Is the Universe Friendly?

The following is the final part of a sermon by the above name, presented by Dr. John Sullivan of the Church of Canada, a friend and email mentor of mine. I will see if I can later add the entire message.
His words always make me think deep thoughts, which I like very much.

Maybe this will do the same for you?

Jon Sullivan -  Is the Universe Friendly?

And I know, too, that most people do not live by their arguments,

but by their commitments.

In the end, the real reason I believe

that the universe is friendly and makes sense

is that I can't get away from Jesus.  

He speaks to me as a person.

I don't know him as well as I wish I did,

and the longer I live, the less I know about him,

because the more mysterious he becomes.

But what I know is this: 

if the universe were meaningless and hostile,

the crucifixion would have been the end of him.

The cross would have been the supreme example of the absurd; 

the man who gave himself for the good of humanity was done to death

by those/ for whom/ he gave himself.

But the crucifixion wasn't the end of him.

He's still around, still disturbing, still illuminating,

not in great institutions perhaps, but in individuals,

sending people out to do extraordinary things,

people whose minds have been lit by his greater mind

and whose spirit has been fortified

by his absolutely uncompromising spirit.

And the cross on which he died

has made all other suffering and evil capable of meaning,

capable, that is of being caught up into the tapestry of life

and woven into the pattern in such a way

as to make the pattern intelligible.