Preach it, brother Dale! 
"We are confusing inconvenience with suffering, information with knowledge, and sensation with wisdom." Love that line, and the whole very sharp post.
Excellent post!
When St. Mark's was built in the 1960s, the altar was still oriented, with the tabernacle in the center, and the mural behind it. Thus, gazing at the cruciform figure, your eyes would be drawn down to the altar.
You can't really tell some of the details of the painting. It depicts the cross as bringing order from chaos; the macrocosmic (galaxies, planets, etc.) on one side, the microcosmic (cells, etc.) on the other side. The cross also bears a resemblance to a uterus and ovaries.
And the Cosmic Christ, in whom we live, and move and have our being, is the Christ of Calvary, and is the Christ present on this altar, and in this tabernacle.
In this way, a case could have been made for its legitimacy as liturgical art.
But, of course, soon after the building was completed, liturgical changes came in. The altar was pulled away from the wall, and the painting became a decoration. Now, after the latest renovation, it is suspended on a track so that it can be rolled from one side to the other (for example, when the "worship space" is used for the annual auction dinner).
And did we mention the highly mobile altar and chairs which can (respectively) be conveniently moved into any corner or piled in the brand new Blessed Sacrament Chapel to make yet more room in our "worship space" for the said auction dinner?
"We" didn't. But I thought either you or Alan would be sure to bring up that point.
Movable Type, sí. Movable Altar, no.
It's reminiscent of the halcyon days of the late 70s and early 80s when a certain Ivy League campus parish had a movable altar. Taking advantage of the Catholic tendency to sit towards the back, the PTB would roll the altar up and down the aisle to ensure that the back-row-boys (and girls) would go to the head of the class.
Thanks for the compliments!
As to the mural--apparently it does need to be seen in person. I will give it some points for daring, and for the detail that sure don't come out from the website. The Cosmic Christ is one of the most fascinating claims of the NT, and could very easily serve a liturgical function, like the old frescoed Byzantine Pantocrators. I'd like to see people continue to take cracks at it.
But here, the execution falls short, and it still seems more like a religious "Guernica" to me. I have seen Guernica (also a large, busy work) in person, and I suspect my reaction to the mural would be similar: "Better in person, to take in all the details, but otherwise--eh. Not something that holds up week after week."
I learned recently that our church has a mobile altar, to my surprise.
The surprise is based on the good news that it's apparently never been moved. The sensus fidei at work.
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