wordsout by godfrey rust
The
sailing of the ark < 23
of 45 >
23
We
do not find God by theology
nor coax him out of hiding with our worship.
We
discover him instead
in places that we least expect, where his power
is
concealed by insignificance: in the little
act of kindness seeking no reward,
the
momentary thought for others, obedience
in a thing thought trivial—matters
so
small
they are like
a medicine of such a weak solution
as
to be
hardly there at all, and traceable
by no known science—yet these are
our
real investments, the widow's mites with which
he finances his kingdom's public spending.
Sonnets 23 to 30, with minor adaptations, were first read under the title The Last Word at the carol service at St John’s, Ealing in December 1991. This section begins the search for God in a different direction.
medicine of such a weak solution A metaphor derived from homeopathic medicine.
widow’s mite cf Luke 21:2 (Authorised Version).