London, England - The Church of England's first black archbishop, Ugandan-born John Sentamu, was formally inaugurated in a ceremony blending English tradition and African rhythms, and called for the restoration of a "sense of beyondness" to humanity.
Sentamu, 56, who fled dictator Idi Amin's Uganda for England in 1974, was named in June to take over as Archbishop of York, the church's second-most important position, and he assumed the role on October 5.
During the televised ceremony from York Minster, the northern English city's vast medieval cathedral, Sentamu told worshippers, both white and black, that a better world could only come from a fundamental change within human beings.
"The trouble with virtually all forms of revolutions and modernising strategies is that they change everything except the human heart," Sentamu, wearing brightly coloured robes, told the 3,000-strong congregation.
"The scandal of the church is that the Christ event is no longer life changing. It has become life enhancing," Sentamu said. "And we've become consumers of religion and not disciples of Jesus Christ."
He regretted the "loss of this country's long tradition of Christian wisdom, which brought to birth the English nation, the loss of wonder and amazement that Jesus Christ has authority over every aspect of our lives and our nation."
He called for the "recovery of a sense of beyondness in the whole of life, revive the spring of wonder and adoration."
Sentamu is a popular, socially liberal figure who led Church opposition to the Iraq war, as well as a leading activist on racism and inner-city crime.
In a newspaper interview in October, Sentamu said he would be happy to ordain women bishops if the Church of England changed its rules to allow it and condemned the way some members of the Anglican communion had spoken of gay men and lesbians.
The majority of the inauguration service was dominated by ancient ritual and tradition but the archbishop brought an African flavour to the proceedings with brightly-coloured costumes and African music.
Sentamu, who played the drums himself at one point, was introduced to the congregation in a ceremony involving 20-strong group of dancers, some of them bare-chested, who performed a dance of "rejoicing and thanksgiving".
The performers wore head plumage of red, white and black feathers and leopardskin print skirts and T-shirts.
The ancient walls of York Minster echoed to the rhythms of African drumming and high-pitched wailing for several minutes.
The Archbishop of York is the second-most important figure in the Church of England after the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams.
Although Williams is also head of the Anglican Church, which covers the Church of England and its associated bodies worldwide, the Archbishop of York is not automatically second in the global hierarchy.
The Church of England is part of the Anglican Communion, which has a worldwide following of around 70 million people.