Posted on: 28th May 2026

A couple of weeks ago I was privileged to experience William Blake Remixed, performed by Testament and Matthew Bourne (plus guests) at Leeds City Varieties. As well as being a wonderful introduction to Blake and his dissenting, non-conformist Christian faith, it was a perfect preparation for the record breaking Bank Holiday Weekend.

Testament performed what I can only describe as a meditation on the opening Stanza of Blake’s Auguries of Innocence. Jewish scholars might call it a targum, a prayerful expanding of a text to excavate its every meaning. Here are Blake’s words:
To see a world in a grain of sand
And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand
And eternity in an hour.

Against the popular beliefs of the 18th century deists* who contributed to the founding of both Leeds and the USA, Blake believed that God is right here, all the time, available to be encountered. After opening up with such beautiful words that invite us to encounter God in the smallest elements of nature, Blake goes on to ‘flip the coin’ and explore the dark side of his assertion: if heaven is in a wild flower, what does the destruction of wildflower meadows
do in heaven?

Over the weekend, as sat on our patio with my extended family, I took the time to stare at the roses. No longer perfect, they are coming to the end of their lives, and the heat was probably not helping. But their beauty became more precious to me precisely because it was fading, and I found myself thanking God for the small things in our garden. I very much doubt I would have done that if Blake hadn’t reminded me to go out and really see nature. And I knew that once my consciousness was open to seeing God in the world, it would follow the same path as Blake: if God is present in this flower, then God is also present in the polluted river Aire, in the neglected child, in the asylum seeker trying to find safety, in the person who is afraid of asylum seekers, in the person who considers me their enemy.

Believing that God is here, right now, holding all things together (Colossians 1:17) should lead us to worship and to encounter, but, like Blake, it should lead us to pain, lament and ultimately action.

Why not take a minute or two to go out into nature and really see it? God is here. This beauty is an over-the-top expression of God’s own beauty, love and joy. Bathe in it. Then allow yourself to feel what God feels when creation is harmed and broken.
To see a world in a grain of sand
And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand
And eternity in an hour.

*Deists believe that after creating the universe, God is largely absent from it. Notable Deists
include Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Paine, George Washington and
Leeds’ own Joseph Priestley, who attended Mill Hill Chapel.