A new symbol for the church in the new age?

Has the Church lost its way?

Reblogged from In heaven there is no religion:

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Picture 1; Mary Magdalene

As I sat in our church waiting for the Christmas service to begin, I reflected on the recent decision about women bishops made by the General Synod. What, I asked myself, is happening to the church?

The Christian Church was formed around the works of Jesus Christ, an extraordinary teacher, but it wasn’t only what he said that was important.

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"The ‘symbol’ of Christ on the cross was only adopted in the third century AD when Christians were being ruthlessly persecuted and killed across the Roman world for their beliefs. That is where the idea of Christians being prepared to “die for their faith as Christ himself had done” was first promulgated as a way of keeping their flock together. It worked and Christianity survived. The ‘symbol’ was adopted by Constantine and remains the same today. Times have changed radically and I would like to suggest a new image should be adopted for the church, one that speaks of love; an image of Christ and Mary Magdalene standing together, reflecting the balance of the male and female energy and of course the equality between men and women. This is what Christ himself spoke of and how he treated everyone around him. All were equal in his eyes and in the eyes of God. Now that really would be a powerful message for our time."

Yes, perhaps it is time for the church to progress and move on from focusing on the symbol of the cross which represents the suffering of Christ to a more peaceful symbol of Jesus and Magdalene together holding hands. While the cross may also symbolise Jesus' co-identification with humanity regarding our resurrection to new life and realisation of our oneness with Divine, the picture of Jesus and Magdalene could symbolise the blissful union of Christ and the church (who is all of us) in the new heaven and new earth we are living in today. Maybe the cross has had its place in the age of Pisces in which authority and organised religions were prevalent, and it is time to move on to the culmination of a peaceful and loving reality of our innate union with the Beloved in the age of Aquarius, knowing we are beloved and innocent and one with Divine Love.

Related articles

• Has the Church lost its way? (inheaventhereisnoreligion.wordpress.com)
• Some thoughts on the historical Jesus and the archetypal Christ (themysteryofchrist.wordpress.com)