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A message
from Mark
Wakelin
I love the first question in the Westminster Shorter Catechism:
Q: What is the chief end of humanity
A: Our chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever.
It is, of course, not original: Mark’s Gospel reminds us that the first commandment is “love
the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and
with all your strength” (Mark 12:30), and of course he is quoting the Hebrew scriptures
(Deuteronomy 6:5).
It would be a good deal easier to justify our existence as a Church if “to love God” wasn’t
the first thing that mattered. In a world that values the practical and the prosaic it would be
much easier if the first commandment was, “love your neighbour”, or “seek justice” or “save
the whale”, or “reduce your carbon footprint”. But it isn’t – we are called to “wonder, love
and praise.”
5
The Revd Dr Mark Wakelin
president of the Methodist
Conference
What we do then, as preachers and worship leaders connected together is of the first
importance. We are invited to lead God’s people (and God’s world) into a place of worship
and adoration. All our other intentions – to instruct, guide, be relevant, to explain and justify,
to bring together and encourage community, to challenge, inspire and send out – come
second to leading people into the presence of God, or helping them realise that God in all
God’s glory and majesty is already present.
This Conference therefore matters to our ministry together in the way it connects message
and context, context and worship, and all bound together in love of God. We are not only
seeking ways to pay attention to the secular and everyday world where our message may be
heard, but also to be part of God’s way of bringing into the secular and everyday world the
glory, majesty, wonder and awe of the divine presence.