Feb. 23, 2013, 2:00 PM, Lakeshore Baptist Church, Oakland, CA
Today, I bring greetings and condolences on behalf of the larger American Baptist family and specifically our General Secretary Roy Medley and President Ruth Clark. They wish that they personally could have been here to remember and honor the faithful service of our brother Harrison Williams.
I knew Harrison Williams through his wife Annabel Williams. Annabel was actually one of my support staff members in the adult department of Educational Ministries in Valley Forge. As some of you may know, Harrison like Annabel was a very sweet person. The ABC Mission Center is a round building and during lunchtime in those days, Harrison would come upstairs from the second floor to the third floor where Annabel worked and he would meet her and both of them would walk around the building and then downstairs to the cafeteria for lunch. They would bring their lunches prepared at home to eat. Their love for each other model for the rest of us how love should be. Like the circular ABC Mission Center, love is like an unbroken circle.
The lifetime of ministry of Harrison Williams can be defined as an act of love. This love is the love that he and Annabel had for each other and the love that Harrison had for the ABC. Out of this love for the American Baptists, he placed himself in the middle of developing trusting and cooperative relationships between the national offices and the regional organizations. This was not an easy task or fun work. In the aftermath of a restructuring in that day, building partnerships and interpreting visions in order to unite our Baptist groups, forever wanting more freedom, is and was for Harrison Williams a daunting job.
In those days, Harrison Williams would have had to pick up a phone and actually talk to some regional executive who was probably hostile to the General Secretary for one reason or another—none of this writing an email. He may have had to take a plane and meet cynics and doubters face to face across the table over a cup of coffee because that was the only way to bring about understanding and reconciliation. Imagine, it was Harrison Williams’ responsibility to interpret the general secretary’s concepts and intentions to the regional executives. That’s like Daniel walking into the lion’s den! As the regional deputy, he carried out his responsibilities well and today we still have a denomination to which to belong.
We often read 1 Corinthians 13 in a wedding service. But in memory of Harrison Williams, I believe it speaks perfectly about his life and ministry. In love, Harrison Williams was able to speak like an angel calming noising gongs and cymbals when there were disagreements. In love, he brought understanding and knowledge to situations and thusly was able to move mountains. Undoubtedly, Harrison Williams saw some things only in part. He may have even spoken prematurely like a child. He may have seen the denomination in the mirror, dimly. But because Harrison Williams had love, he was patient and he helped all the different and diverse parts of the ABC to be able to see face to face.
In the end, because Harrison Williams had the love of Christ in his heart, he was able to see God face to face. Thanks be to God for the life and ministry of our brother, Harrison E. Williams.