Lent 5 Year B – George Yandell
I’ve been mulling over what I can offer you as we prepare for my retirement. I keep coming back to how grateful I feel being with you at Holy Family since August 1, 2010. It has been an incredible blessing to serve with you and my clergy colleagues. I’ve asked them to send me some of their recollections.
When Susan and I were in town house-hunting before I started as priest-in-charge, the clergy invited us for a meal at Byron and Anne’s house. Susan recalls that Scott and Katharine drove us with Ted and Debbie to the Tindall’s. I had some apprehensions about being the new kid on the block with a team of clergy that devoted themselves as volunteers and had kept worship and pastoral care alive after Mary had left. We were so delighted as we talked and shared a wonderful meal- I thought as we were going home- what a tremendous gift to have such sharp and devoted colleagues! And in the years since that first engagement, I’ve only grown in my respect and love for you all.
Byron offers these recollections:
Approximately 14 years ago, the Search Committee at Holy Family was in the process of interviewing priests for the position of priest-in-charge of our parish. As “retired” clergy and members of Holy Family, Katharine, Ted and I were afforded an opportunity to have some private time with each of the candidates. For some reason, I wasn’t available to spend any time with George when it was his turn to meet with the Search Committee.
By this time, Katharine and Scott, Ted and Debbie, and Anne and I had developed (and still maintain) an extremely close friendship among ourselves. Shortly after George had been called to become our priest-in-charge and had accepted that call, he and Susan came to the Jasper area to look for a place to call home.
I don’t remember which one of us had the idea, but Anne and I invited Susan and George, Katharine and Scott, and Debbie and Ted to our house for brunch. It was with a little bit of “fear and trembling” that I awaited the arrival of the group to our house in Lake Arrowhead. “Would George and Susan fit in our established group?” “Would I come to like and love them as much as I did the other members of our group?” “Would Susan and George like us?” “Would they be comfortable associating with our antics?” More importantly “Would their philosophies align with ours?”
It didn’t take long for me to realize my uneasiness was entirely unnecessary. Susan and George fit right in. Things went along nicely in the ensuing years as friendships deepened and a pattern of interdependence among the four-clergy developed.
Then came 2019. Covid appeared on the scene. Suddenly everything we considered normal as far as our worship together went out the window, along with most everything in our everyday lives.
Worship began in the Covid 19 era as a recording made on a smart phone in the memorial garden. The video was uploaded to various social media sites. We graduated to worshipping together as long as we were outside and remained six feet apart. That was great, so long as the weatherman cooperated.
Then we returned to the nave, with 10 as the maximum number of people allowed. By this time, we contracted with a video production crew to broadcast our Sunday morning Holy Eucharist via our website and Facebook. The tables in the narthex with what looked like miles and miles of cable all over the floor were staffed with three masked outsiders. That left 10 members of Holy Family to try to make the service something familiar for our members and any others who ventured onto the services as they were broadcast.
During this time, George and the lay leadership of Holy Family had to do a lot of thinking “outside the box.” Their efforts brought us through those trying times with flying colors, as the expression goes.
When George accepted the call to be “upgraded” from priest-in-charge to rector, we all knew the day would come when we would have to bid George and Susan farewell. Farewell my friend. I hope you enjoy your retirement as much as I’m enjoying mine.
Katharine’s recollections:
George and I celebrated Paula Womack’s Memorial Service – The first time we served together. He stayed with Scott and me because Bob Womack’s house was overloaded.
The Pastor’s Pots with you and Jacques winning the prize and delighting the community with fabulously flavored food. Helping CARES along the way! A “2-fer.”
Our Wonderful Wednesdays – Always filled with a sense of the presence of the Spirit and the high spirits of those who came to worship in the outdoors and share a meal.
Covid – You standing in the Memorial Garden conducting the service with Allan DeNiro and others on their cellphones filming so that we would have an online service. The continual efforts we made to make the services better and better technically. The cold, cold parking lot: but we managed to gather as a congregation! Ultimately the wonderful broadcast booth was finished and we were able to produce and engage more and more people in our services.
The Easter Vigils –with all its beauty and joyousness. (One time we forgot the Paschal candle and had to run get it!)
The teaching times you gave us with your joy in weaving together history with scripture.
The hilarious and delicious Clergy Dinners auctioned to support Parish ministries– never were there such a group of priestly gourmands!!
Standing at the altar with you and Ted and Byron on All Souls Day, solemnly reading the names of those who had died.
The gift you and succeeding vestries gave the congregation by faithfully working to reduce and then eliminate the mortgage. It has given Holy Family the freedom to look hard at more outreach to our community and makes us more attractive to a new rector. You took care of the tough stuff!
The joy of serving at the altar with you and Byron and Ted and Bill, offering the Eucharist to our congregation.
Bill Harkins:
Prior to ordination it was necessary that I complete the Anglican Studies Program at the Candler School of Theology at Emory. One component of this program was a season of Postulancy, typically a year or more serving in a local congregation. Rev. Dr. Ted Hackett, whom we all know and love, was the Director of this component of the program. I met with Ted who said to me “You’re already a professor and licensed therapist…I’m not exactly sure where parish ministry will fit in for you, but I’ll send you up to Holy Family.Jerry Zeller can help you figure that out, since he’s always been bi-vocational too.”
This was a profoundly wise and informed decision on Ted’s part, for which I am eternally grateful. Jerry, and Frank Wilson, who was an Associate Priest at the time, were a Godsend.
Holy Family was in its own season of transition as it sought to find its way after a season of challenges. I served during those years as Holy Family moved from the Conference Center to the glorious new sanctuary we now enjoy. After my Postulancy I completed a Diaconate year at St. Jame’s, Marietta, and Jerry invited me to return as a Priest Associate. After two years at Holy Family, I was called to the Cathedral of St. Philip as Canon Associate for Pastoral Care.
Thus, in many ways Holy Family gave birth to my priesthood, and Jerry Zeller became a wise mentor, and eventually a deeply valued friend and colleague. Among the aspects of my time as a Postulant was that Jerry asked me to design a project based, in part, on the needs of the congregation and in light of my own gifts and graces for ministry. The result was the formation of the Lay Pastoral Care Committee, after teaching an Adult Education course. This committee flourishes even now with devoted and compassionate lay leadership from Winship Durrett, Jan Braley, and a host of others. And that brings us to today, where Vicky and I are blessedly, once again, at home. I am so grateful for Jerry, and Ted, and this wonderful parish who in concert with the Holy Spirit in Her mischief led us here, sent us out into the world, and welcomed us back again!
Ted’s recollections:
Liturgy at “Our Lady of the Double-Wide” and was informal to say the least. It was “audience participation”. Mass was a cross between a public town-hall meeting and a Liturgy…but folks seemed to like it. It had the flavor of a new congregation’s enthusiasm for achieving great things….and under Jerry’s tutelage …it was forming its identity as a socially-involved parish with the service undertakings we now take for granted. For instance, a food pantry was housed in the old barn up by the office. Jerry’s next accomplishment was building the church we now have. For me, surprisingly, it was a nice mixture of tradition (sort of Gothic) and contemporary “mountain.” My two main objections to the new church design were the big clear window behind the altar which meant on a sunny day the whole sanctuary became virtually invisible. The other was the Rube Goldberg altar with “wings” like a salad-bar arrangement. Under George, we fixed that. More about the Liturgy later.
After Mary’s departure the calling committee recommended George. He accepted, and a new era began. I acted as a kind of elder counselor cautioning George about some “land mines” he needed not to disturb. The Vergers for instance…even though a parish of the size of H.F. often doesn’t have vergers, Holy Family was devoted to ours.
George and I have lived in a kind of brotherly tension. I nearly always wanted a more Anglo-Catholic ceremonial and George (often, not always) resisted. We compromised for the most part and we got new vestments and hangings, a side oratory, a Holy Water stoop, a lovely Nativity scene and a gorgeous Aumbry and light for the Reserved Sacrament. I think George actually either did like (or came to like) all that stuff. Incense was another matter. Some parishioners found it a bridge too far (people who have never, ever had throat problems cough at the mention of incense. I told a disgruntled parishioner at another parish that at one point and she harumphed and didn’t speak to me for 6 months!). We, nevertheless, got a thurible etc. and used the pot for High Feasts and the Bishop’s visit (Bp. Alexander liked smells and bells). But when our Thurifers moved on we didn’t/ couldn’t recruit more.
That said (with tongue in cheek), George has been a consistently good colleague. He has not been competitive with his clergy associates, has listened and unleashed each of us to “do our thing”. This is, in my estimation, the mark of a good rector who is managing a multi-clergy church. We all have a tendency to control and micro-manage…it is a vulnerability of most clergy. George has it, but much to his credit he kept it in check and took full advantage of what each of us had to offer. The parish is, I think, healthier for it! When I look back on our relationship over the past years I realize that George is not only a good friend, a reliable boss but a fine yoke-fellow in Christ….and a fun friend with whom to have a good drink …Scotch or wine.
We have all been the beneficiaries of one of the great gifts Holy Family has enjoyed during George’s tenure: assisting clergy. The mix of Byron, and me…and especially Deacon Katharine (who handled so much of the pastoral work with empathy, practicality, perseverance and good sense) amounted to at least a full-time staff of two priests. We all had a different set of interests and complemented each other well. It was serendipity. George recognized this, kept us on a long leash and encouraged us. When a new Rector is called I hope something like us can happen again! Bill is perhaps, a good omen.
Which brings me to Liturgy. Before I retire I would like to have incense again (to beat that horse one more time). I loved it for my wonderful 50th anniversary celebration…which I shall cherish for the rest of my life…and hopefully for eternity! George not only encouraged that celebration, but largely organized it. It was a deeply emotional experience for me…so much so that I could not say anything when Bishop Whitmore invited me to. I would have choked up! Thanks (Fr.!) George…for that, for all you have accomplished and for your friendship. Va in paix et profite de la vie, cher ami!
Some of my recollections:
Steve Franzen and I teaching the youth confirmation class in fall of 2017. Got to know of his patience and persistence, which provoked me to seek him to be Sr. Warden. Driving into the church parking lot finding Phil Anderson on his knees- I thought he was praying. He was stenciling the numbers for 6 feet-apart outdoor Covid worship- the numbers corresponded to the assigned spots for reservations folks had made in advance.
Learning how to attend parishioners’ surgeries in the hospitals in greater Atlanta. Leaving Jasper long before dawn to beat the traffic. I got to know Veronica who served the breakfast line at Piedmont Hospital- she was a member of a Roman Catholic parish in southeast ATL- she always called me father and asked if I needed extra hot sauce for my eggs.
Proclaiming early on in my time here that we don’t cancel Church services for snow. Christmas 2012- driving home with Susan after the Christmas eve service with sleet and snow coming down. She was laughing about my snow rule. Got up early, hiked Old Grandview down to Grandview Road in the dark 4.3 miles in 6 inches of snow. Got near Cove Rd. when an SUV pulled up behind me- it was Tom and Jo Tyson. They asked me if I wanted a ride the last few hundred feet to the church driveway- I said through Tom’s open window, “Hell no. I’ve walked this far, not stopping now.” So Jo got out of the car and walked the last few hundred feet through the snow. Do you remember that Jo?
After we got things set for the 9:00 a.m. quiet service, I was standing in the gallery looking at the beauty of the snowfall when a couple hiked up to the door- I opened it and the man said, “Are you having Church- can we join you?” The five of us had one of the most meaningful Christmas day services I can recall.
(They were grandparents of a family who live across Cove Rd. Their daughter regularly walks the dog I got to know as a puppy when she and her sons brought him over in a wagon as a little guy. The sons have gone on and she gets to take care of the dog. We always share a word.)
A few years later snow had fallen, same drill, but was able to drive. 4 men showed up for the service. Palmer Temple, Murray Van Leer, do you remember?
So after all these reminiscences, what’s the point? We clergy folk have been attracted to serving Christ with you.// You attract us- and in turn we gladly work side by side with you in bringing the good news of Jesus to this beautiful area in God’s world. You all are powerhouses that make all our programs thrive.
It must have been that way with the Jesus fellowship. Peter, John, James and the other young men and women were attracted to Jesus, and in turn attracted others to serve Christ with them. This is the domain of God spreading across the globe. I’m so grateful I have gotten to serve Christ alongside you. And whoever rises to the top of the heap in your search process and is called as rector, she or he will very likely feel the same way. Attracted by you to serving Christ alongside you.