The Festival of Human Joy

This Easter Sunday, Rev. Patrick examines the symbolic history of the festivals and traditions of the holiday and the particular story of Mary Magdalene. The birth of the Christ is about the birth of Consciousness. The title "Christ" means nothing more than "The Anointed One", which represents God in human form. The anointing is the shifting in consciousness, the awakening. Alvin Boyd Kuhn wrote, "Easter is rightly the consummate festival of human joy, because it signalizes the god's release from his imprisonment in a body of what was to him virtually death." Our earthly nature is death, but our divine nature is freedom and joy. The Easter story of Mary Magdalene teaches us a great truth about the path to God. She is the symbolic stand-in for all the longing humanity, and for all who are considered sinners. Through her story, we learn that it is our mistakes that lead us to God. We come to Divine union not by doing it right, but by doing it wrong.