Woolwich: New Wine Church Hosts Dr. Rowan Williams for Christian Aid Week

by Benson Agoha | Theology

To many that came to New Wine Church today, Dr. Rowan Williams' name and face is not strange. Yet not everyone present was familiar with the former Archbishop of Canterbury's work since his retirement in 2012.

Screen Shot of Dr. Rowan Williams today at
New Wine Church, Woolwich on Sunday, 10.05.2015

To those who were not too sure of whom to expect, it was not until his face filled the projector screen that they got it. His face isn't one you will forget in a hurry.

Dr. Williams profile is large - his personality and the looks - they jump out of the screen at you, and help register his image in your mind. But when he speaks, he does so with a softness that helps you relax.

Dr. Williams at Preaches at the Pulpit.

And even as he preaches and quotes bible scriptures, his inferences and explanations, help horn your understanding. 

He took his Bible reading from the Book of Ephesians Chapter 3, and read from Verse one to the end. Then he used the passage to illustrate how walls of differences between humanity has been  removed.

The Cross of Jesus, he says, broke down the wall of barriers between humanity - making it possible for people to gather from any corner of creation. He spoke about God's family and say our human family derives from that of God. And that God's family enables us to understand the phenomenon of family, including `our own family'.

But he said the worldwide family of God is about the power of the spirit and the ability to connect. Each of us, he says is called to be a `minister' to `our neighbours', adding that the Holy Spirit gives us the grace to do so.

Dr. Williams said, in the families, we are Ministers of God to one another. "We are equipped with Gods word, love and spirit to be Ministers to our neighbours", he said, to help the love of God come alive in their lives.

He said the power of the spirit that we minister to one another is the love of God that empowers them to be better ministers to others - and even to minister back to us.

Everyone of us, Dr. Williams said, has the potential to be a better human being, and that God's mystery and wonder is there in everyone of us - so that "we can see it when we look at one another".

The Congregation at New Wine Church,
today Sunday, 10.05.2015

Dr. Williams said God's Mystery and wonder in us, known as the image of God, is defaced by sin. But, he said, equally capable of defacing this image is poverty, sadness and suffering, each of which has the capacity to degrade our existence and rub us of the joy of living.

He says, degrading poverty and suffering are essentially what Christian Aid seeks to reverse - to reach out to those whose potential have been negatively affected and those who no longer exude the image of God in them due to poverty and suffering.

He made an allusion to a film in which Loco and Ade, two women ravaged by poverty in a far away terrain, are featured. But he said, whose lives are changing, bringing back the radiance that exemplifies Gods image in them.

He said "We may not be able to change their physical terrain just yet, but they can be assisted to have a better life and hope, enabling them to minister back to us each time we look at their faces again."

Dr. Rowan Williams retired as the Archbishop of Canterbury on 31 December 2012, but took up the position of Master of Magdalene College at Cambridge University in January 2013. He became a Chancellor of the University of South Wales in the same year (2013).

Described as The Rt Revd and Rt Hon The Lord Williams of Oystermouth, he speaks three languages, and reads as many as nine. He has been awarded two Honourary Doctorate Degrees.

To read more about the Christian Aid Week or to donate to their operations, please visit: ( Christian Aid Week ).