Clergy/Leaders’ Mail-list No. 2-188 (Devotional)

THE MYSTERY OF THE COSMOS (Jeremiah 31:20)

by Kim Thoday

The big orange sun fell into its hole in the ground. A cool, still, summer evening in the bush. Some leftover solar rays rush around for somewhere to hide, fading into obscurity. Someone is switching on little lights that hang here and there on the immense dome above. A few cicadas begin their strange chorus.

A moment of invitation to the mystery of the cosmos; to watch and partake in the unfolding of a great drama; to contemplate afresh the miracle of existence. The blue-grey canvas above turns into exquisite black velvet offering up an infinite treasure of diamonds.

The distant worlds beckon like ships’ beacons in the night. The eternal now extends its slippery palm. Linear time dissolves, as I gaze into the most distant pulsations of light. I recall that I am looking back into aeons of time. From a vantage point somewhere else in the universe, my time, according to general relativity, exists in the future. I am overawed with a sense of wonder. I try to comprehend the experience, but it scurries away.

Something else is happening. Black velvet that cushions millions of brilliant lanterns morphs into trillions of tiny shiny grains of sand. The Milky Way rolls out its thick blanket, revealing yet diffusing more distant galactic layers behind. Deep space continues to yield up its secrets, as my eyes grow accustomed to its hiddenness and as my being attunes to its infinite play.

The infinitude of the universe scares me. Humility, fragility, insignificance, vulnerability, drop like daggers to the heart. Yet I am overwhelmed by grace; by womb-like compassion that has created this wonder and light; this darkness and silence. I am caught in paradox. A moment of acute anxiety. A moment of crucial decision. Meaning or meaninglessness? Hope or hopelessness? God or no God? Ah, faith and doubt.

The Spirit of love and compassion tugs like gravity. A sudden flash of cognition merges with intuition. The wonder and terror of the cosmos only exists because of the gift of consciousness. I think, I feel, therefore the cosmos is.

Physicists such as John Polkinghorn and Paul Davies suggest that scientific study of the universe has increasingly revealed the fingerprints of design. Davies says: ‘If one were to accept that, the next question is: to what purpose has God produced this design? The apparent “fine-tuning” of the laws of nature necessary if conscious life is to evolve in the universe then carries the clear implication that God has designed the universe so as to permit such life and consciousness to emerge. It would mean that our own existence in the universe formed a central part in God’s plan’ (The Mind of God, Penguin, 1992, p.213.).

I stand again in awesome wonder before the God of the cosmos. I offer my praise and thanks to the compassion (womb) of God, who gestated a human consciousness able to participate in the creation of infinite possibilities for life.

Thus says Yahweh: Is Ephraim [Israel] my dear son? my darling child? For the more I speak against him, the more I do remember him. Therefore my womb trembles for him; I will truly show motherly-compassion upon him (Jeremiah 31:20).

– Kim Thoday <>

Hewett Community Church of Christ, South Australia. http://www.hewett.org.au