Material creation commenced with an enormous explosion 15,000 million years ago, so the cosmologists inform us. They also prognosticate an end of the universe some time, probably millions of years, in the future. As John Polkinghorne in his authoritative book Science and Creation reminds us, the universe's future looks bleak; its history from the moment of the "big bang" onwards has been a conflict between two opposing tendencies: an explosive force throwing matter apart and the force of gravity pulling matter together. At present they are closely balanced but we cannot assume this state of affairs will continue indefinitely. The dominance of either of these tendencies will put paid to the structure of the universe. Therefore the death of the physical body in store for all living forms has its more sombre counterpart in the destruction of the universe at some indeterminate time in the future.

A consideration of the remarkable events that followed Jesus' death on the cross may illuminate this dark future in store for matter generally. Jesus' body, according to the witness of the gospel writers, disappeared unaccountably from the tomb, but from the third day after his crucifixion until the time of his ascension forty days afterwards, his physical form was seen by numerous disciples on various occasions. That form was not the same as the body of the earthly Jesus, for even his closest friends did not recognize him until he gave some gesture or said something that, as it were; opened the eyes of the people around him. And then he tended to disappear from their midst. The very contradictory nature of some of the appearances vouches more profoundly for their validity than would a carefully doctored account that smoothed out all the unaccountable elements. Above all, those who witnessed the appearances were not only convinced of Jesus' survival but, even more important, were themselves moved from despair to certainty. They were in their own way as resurrected as was their Lord, so that a mission that appeared to be a terrible failure in terms of the crucifixion turned out to be a glorious vindication of their dearest expectations.

As in Adam all men die, so in Christ all will be brought to life (1 Corinthians 15: 22). The death and disintegration of the physical body of our allegorical ancestor Adam is reversed by the advent of the fully actualized man Jesus. The spiritual radiance of Christ shown to three of his disciples at the time of the transfiguration came to its full glory after the crucifixion, when the disfigured physical body was so filled with God's uncreated light that it became spontaneously spiritualized. This process was completed at the time of the ascension. In the resurrection period of forty days the presence of Jesus effected a deep relationship with all who were open to his love. In the mental/psychic/spiritual realm he was in direct contact with saints and sinners, angels and their demonic counterpart. This was an aspect of the descent into hell mentioned in the so-called Apostles' Creed; in fact, it started immediately after Jesus' death. But it was also an ascent to paradise where the blessed spirits dwelt, and where Jesus promised the repentant thief on the cross he would be with him that very day. After the ascension Christ returned to his original place in mystical eternity with the Father and the Holy Spirit, in the process taking the physical nature of the universe and the quality of humanity with him.

All this may seem very remote from everyday concerns in this life, but it provides a presage, a foretaste, of things to come when death is finally overcome in victory. The first man, Adam, became an animate being, whereas the last Adam has become a life-giving spirit (1 Corinthians 15:45). While we are limited to material things we are bound to death. As we open ourselves to spiritual truth, so does eternity permeate our earthly concerns. This is not a process of lifting ourselves above the demands of earthly life (which would be a subtle way of escape from our immediate duties), but rather bringing down the Holy Spirit on all we do each moment in our mundane toil. St Paul writes, "The created universe waits with eager expectation for God's sons to be revealed. It was made the victim of frustration, not by its own choice, but because of him who made it so; yet always there was hope, because the universe itself is to be freed from the shackles of mortality and enter upon the liberty and splendour of the children of God. Up to the present, we know, the whole created universe groans in all its parts as if in the pangs of childbirth". (Romans 8:19-22). In this gloriously inspired vision he goes on to write that even we who have been given the Holy Spirit as first fruits of the harvest to come are groaning inwardly while we await God's action in making us his sons and setting our whole body free. Through Christ we have indeed been saved, though only in hope.

A new depth of understanding, a greater participation in the life of the universe, was opened to humanity in the ministry and sacrificial death of Christ, in whom the Creator worked to reconcile the world to himself. To those who confessed the name of Christ came the first understanding of the new dispensation effected by the life of their Master, but the fruits of this dispensation have overflowed to the world at large. We have to face the fact that the early effects can be frightening in their stripping from us of all illusions of health and decency; in God all things lie revealed. It is in this way that our salvation seems a long way off as we have to confront all the base impulses within ourselves. But if we proceed with humility and courage, the light will shine within us as the spark of divinity in the soul is able to burst forth into a gentle flame that gathers momentum once the inner atmosphere becomes clearer and less polluted by the vice of the world.

This is the way of the saints of humanity. What they reveal is our way of ascent also. Whenever we perform an action of selfless service (being selfless it is so spontaneous that the ego falls into line and serves instead of premeditating what is most expedient for its own benefit), we are helping to raise up the world to that immortality that St Paul envisages. And in so doing we enter more fully into the sonship that God has prepared for us in imitation of Jesus, the full son of the Father. Only when our will coincides with the divine purpose can progress towards immortality be achieved. This immortality is something more than an endless succession of life in circumstances perhaps not very different from what we already know. It is, on the contrary, a state of resurrection in which we draw closer to God in thought and action while the physical universe transcends the limits of material existence to enter into a new relationship with eternity. As in Adam all men die, so in Christ all will be brought to life. This sentence of St Paul, already quoted, now takes on a heightened meaning. To be sure, when we ourselves die, our bodies are most unlikely to undergo the spiritualization demonstrated by the earthly remains of Jesus, even if we have attained great sanctity. It is only when mankind as a whole has attained such a state of sanctity that a bodily resurrection to spiritual eternity might be envisaged, and then indeed there will be no more death. Christ will be at hand then, for the Coming will be fulfilled.

What we are in process of achieving in this mortal life of ours at the present time is the fashioning of a spiritual body that will be our form when we have left the physical one behind us at the moment of our death. It returns to the earth from whose elements it was composed, but the immaterial mind/soul complex goes forth into the mental/psychic/spiritual realm clothed in a spiritual body whose elements are the thoughts and attitudes we manifested while we were engaged in earthly activity. As already noted, Jesus' spiritual body included his resurrected physical body, a circumstance outside our present competence. "What is sown in the earth as a perishable thing is raised imperishable. Sown in humiliation, it is raised in glory; sown in weakness, it is raised in power; sown as an animal body, it is raised as a spiritual body" (1 Corinthians 15:42-44). I believe that, in considering St Paul's wonderful exposition of the life beyond death, it is important to see that we create our own spiritual body. Indeed, it is our ultimate creation in this life, for everything else finds its fulfilment in it. The glory of the world passes away as we grow old, but what we have within ourselves grows even with the humiliating impotence of senility. This spiritual body is the wedding garment that a guest at the heavenly banquet lacked in the remarkable parable of Matthew 22:1-14 with special reference to verses 11-14.

In the course of this account of creation we have covered much ground: the universe, its earthly components and creatures culminating in the human, his own development from humble beginnings to the sophisticated people we now are, especially in the developed countries, and the human interaction with nature. We have found that only as we move from selfish acquisitiveness to world service can we be really fulfilled as people, for then we come fully of age and are no longer diverted by things to the exclusion of people. In other words, the I-It relationship of the uninstructed which ends in death has progressively to be replaced by the I-Thou relationship of deep personal commitment that finds its end in love. This love must extend beyond human relationships to the world of nature and ultimately all that is created, including inanimate objects. It is not a possessiveness that masquerades as concern, but such a burning identification with all that exists that one is prepared to give up one's very life for it. The accounts of those rare individuals who dedicated all their energy to conserving animal species that were on their way to extinction, which we considered in a previous chapter, are excellent examples of this love that is the basis of the higher creativity that alone can save our planet for the time of its resurrection. So also are those brave people who initiated hospices to care for the terminally ill, who previously were dismissed to care for themselves, non-productive members of society and therefore a mere burden on a community racing for money and power. That we all have something to learn from the disabled is a lesson that comes hard until we too have suffered. The same applies to the mentally ill as well as those born so handicapped that they will never become independent members of the community. All who have striven for their care have played their part in recreating the world in something of the image of God seen in the form of his suffering son who is both servant and Lord.

I find the words of Dietrich Bonhoeffer of great help, "To be a Christian does not mean to be religious in a particular way, to cultivate some particular form of asceticism (as a sinner, a penitent or a saint), but to be a man. It is not some religious act which makes a Christian what he is, but participation in the suffering of God in the life of the world." When we have attained that stature we are real people. Our spiritual body is well formed within us, and blessings flow from us to the world, which is gradually transfigured by our presence.