To long for the unsettling, unsetting Son is dangerous.

Saints and Starets,

sinners and seekers

have found that Christ takes them at their word

who say that they want, or would like, to know him.

Holy Fools have met him in the derision of sophisticates.

Ascetics have met him in the desolation of wilderness.

Postulants have met him in the rigours of discipline.

Charismatics have met him in the exhaustion of powers.

The convinced have met him in the darkness of doubt.

The confident have met him in the paralysis of depression.

The self-sufficient have met him in the nakedness of nothing.

The triumphalists have met him in the failure of death.

Whether a holy monk of Athos,

a converted pagan

or a rich Western materialist,

to know Christ is to embrace catastrophe. But

Because he has died, the dead live.

Because he is risen, the obliterated are made new.

Because he will come again, the newly remade will remake the earth.

David Grieve, Wanting to be a Disciple, 3rd April 2008.