In His encounters with each person, God appears in ever new forms. Each person and each appearance signifies something new, something unprecedented. Just as when an egg is fertilized by a sperm cell, an infinite number of different zygotes can result, each with its own unique genetic makeup, just as humans, no matter how similar we may be, do not have repeating forms, in a similar way, each of us is endowed with the ability and has the opportunity to give a new expression of the divine face to this world.
God therefore seems distant, because His expression in our lives and souls is still unknown, uncreated. But once we meet Him, a new, original, and unique expression of Him will appear. His face will have created an image of Him that is unknown until now, a unique and unrepeatable likeness of Him. This is what it means to encounter God. God, who was once a question, a philosophical quest, and a challenge, now becomes an experience. From being distant and difficult, He becomes familiar and easy. He becomes “the one in us.”
Meeting God means tasting the fruit that was once forbidden but is now blessed. It was not wrong for the first humans to know God, but it was not the right time. Now is the time for the fruit that was once forbidden. Now it is wrong not to taste the fruit. Now is the time for the knowledge of God. Then God demanded obedience; now He gives opportunity; He offers opportunities.
This intense desire for the new that is unknown, the unknown that is hoped for, the great that is hidden, the risk that is decided upon is nothing other than the natural force that God has placed within us so that we may encounter Him, to taste His divinity that is shared.
His space is curved, like the universe. It is not straight and flat. It is not hard and inflexible. It is not a linear equation with one solution, but an infinite space that gives birth to and makes use of your freedom. A space where good ceases to be good when there is something better. An atmosphere in which the lesser freedom of choice collapses. Here, freedom is not about choosing what is offered to you, but, in an atmosphere of great goodness, constantly creating the best.
God is like a black hole, one of those that exist in the universe. It cannot be seen; it can only be detected. It has such a strong gravitational field that it attracts everyone without being visible. What it reveals is not its identity, but our ability to perceive it in order to believe in it.
God is gracious. He hides Himself; that is why we must seek Him. His love is subject to our free will; that is why we must claim Him. He is very much and very different; that is why we must dare Him.
Metropolitan Nicholas of Messogaia and Lavreotiki
