Sacred or secular, whatever you do can bring glory to God

No job is entirely secular. And even those employed in Christian ministry should be engaging with the outside world, says Chine McDonald

This summer, I was installed as a canon theologian at Chester Cathedral. These honorary roles sit at the intersection between a cathedral and the academy, between the Church and public life, between the sacred and the secular. There has been a worshipping community on the site in Chester for 2,000 years; and with that comes all the ceremony and ritual that has been honed over many centuries.

During the service I was shown to what is now my official seat – the wood-framed throne named after the 17th-century poet George Herbert. As I later stood in front of the stained-glass window depicting Herbert, I felt an affinity with him – this politician and priest, who spent much of his life wrestling with the question of what God was calling him to – was it to the Church or the world?