“The World is Charged with the Grandeur of God”

Fifth Centenary Lecture Edinburgh and Aberdeen November 1978 given by the Revd Canon Dr A M Allchin, Canterbury.

Christian worship affirms the transcendence of God: Holy, holy, holy! However, God is also present in the material creation, and it is this that provides the materials with which to praise God. These two dimensions have always been held together and they do not contradict each other. This is explored through poetic works by Edwin Muir, T S Eliot, St Columba, Bobi Jones, and Dafydd ap Gwilym, and then in the theology of Richard Hooker mediated through John Keble. The lecturer concluded that we should be encouraged to worship with the whole of ourselves, body as well as spirit, sight and smell, feeling and taste, as well as hearing.