Easter Revolution - Garth Hewitt

This new album by Garth Hewitt is timely. It is a passionate call to us to follow in the footsteps of Jesus the Peacemaker. From the word go it is showing a rejection of war, a rejection of violence, it is committed to equality and support for the poor and the refugee. Forgiveness for Humanity, a special hymn for Lent, rejects war, ethnic cleansing and injustice. It is a call for a 'lifestyle of love'. This Lent hymn faces our human history of violence and cruelty, then moves on to address the issue of climate change. It is described as a 'Lenten prayer of penitence for the violence of world history.' Here is a prayer that appears with Forgiveness for Humanity in the companion booklet that accompanies the album:

May we lay down the weapons and lay down the greed
The pride that thinks we’re better than the humble and the meek
We need some repentance for the evil that’s been done
Need some forgiveness for our history

Garth’s song The Pope Went Down to Nagasaki is perhaps most relevant of all, quoting the Pope’s appeal against nuclear weapons and all types of conflict.

'Still too many wars,
Still too much violence in the world
Loving God you are our peace,
Help us to overcome
This terrible obsession with war.'

This album, written in a time of various levels of lockdown, is an Easter album to remind us that the Easter Revolution is for life, not just for Easter. It’s about the way of living the Easter revolution throughout the year.

The cover is a painting by Gazan artist Malak Mattar, called ‘When peace dies you must embrace it; it will live again.'

The companion booklet to the album contains work by poets, painters, writers and prophets - including a poem by Martin Wroe called Easter Revolution.

As Garth says, 'The Easter Revolution is a revolution that rejects violence as a solution, rejects greed, and embraces justice for all, sharing with all and welcoming the forgotten. It is a rejection of past ways of mistreating people, and is a call for equality. It also recognises the responsibility for the care of the planet. It is a revolution of hope.'

It is a revolution of hope - a reminder that there are tasks to be done and we are part of this Easter Revolution of peace, love, hope and justice.

Garth's Easter Revolution companion booklet of lyrics, quotes and Easter challenges is available here...