The essence and nature of God’s people has been that it has always been a community in transformation and at the same time a transforming community. These two aspects of a community   being transformed and transforming  echoes throughout the Bible, both in the history of Israel and the history of the Church.

The exodus event and the cross and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ are two significant land marks   in the Old and New Testaments that  signify this, and this is    celebrated in  the Holy Eucharist.  What is celebrated  is the possibility of transformation.  Even the worst possible situation can be transformed unto a life affirming one, bondage into freedom, death into resurrection,  symbols of shame and rejection into symbols of acceptance and the mutual  love.

The wilderness journey  of the people of Israel  transformed their very nature. It made  them  accountable for  the life of the “neighbours”, respectful of the slave, gave new opportunities of life for  debtors, slaves, widows, and orphans, provided  protective measures for the vulnerable and above all,  moved  from their self-centered and tribal outlook into an inclusive, accommodative  community which could be  in   a blessing to all nations.

The core of our faith revolves around the Cross, a symbol of pain,  destruction, punishment, death, defeat, rejection etc.,   The death of our Lord Jesus Christ on this shameful Cross is considered an atonement for our sins only because of the transformative effect of the Cross. The transformation meant that the essence  of death  was changed into a life affirming one. It changed defeat into victory. That is why the Cross is central to our faith, our being and our existence. It  becomes the basis for our hope, and assures us that even    hopeless situations. can be transformed.

A similar progressive  transformation took place  in the life of the early Church.  It proclaimed the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ with  the affirmation of life, life in all it’s fullness, a life that is  eternal.  A life that  transcends geographical, language, territorial, political, ideological, cultural, and  racial limitations. This life .   includes all, none are excluded.   To understand this process of transformation, we need to grasp the nature of the Cross event which is the core of  our faith expression.  It defines who we are, and where we are.

At the Cross we celebrate not only the possibility of transformation but we ourselves are changed into a transformative  agent, over coming limits and boundaries that have defined ourselves, our actions and our perspectives.