We may now be in a position to think about the “Cosmic Christ”:
So this whole Universe is the gradual unfolding and fulfillment of the Christ. The “Cosmic Christ” is the Universe seen at its origin, in its evolution and in its total fulfillment. It is the Universe filling, and eventually filled with God; it is God expressing Godself, and fully expressed in the Universe. This is what the Universe is: the ever-evolving concrete expression of God. Not a “creation,” as in something “over against” God, but as God’s own self-expression, gradually unfolding over time.
The expression “Cosmic Christ,” then, is designed to stretch our typically parochial imagery and invite us to contemplate the “Really Big Picture” on our way to the “Even Bigger Picture.” We certainly can’t imagine what a Universe filled with God would be like, any more than we can imagine the future of the expanding universe many scientists talk about. No matter. We do not need to know the details. All we need is the sense that this is the direction, and all we do either helps move in that direction or doesn’t.
Meditation:
Some scientists, upon understanding the New Story of the Universe, declare it to be indifferent, absurd or hostile, declaring that humanity has to make its own way through this hostile universe as best it can; others, with the same data, become in awe and amazed at the grandiose vision of some kind of grand vision expanding and blossoming over time. What is your response to the “Even Bigger Picture” proposed by the notion of the Cosmic Christ? What is helpful/unhelpful about this vision?