Variety: Colossians 1v15–17

Christ is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For in him were created all things in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers; all things were created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.  — Colossians 1:15–17  

Early Christians understood Christ to be a transcendent Presence dwelling in and with them, transforming all things.  They understood the Christ Mystery to be the indwelling of the Divine Presence in everyone and everything since the beginning of time

The revelation of the Risen Christ as ubiquitous and eternal was clearly affirmed in the Scriptures (Colossians 1, Ephesians 1, John 1, Hebrews 1) and in the early church, when the euphoria of the Christian faith was still creative and expanding.

As G. K. Chesterton expressed, our religion is not the church we belong to, but the cosmos we live inside of.

Once we know that the entire physical world around us, all creation, is both the hiding place and the revelation place for God, this world becomes home, safe, enchanted, offering grace to any who look deeply. I call that kind of deep and calm seeing “contemplation.”  

Religion’s essential function is to radically connect us with everything (re-ligio = to re-ligament or reconnect). A cosmic notion of the Christ competes with and excludes no one, but includes everyone and everything (Acts 10:15, 34) and allows Jesus Christ to finally be a God figure worthy of the entire universe. In this understanding of the Christian message, the Creator’s love and presence are grounded in the created world, and the mental distinction between “natural” and “supernatural” falls apart. 

Richard Rohr