Authority and the church

"There is a quite proper circularity to the ethics of the Christian community: I am called to use the authority given me by Christ (by Christ's giving away of power conceived as control and security) so as to nurture that authority in others, so that they may give it away in turn- to me and to others. So in John 13 what Jesus gives (service) is to be the currency of exchange between beleivers: to grow into Jesus' 'Lordship' (his freedom from all other powers) is to become able to wash one another's feet, that is, to welcome them as a guest at the same table."

Rowan Williams 'Incarnation and the Renewal of community' in On Christian Theology , 232