I think I should share how I currently deal with them.
Sorcerers have the most free access to runic powers in my current take on Glorantha. They can gain access to any runes their tradition knows how to deal with, and to hunt for other ones. Where a Heortling theists runes show how well he is connected to the god(s), a sorcerer can use any power he/she may lay hands on.
Where heortling feats emulate acts of the gods, a sorcerer (or wizard) can learn or create spells based on logic and weaving a patten with the runic forces (I like the Ars Magica verb - noun logic, so disorder and man could be used to do direct violence to a human(oid) body for instance).
A wizard can use impersonal forces, but also has access to the veneration of saints as a source of runic power. A more limited, but also more reliable route.
I like players being able to write their own spells in the style of Ars Magica / Shek-Pvar, so in my Glorantha that is what wizards and sorcerers do. It's easier to learn ready made spells though, but the mark of a proper western mage is to have created at least one spell of your own.
The cost of all that flexibility is that it takes more time (points) to become a competent sorcerer/wizard than it takes a theist. The mechanics and trappings of power are different enough to make it interesting for me and my players, but there is no "this way is better" which is also good.
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The liturgists and low orders work more like classic western thinking on religion. You study rituals and venerate a saint gathering piety and learning the way of the faithful. There is a specific set of magic given by the saint from which you can learn, which will require time spent in worship to renew. These sorts of worshippers don't get access to the core runes at all, just the "liturgist of x" or "venerate x" skill and the specific magics they have learned.
-Adept
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