Called to Friendship

A sermon for the Installation and Induction of the Rev. James Yazell as Rector of St. James’ Episcopal Church, Shreveport, La.

June 2, 2022

“We have come together today to welcome the Rev. James Yazell, who has been chosen to serve as Rector.” Your warden said those words earlier. Maybe they sounded funny to you. They probably should have. What has Fr. James been if not your rector these past years? 

There is an unusual air to this festive and joyous occasion. Normally this rite would be celebrated at the beginning of one’s time as rector, but due to circumstances we all know so well, we are gathered three years into Fr. James’ and Kelsey’s time among you to, as it were, officially say welcome. We have gathered to celebrate with much joy and gladness your ministry together, and to give thanks that Fr. James and Kelsey have been brought to this community of faith. 

Perhaps celebrating this occasion three years in is not such a bad idea. In my experience, I have observed that while the installation and induction of a new rector is a moment of joy, it can also carry some anxiety. The congregation is at the beginning of a new season, and they may not know the new rector well, if at all. There are “what-ifs” hanging in the air, “I wonders” floating about in our minds. What will this rector be like? Can we trust them? Will they help us heal? Will they hurt us more? But three years in, I trust you do not carry those anxieties, those “what-ifs”, those “I wonders.” (If you do, it’s time to let them go.) You know Fr. James and Kelsey, and they know you. You have come to trust one another. And God has been at work already, working through Fr. James, through Kelsey, and through each one of you, to bring about good things. Over the last three years, even during a most trying and difficult season, you all have grown in love and in friendship. And that’s what I want to focus on this evening: love and friendship. 

Tonight’s gospel comes from the Last Supper, just before Jesus is arrested and crucified. In his parting words, he tells his disciples and us to love one another as he has loved us, and he invites them and us into friendship with him. “I do not call you servants any longer,” Jesus says. “I have called you friends.” 

But what does it mean to be a friend? We tend to over-sentimentalize love and friendship in our society. We equate them with emotions, something fickle and fleeting, something we fall into and out of. But for Jesus, love and friendship are deeper. They are rooted in a real intimacy of being known. Love and friendship involve sacrifice, laying down our lives for the other, being willing to give all, to show up no matter the cost. 

The very word “friend” in English has roots that connect it to “love” and “free.” To be a friend, then, means to love freely, without coercion or condition, and to love in a way that is real and stable and even sacrificial. Jesus himself connects the two: he says he loves the disciples and he calls them friends. Thomas Aquinas, a medieval theologian, says charity, or love, is friendship, not only among us here, but also friendship of humankind with God, in response to the love that God has poured out for us already. God loves us freely and fully, and when we love God in return freely and as fully as we can in this life, we have friendship with God. Our other friendships in this life point to the desire for this deeper friendship with God, for this friendship with God is what we were made for. As St. Augustine of Hippo put it, “our hearts are restless until they rest in God.” Rest in God’s love; rest in God’s friendship. 

As with our friendships in this life, we must grow in our friendship with God. It takes time and work. While God loves us fully and freely from the start, we have to learn to love God more and more. With the help of the Holy Spirit, those things that seek to separate us from God are renounced and purged from our lives. And our intimacy with Christ grows. 

This is where your priest comes in. God has given you Fr. James as a friend, but not as just any old ordinary friend. He has been called among you, as one spiritual writer put it, to be a soul friend. Sure, he will share in those other friendship things–potlucks, barbeques, game nights, social occasions. But God has brought him here to be a spiritual friend to you, so that you all, together, may grow more and more, day by day, into friendship with Christ himself. 

I know from personal experience, and perhaps you do, too, that Fr. James is good at this soul friend business. In seminary, we walked to the School of Theology, along with Fr. Garrett of Holy Cross, regularly. I remember one such occasion. We were nearly to chapel, and I mentioned that I am not great at silent meditative prayer. “It’s just not for me,” I must have said.

I suppose there are any number of things Fr. James could have said. And I don’t remember his exact words. But he said something like, “Mark, that’s just an excuse–and you know it. You need to practice silent prayer more.” Ouch. But he was right. I was using the “I’m not good at it” excuse to justify a period of time when my prayer life had grown lax. But Fr. James redirected my attention. Through his own example of prayer and through his encouraging if blunt words, spoken with surgical precision, he turned me around again to see Christ reaching out for me, calling me to deeper friendship with him. That’s what a priest is meant to do. That’s what it means for your priest to be your soul friend. 

We need good soul friends now more than ever. The Church, now more than ever, needs priests like Fr. James who know how to be soul friends, how to direct the people in their charge through the changes and chances in this life and lead them to Jesus. 

Our world today, as ever, is opposed to the soul friend, because our world today, as ever, is opposed to our Lord and Savior. Just look around. The principalities and powers of this world are doing their very worst. The false gods of this world seek to exercise their dominion: The false gods of violence, power, war, politics, wealth, of all those -isms that are an ever present threat. These false gods give false  promises, enticing us to put our trust and hope in them. In the end, however, we see where those false promises lead: they lead to carnage in school classrooms and at a doctor’s office in Tulsa; to hungry children and seniors who cannot afford their medication; to homeless sleeping on the streets; to addiction and abuse; to rows and rows of white headstones marked with the names of the fallen; to hatred, hopelessness, and agony. 

The principalities and powers of the world promise everything but give nothing. They take their pound of flesh and push us headlong into the abyss of despair. They demand a sacrifice – us – to the god of death. 

“For the wages of sin is death,” so says St. Paul. But he doesn’t stop there. “But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” We are in this world as sheep among wolves. While the gods of this world seek to impose their will, the soul friend points us to another. They redirect our attention. They remind us that Jesus is standing right there, reaching out for us, desiring our friendship. 

The gods of this world demand a sacrifice; but Christ sacrifices himself for us. 

The gods of this world seek to take their pound of flesh; Christ says this is my body, this my blood, given for you. 

The gods of this world serve death; Christ says I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life–life here and now, life forevermore. And the Lord of Life gives us his love and friendship–freely. 

The job of your priest, your soul friend, is above all to point the way to Christ, even through the gloom and despair of this world. To show us the way to Christ. To show us that Christ is our only real and lasting hope, and he desires to be our friend. 

It is customary for sermons at installations and inductions to include a charge–marching orders for going forward. I hope it is not too presumptuous of me to follow that custom. First, I want to give a charge to you, the people of St. James. Let Fr. James be your priest. Let him be your soul friend, directing you to deeper friendship with Christ, for you were made for such friendship. Let Fr. James love you and challenge you when you need to be challenged. Let him say that direct and seering and purging word that may hurt for a moment, but its truth will turn your soul back to Christ. And when he falls (for he is human), don’t kick him while he’s down. No, forgive him and lift him up. Finally, love him and Kelsey. They are, rightly, laying down their lives for you. Lay down your lives for them, because that’s what love means. The vocation of priest and priest spouse can be isolating and difficult at times. Don’t forget that. And do not neglect to shower them with love and show them you appreciate them. They need it.

And now, to my friend, Fr. James. Love your people. Do not be like that hired hand who runs away at the sign of danger, and there are many signs of danger. But be a shepherd, pointing them ever to Christ, even in the midst of danger. Show them, by your life, what it means to fall deeper and deeper in love and friendship with God. And no, you are not worthy for God to come under your roof and to serve at God’s Altar. But God has called you to that very ministry, nonetheless. You will fall down sometimes. But get up, and in your rising, show what it means to return to the Father again. Proclaim the word and faithfully administer the sacraments, through which we receive grace upon grace; be an obedient servant of the people and the Lord; a pastor, priest, and teacher; a man of prayer; a healer and reconciler; a minister and channel of God’s abundance and blessing. 

There are many duties that come with being a rector. You have already been fulfilling these well. There are things that can consume our time and take us from those foundational elements of our calling. Don’t let them. In everything you do, do not forget your principal duties, the highest delights of our vocation. Before anything else, be a soul friend to these wonderful and holy people that God has put on your path. And keep falling in love with them and with Jesus.