The strains of Wesleyan hymns drifting across the landscape in recent days tells us that the Methodists are in town. The annual conference for the Methodist Church has come to the Westcountry this week.
During business sessions the delegates will have heard reports reflecting on the varied activities that form part of Methodist church life in the 21st century. There will, no doubt, have been opportunities to catch up with old friends and make new acquaintances. However the highlight of the conference comes tomorrow when, in services across the Westcountry, men and women will be ordained to serve God as ministers and deacons in the Church.
It will be a great day for those involved, with many family and friends travelling from long distances to celebrate this important moment in their lives. However whenever I attend ordination services (an occupational hazard) I always wonder about those who do not have special services with prayers and the laying-on of hands: the countless numbers of Christian believers who serve God week by week in churches of all denominations.
They open up the chapels, give out the hymn books and arrange the flowers. They work hidden away with limited resources with children and young people. They visit their neighbours who are ill and lonely and seek to be faithful servants of Jesus Christ in difficult and demanding work situations.
It is to my regret that we have largely failed across the Churches to recognise the calling, service and ministry of all believers. The Apostle Paul got it. He told the church at Corinth: "You are the body of Christ and each one is a part of it."
I hope those seeing their calling and ministry recognised tomorrow will have a great day. But is it too much to hope that one day Methodist and all other Churches will find ways to celebrate the different callings of us all? As Paul wrote in another letter, it is not what we do that ultimately matters but whether we do what we do to the glory of God. And we are all called to that.