Letters from the Rector

Holy Week Lent Christmas Advent

For All Saints' Day & All Souls' Day

A Letter for the Great Feasts

My dear folk,

We are living in one of the most remarkable periods of All Saints' life. We are the heirs of an incredible heritage: architectural, liturgical, musical, theological, and pastoral. Together they make this place what it is and what we love so dearly. Every worshipping community is a special place – a place where God makes himself known in the gathering of those who worship him in spirit and in truth. But All Saints' is a particularly special place. That’s not mere jingoism. Its certainly not that we are the best Christians. We are the recipients of a gift of God's grace (which, as St. Paul reminds us, is "not of works, lest any man should boast"). I am always touched when someone who has moved returns for a visit and tells me with longing in their voice that while they've found a new church to worship in, there's no place like All Saints'.

Due to the incredible generosity of our anonymous donor, we are embarking on a massive and complete restoration of the building. You've heard about this several times before from me, so I won't belabor the point. Suffice it to say that a hundred and twenty years of use has taken its toll on the building and many things now need to be restored such as the roof, the pointing, and the leaded glass. Systems such as the heating, plumbing, and electric are near the end of their useful life. Further there are needs which did not exist when the building was erected: standards for accessibility, restroom facilities, and fire protection have all changed significantly for the better. We are so blessed to be able to address these needs. I am reminded of my days as a Boy Scout. We were always instructed to leave any camp site we used better than we found it. Likewise, my sisters and brothers, we shall be able to hand All Saints' on the future generations better than we found it.

We are currently in the midst of doing our part of supporting this incredible work. We are offering to God our financial gifts in a capital campaign. Our donor has set before us a goal of raising $500,000, which will be matched 3 to 1, to establish a $2 million endowment for capital repair of the restored building. Those who follow us here will not need to fear the ravages of time on the building which we have had to face. Resources will be available to address those building needs as they develop, as they surely will with the passing of years, the effects of weather, and simple wear and tear on systems. As the recipients of such overwhelming generosity from our donor, we certainly must reach that goal.

I have been astounded by the support which has been manifested in gifts and pledges for the capital campaign. Gifts, large and small, have been made. Because of the generosity of those in the parish family as well as friends and supporters beyond, we are well over the $400,000 mark. And I am confident that we shall meet our goal.

So there are two things that I want to say.

To each of you who have pledged or made gift: Thank you. Thank you for taking part in this grand adventure. Thank you for offering up as you have been able from God's provision for you for the glory of his house and the witness to our faith that this parish makes. Thank you for the support and love of this parish which your gift represents.

And I want to say this to those who have not yet felt able to participate in the capital campaign. I hope that you will find a way to be part of this marvelous thing that his happening. I implore you to consider what you might be able to do. That you take part is much more important to me than the amount of any gift or pledge that you are able to make. The circumstances of our lives are very different. Some are able to make a large gift. For others, a dollar that is truly a sacrificial offering may represent far more than a million dollar gift. Remember that Jesus said the poor woman who put her two copper coins in the temple treasury had given more than the wealthy had put in.

It is a bit of challenge for us to keep both perspectives in mind. The goal does matter. And in the aggregate our gifts do need to reach that goal. But the more profound truth is that God looks at each individual's heart and what their gift represents. You might say, his arithmetic is not quite the same as ours.

I invite you – indeed, I beg you – howsoever God has prospered you, join in this great work we are embarking upon. It is my fervent hope that every person who is a part of All Saints' – parishioner or friend of the parish – will be able join in the grand celebration when this project is done, that they may say with justifiable pride, "I have been part of making this happen!"

Yours, in his service,

Michael J. Godderz+

A Letter for Holy Week

My dear folk,

We now enter upon the most holy times of the year; we now hold before ourselves the very most central events in our Lord's life. As God brought His plan for our salvation to fruition, our Lord Jesus literally walked the way of the cross. It is sobering for us to remember that He did that for our sakes. Our sins took the Lord of Glory to the cross. Like the Palm Sunday crowd, it is so easy to cheer on the Messiah at His triumphal entry to the Holy City. That costs us very little. But it is a very different thing to stand with Him when He is betrayed in the Garden, as He is falsely accused before the Sanhedrin and again before Pilate, while He is mocked and beaten by the Roman soldiers, while He bears the judgement of all mankind on the brutal cross suffocating under the weight of His own body. And yet dying with Christ is precisely what every Christian is called to do. As St. Paul wrote to the Church in Rome, "For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his." It is only through being united with our Lord in His death that we participate in His victory.

The wisdom of the Catholic tradition has given us these powerful and dramatic services for Holy Week. They are a tool to help us appropriate for ourselves the great mystery of our salvation. They hold before us the love of God made manifest in the most concrete of ways. They give us the opportunity to reflect on our sins, our willful turning away from God, the waste and devastation which result in our lives. And they give us the chance to renew our devotion to Him, to recapture the joy of our faith. But it is a journey. And we must not seek to avoid the difficult parts of the road. We cannot simply wish ourselves to be at the end, at the empty tomb of Easter. We must walk the way of the cross with our Lord. There is no resurrection without death; there is no Easter victory without Good Friday's cross.

Your place this Holy Week is in church. As a community of faith we will together take this journey. We will pray. We will worship. We will be nourished by His Most Precious Body and Blood. We will marvel at what God has done for us – even while we were yet estranged from Him. And we will seek God's grace that we may follow Him more and more all the days of our lives. Please don't neglect such a wonderful opportunity; please don't let your place be empty.

Yours, in his service,

Michael J. Godderz+

A Lenten Letter

My dear folk,

If we follow the tradition of the church, Lent forces us to confront sin. That's what the self-examination and repentance are all about. But certainly one of the problems we have with sin is that we like it and at the same time we don't like the results, or at least some of the results. We'd ourselves sometimes like the benefits of not having to be truthful. It can certainly be useful to get us out of some rather awkward situations. However, we don't like being lied to and misled. We like the pleasures of the table, but we'd just as soon do without the extra weight or the damage to our health from too much sugar, salt, fat or cholesterol. We value our life and the lives of others we know, yet we seem endlessly fascinated by depictions of imagined or real murder. The body count on a typical evening of TV is astounding – and you can bet they aren't broadcasting all those reruns of CSI and NCIS because they get poor ratings.

Simone Weil observed "Imaginary evil is romantic and varied; real evil is gloomy, monotonous, barren, boring. Imaginary good is boring; real good is always new, marvelous, intoxicating." That rather gets to the heart of it: for evil is fundamentally a great lie. What we imagine will fulfill us, make us happy, in actuality diminishes us, leaves us unfulfilled. Evil and sin present themselves in borrowed finery, and only after paying the price of admission do we discover the fraud when it is too late.

In the exercise of my priesthood, I have had considerable opportunity to counsel with people as they struggle with sin in their lives. My experience tells me that one of the biggest problems we have in confronting sin is that we take it both too seriously and too lightly. We think on some level that it's really not so bad after all; and at the same time we think that sin is something so awful that we couldn't really be guilty of doing it. "It isn't wrong; I didn't do it; and even if I did, it wasn't really so bad after all." On the one hand we minimize sin, on the other we engage in denial to avoid admitting its presence in our lives.

What we need to do is to get realistic, to adopt an almost clinical view of sin and evil: Stop this romantic, high-drama imagining of sin as being so endlessly appealing (and I'm not talking about giving up murder mysteries or movies). Instead, we need to recognize sin for what it is. One must first have a diagnosis before there is hope of a cure.

And so the ancient call for self-examination and repentance – a call that is made more specific and more intense each year in Lent. We are to look at our own lives with a clear, objective, and truthful eye. It is not enough simply to feel vaguely uncomfortable that "we have left undone those things which we ought to have done and we have done those things which we ought not to have done." We then need to act on what we see: Repent of the sin we find there. Renew our efforts at avoiding sin – and the occasions for that sin (an alcoholic just trying to get sober isn't really being very smart if they spend every night sitting at a bar, and is rather unlikely to be successful as well). Make use of the means of grace which God provides to sustain us and strengthen us: having recourse to him in prayer, feeding our souls through the Sacrament of the Altar, being freed from our sin through Confession, shaping our mind through the reading and meditation on his Holy Word.

The Church invites us to the keeping of a Holy Lent. Will we accept that invitation? Will we make profitable use of this time to renew our devotion, to restore our relationship with God, to offer ourselves once again for his service and his purposes? Or will we be content simply to drift along in the comfortable, accustomed ways?

Yours, in his service,

Michael J. Godderz+

A Christmas Letter

My dear folk,

Last month as I returned from a meeting at Nashotah House Theological Seminary, I had several hours to kill before catching my flight. I filled that empty time by going to the Milwaukee Art Museum for a quick look at their collection. There were two things I saw that I want to share with you.

On the wall of the first room I entered was a beautiful 17th century ivory body of Jesus that would have hung on a crucifix. It was delicately carved, a powerful and moving image of our Lord Jesus on the cross. But what really struck me was the text on the display card for the piece. It said: "The image of the crucified Christ as a symbol of redemption has been one of the most venerable subjects in the history of art." A symbol of redemption. Now my understanding of theology and church history leads me to the unavoidable conclusion that the death of Jesus on the cross is not a symbolic representation of redemption, but instead the very means by which that redemption was accomplished. A symbol and the thing symbolized are two different things. The ring that is given in the service of Holy Matrimony is to be a "symbol of my vow"; those words are said by each person as they give the ring to the other. But only a fool would confuse that little piece of metal with the astounding promise to love and to cherish this other person in every conceivable circumstance – for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and health.

As I wandered further, I found in the center of another gallery a flamboyant Gothic monstrance. It was over three feet high, with elaborate and delicately-wrought silver work – an amazing example of artistic skill. Again, it was the text that accompanied the exhibit that got me: "the Monstrance is used to house and display the consecrated host, representing the body of Christ, during the celebration of the Mass." That's impressive: two fundamental errors in so few words, backed up by the implicit authority of museum expertise.

Of course, a monstrance is not used in the Mass, but rather in the service of Benediction or for Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament. But even more egregious, Catholic Christians don't believe that the consecrated host represents the Body of Christ – we believe it is the Body of Christ. That's what we mean by the Real Presence. Roman Catholic theology defines that presence even more precisely in the doctrine of Transubstantiation, whereby the substance (the essence) of the bread and wine become the real and true Body and Blood of Jesus, while the accidents (the secondary characteristics such as color and taste) remain. It is common to dismiss that distinction as an outmoded vestige of medieval philosophy: I would suggest that those who so cavalierly reject the distinction between substance and accidents are naive and patronizing in their rejection: let me just observe that the black Ford Fusion that I bought is surely no less a Fusion because I didn't buy the red one that the salesman was urging on me.

It is many Protestant Christians who reject the real presence of Jesus in the Sacrament. They don't make Monstrances for their churches nor do they do Benediction. In other words, the monstrance was made precisely because of and for those who believed that the consecrated host it contained was in fact the Body of Jesus, not just a symbolic representation of him. And that's a pretty important and basic distinction, to judge by all the ink which was spilled over it during the Reformation and Counter-Reformation debates and through our present day. One is a sacramental vision of life, the other a symbolic. And Christianity is a sacramental religion.

The child whose birth we celebrate this Christmas was not a symbol of God's love for mankind. He did not represent the divine presence with us. Jesus is God, the eternal Word in human flesh. These are not an arbitrary correlations, the way that colors can have different associations in different cultures. We see particularly in our own day a profound discomfort with the reality of God and his works. Frequently they are the target of unbelief and derision. We seem to cringe at the very suggestion of such objective realities. That God is living and real. That Jesus was God incarnate. That the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar is in fact the real and true Body and Blood of Jesus. Even our museums, repositories of art and culture, seem uncomfortable with simply recording what was believed when it relates to those matters: that Christians believed Christ's death brought about their redemption, that they believed him truly present in the consecrated host and worshipped him. So much safer to hold it all at arm's length: they were symbols, representations, not the thing itself.

But in the Church we see things very differently, ever so much clearer, I'd w ould submit. When we raise our voices – as we shall on Christmas Eve – to sing the words "Veiled in flesh the God-head see; hail the incarnate deity, pleased as man with man to dwell, Jesus, our Emanuel," we mean precisely what those words say. We don't mean he represents those things. We mean that he is the incarnate God. We mean that he has come to our human race. One of my favorite poems puts it ever so succinctly. Giving voice to Simeon, W.H. Auden writes of Jesus: "of this Child it is the case that He is in no sense a symbol."

We come this Christmas Eve to worship God – the God who himself has come to be with us.

Yours, in his service,

Michael J. Godderz+

An Advent Letter

My dear folk,

Advent is complex season. It is both prospective and retrospective. And as we travel through the season, the emphasis gradually shifts from one perspective to the other. We begin by looking forward to the return of our Lord Jesus, his second coming, when, as the creed tells us, he shall come 'to judge both the quick and the dead.' This is the prospect which is at once ominous and yet longed-for. Jesus will return to judge the world and to vindicate those whom he has saved. As we come closer to Christmas the emphasis shifts to our Lord's first coming, his birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Bethlehem's stable some two thousand years ago. That which was promised so long, what was foretold by the holy prophets, now has come to pass. God's Messiah has come to his people!

I love the hymns of Advent. This short season – with its mere eleven hymns in the hymnal – is a treasure: hymns that are majestic, stately, evocative, where poetry of great beauty gives voice to profound theology. A mongst them you will find a number of my favorites:

            Come, thou long expected Jesus
            Wake, awake, for night is flying
            Rejoice, rejoice, believers!
            Lo! he comes with clouds descending
            On Jordan's bank the Baptist's cry
            The king shall come when morning dawns
            Hark! a thrilling voice is sounding

Yet there is one that has captured me, without which Advent just isn't Advent. It is perhaps the simplest of them that speaks most profoundly to me: O come, O come, Emmanuel. There is something disarmingly haunting about the somber plainsong to which we sing it. It is the plaintive cry to God of his people.

Perhaps the sentiment of those words is even deeper, more universal, than just the cry of God's covenant people. I would suggest to you that this same feeling lies at the heart of the religious experience of mankind, this pleading for God to come be with us. In one way or another, it seems always to be the cry of our human race.

We so desperately want not to be alone, not to be cut off or isolated or estranged. Ever since our first parents were cast forth from the garden, we have longed to have that ruptured relationship restored. We hear it in the voice of the prophets of the Old Covenant longing for the Messiah's appearance, through the long years of hope, and exile, and foreign domination. We find it again and again until the end of time as the Church of the New Covenant awaits the return of her Lord – as we l ive through the mean time, a pilgrim people in route to the city of God.

How we long for the fulfillment that God brings to our lives. Or perhaps better, we realize on some level how much we need that relationship with God, for without it our lives seem to lack meaning. Like smoke or shadows, our lives without God are thin and lacking in substance. Without that divine connection, a vital piece is missing. We may not even be able to name it, but something isn't quite right. And so we spend our time trying to find ways to satisfy that sense of lack. Perhaps if we just own the right things – the bigger house, the more luxurious car, the newest gadget – perhaps then we'll feel fulfilled. Some try to fill the void with overindulgence in food or drink. Some seek to find their meaning in others, whether in sensuality or more positively in selfless service. Others may adopt an easy, world-weary cynicism, or allow their entire outlook to be shaped by a smoldering anger deep within. How truly did St. Augustine learn from the experience of his own life: as he wrote in his Confessions, "Our hearts are restless until they find their rest in thee." Only in God is that true rest to be found; all the other places where we seek that rest fundamentally fail to satisfy us.

O come, O come, Emmanuel . . .

Yours, in his service,

Michael J. Godderz+

A Letter for All Saints' Day & All Souls' Day

My dear folk,

There is wonderful news regarding the work which is needed on All Saints' hundred and twenty year old building: I am delighted to be able to tell you that we have received written confirmation of the Foundation's intent to help us with the work of restoration and historic preservation. This venerable and glorious building is not only a house of prayer and the home of our vital congregational life, it is a treasure of great architectural significance, being Ralph Adams Cram's first church and the prototype of the Modern Gothic movement. The work of restoration will be carried out with due regard for both of those roles.

Through the Historic Structure Report begun two years ago, the building has been thoroughly examined, exterior and interior, its structure, finishes, and systems. The architects have given us a treasure trove of information and – more to the point – specific recommendations for the repair, restoration, and replacement of those elements which have been affected by the passage of time, New England weather, and the use of an active parish.

We, of course, knew that there was significant work that needed to be done. Over the past years we have seen the increasing evidence of water intrusion in the pealing paint and spalling stone in the nave. We are now in the most happy situation of being able to address not only the critical issues of which we have been aware, but to be able to do a thorough and accurate restoration which will also involve improvements required by modern building codes for accessibility and safety. In short, All Saints' will be prepared for its next century of service. The Foundation also wants to help us preserve the restored building going forward, establishing a restricted endowment for the capital repair of the building.

We will need to do our part, something which I have said with boring predictability whenever I have spoken to the parish about our building needs and our hopes to be able to address them. It is no less true for the repetition. The generosity of our donor is breathtaking – like nothing since the Peabodys – but we dare not presume on that generosity and sit idly by. Indeed, we may not, for the challenge which the Foundation has established for All Saints' part in this grand project is the raising of $500,000. Planning for a capital campaign has also been proceeding this summer as well. More on that to come!

While the Foundation wishes to remain anonymous, we should not neglect to give God thanks for the generous support they are giving us – as, indeed, we should remember all our benefactors, both large and small.

Some time ago I had shared orally the good news that the Foundation would help us with the restoration, but the processes of bureaucracies can sometimes run slowly and I did not feel that it was appropriate to put things in writing until we had received the grant letter. That intervening time has not been idle, for we have aggressively continued work on the next steps throughout the late spring and summer months. The firm of John G. Waite continues as our architects; they have been busy with the next stage of design development. After interviewing three firms, we have selected Consigli to be our construction manager. They have an impressive track record with historic preservation work, including such places as Trinity Church and Old South Church, both in Copley Square. Consultants for specialized areas such heating, plumbing, structural engineering, and code compliance have been selected and some have begun their work. You may have noticed evidence of that in the surveyor's marks on sidewalks and in the parking lot.

In the meantime, you will soon see the first work begin. In late October and early November there will be work done on some areas of the roof as well as some "probes" to allow the architects to learn exact construction details and current conditions. The current roofs over the Lady Chapel, the side aisles, and at the junction of the nave and the tower will be removed and replaced with a rubber roofing product. Slate and metal roofing will be restored in these areas later in the project. Installing this temporary roofing now will prevent further water intrusion this winter through these particularly compromised areas as well as provide the appropriate foundation for erecting scaffolding as the project continues. Many of the probes will not be generally visible, though I expect most will notice the examination of the top of the masonry in one of the Parish House's piers.

I realize that this letter is rather short on details and that there are probably many questions which you have. Unfortunately there are not many details to share at this point. Rest assured that we look forward bringing much more information about the restoration to the parish as it becomes available.

These next several years are going to be a very exciting time in the life of All Saints'. And that is wonderful to anticipate. But they will have their challenges as well: undoubtedly there will be some disruption as work is done in various areas. We will need to have a certain amount of flexibility and good humor. We need to keep our eyes on the goal – and a magnificent goal it is! All Saints' – sound to the furies of New England weather, the glory of its fabric restored, with efficient heating, modern restrooms, an elevator and improved handicap accessibility. All Saints' – renewed and ready for further service!

Yours, in his service,

Michael J. Godderz+

A Letter for Michaelmas

My dear folk,

These next several years are going to be a very exciting time in the life of All S aints'. And that is wonderful to anticipate. But they will have their challenges as well: undoubtedly there will be some disruption as work is done in various areas. We will need to have a certain amount of flexibility and good humor. We need to keep our eyes on the goal – and a magnificent goal it is! All Saints' – sound to the furies of New England weather, the glory of its fabric restored, with efficient heating, modern restrooms, an elevator and improved handicap accessibility. All Saints' – renewed and ready for further service!

Yours, in his service,

Michael J. Godderz+

Home All Saints Clergy Choir/Music News/Events Services Directions Tour