask what it means to be free.
People who live in glass houses are advised not to throw stones.
Assessing your situation as better than somebody else’s will never give freedom. Freedom and happiness have to come from within a person in order to be real. Finding them brings a true transfiguration to our lives and this transfiguration is the hope of Christians. Faith is not simply a hope in something that happens after we die. Faith is something that ennobles us in life. Knowing that you were worth saving should be a belief that could alter your self-perception. Believing that you are loved can change everything in your world. Recognising Christ can transfigure your world completely. That transfiguration of so many individuals is the reason his message has survived two millenniums of our mismanagement.