A pulpit generally looks just fine-when it’s seen from the pew.
Commanding center stage-except in a divided chancel-it can be quite impressive. It’s the main focus of attention, a kind of Mount Sinai, from which a preacher hands down divine pronouncements every Sunday.
Maybe that’s why so many floral arrangements find their way to the front and sides of the pulpit. Flowers make Mount Sinai seem a little softer and friendlier.
A pulpit is so awesome, some call it a “sacred desk”-a strange name really, because no one ever preaches from a desk or writes at a pulpit.
But if you think a pulpit looks awesome from the front, you should see it from the back-the view the preacher and choir get. If the front of a pulpit resembles Mount Sinai, the back resembles the valley of Hinnom-Jerusalem’s garbage dump.
You just can’t imagine what’s buried under the “sacred desk.” An inventory would likely include an earring, keys to a Chevy Corvair, a copy of last year’s Christmas program, half a glass of water- long since dried out-left by an evangelist two years ago, a copy of the annual budget, a dozen Mother’s Day bookmarks, a broken Christmas tree ornament,
and umpteen hand-written notes that missed the bulletin and had to be read from the pulpit:
“Thanks for the flowers and prayers . . .”
“The Women’s Missionary Fellowship meeting has been postponed . . .”
“Remember to bring your favorite dessert . . .”
“Please pick up your teen at 8 A.M., after the allnight lock-in . . .”
“Workers are still needed for VBS . . .”
Why, an archaeologist could almost reconstruct the church’s history from digging into the back of the pulpit.
Perhaps it’s good that the pulpit has two sides. The front inspires worshipers; the back keeps the preacher in touch. After all, the world, like the back of a pulpit, is full of discards-lost souls, broken relationships, neglected responsibilities, forgotten messages, and unclaimed opportunities. If a preacher’s pulpit were empty, maybe his sermons would be too.
So if the janitor and the spring cleanup volunteers forget to do the back of the pulpit, maybe they’re fulfilling part of some great, eternal plan.
-Jim Dyet
Schaumburg, Illinois
Copyright © 1992 by the author or Christianity Today/Leadership Journal. Click here for reprint information on Leadership Journal.
