High Church--Low Church (part 4)

 Second Wednesday of Advent

One thing I learned in college from a senior while I was a freshman is that professors like detail. When you write a paper or when you take an essay exam, write in a much detail as possible. From their Ph.D. dissertations through their publications in scholarly journals, professors are accustomed to thorough research and detailed writing. When I became a professor, this all became more and more evident to me. I had one student who was always the first to finish--by far. 50 minutes for 2 essay questions and she would leave in 10 to 15 minutes, while most of the other students went until the bell rang. When she didn't get an A, she would say to me, "Everything I wrote was correct." My standard retort was to say, "But there is so much more you didn't write about," and then show here all the things that she should have gone deeper on. 

All of this is to say that this blog series on High Church--Low Church is going into more detail than I first imagined. We're in part 4 and we haven't even gotten to the worship service. I'm a detail person. I'm not a perfectionist, but I do like to go into detail. This blog series  For High Church pastors every detail is important and meaningful. 

Today I want to talk a little more about pulpits. The size and location of the pulpit carries more message than we tend to realize. High Church--Low Church is much about the liturgy vis-a-vis the sermon. Which is more important. For high church its the liturgy; for low church, the sermon. Center pulpits are low church. Their location shows that the preacher is the most important person and the sermon is the most important thing. The larger the pulpit; the more important the preacher appears to the congregation. My theory, which I cannot prove, is that bigger pulpits make for longer sermons.

In divided chancel churches, it's not the size of the pulpit, its the height of the pulpit. The higher the pulpit; the more important the sermon. In my last church the pulpit was stratospheric. Sometimes I felt like I would get a nosebleed standing so high above the congregation. That pulpit was high but small. It also wrapped around the preacher with a narrow open space at the back for the pastor to climb down. I like to move around. I like to gesticulate. Once at a high pulpit at the Hiwassee College in Tennessee, I fell off the back in the midst of a sermon. Fortunately there were rails with the steps. I grabbed one, righted myself, and popped back up into the pulpit only to gaze at the astonished faces of the congregation. After the service no one commented on the sermon, but they all asked if I was okay.

The strangest pulpit I've ever preached from is that of Christ UMC Greensboro. It's a high pulpit with a rather grotesque mid-twentieth  century modern permanent canopy over it. Canopy is not church word. I suspect that Episcopalians have a church word for it. The canopy is white with wood colored borders and is slanted upward. It has two lights that shine done upon pulpit and preacher. It all looks lite an enormous bat ray, the two lights being the two eyes of the bat ray.  The huge size of  it draws your eyes. It makers the preacher and the liturgist and lector look small. 

For me the best pulpits are on the side, perhaps just slightly larger than the lectern, which should be on the other side. In the middle should be a communion table. Behind the table and the divided chancel choir against the wall should be a high altar with a cross upon it or behind it. 

Next time we'll talk about the chancel.

Faithfully,

Christian