Not preaching from the pulpit - what?

LordSutch

Any fellow Christians notice a trend amongst some clergy to preach their sermon from anywhere (except the pulpit) :cool:

What's that about? This may very well be an Anglican only observation/question?

uck51js9zml2yt

IN 30 years of preaching,I've never preached from a pulpit:)

LordSutch

Pray tell why?

I'm guessing your Church doesn't have one :-)

uck51js9zml2yt

LordSutch wrote: »

Pray tell why?

I'm guessing your Church doesn't have one :-)

Not much room for them in houses :D

Though as I've moved around the world and preached in local churches I've not used them there either.
Why do people want to hide behind a pulpit when preaching?

homer911

Our Pulpit (Presbyterian) had grown out of use, with the sermon being delivered from the lectern. Nobody (almost) thought twice about it until someone brought up the matter in the church newsletter - we are back to using the pulpit!

Our lectern was chest high, our Pulpit is raised and only waist high!

Jellybaby1

Its only rarely I see a sermon delivered from a pulpit. The last time I saw it, it was in a Presbyterian Church. It was a great sermon, by the way! I travelled specially to hear the preacher.

LordSutch

I like pulpits, and I like the way they were designed (elevated) so that the preacher could be heard & seen down the back of the Church. I have no time for all this politically correct "carry on" about not preaching at/or down to the congregation, for fear 'heavens forbid' that we might be offended (because we are been spoken down to) :rolleyes:

Thankfully our own Rector is back from his Summer hols next Sunday, so normal service (pulpit included) will be resumed. The visiting clergy was with us for two Sundays and would wander all over the place while delivering the sermon.

Deep breath, rant over, & inhale ......

uck51js9zml2yt

LordSutch wrote: »

I like pulpits, and I like the way they were designed (elevated) so that the preacher could be heard & seen down the back of the Church. I have no time for all this politically correct "carry on" about not preaching at/or down to the congregation, for fear 'heavens forbid' that we might be offended (because we are been spoken down to) :rolleyes:

Thankfully our own Rector is back from his Summer hols next Sunday, so normal service (pulpit included) will be resumed. The visiting clergy was with us for two Sundays and would wander all over the place while delivering the sermon.

Deep breath, rant over, & inhale ......

Why is it all down to the rector?
Whatever happened to the church functioning like it should and everyone having a Psalm, a hymn, a teaching.....etc?

Peregrinus

The pulpit was an architectural feature intended to make a speaker audible. For that reason it's raised up, it often has a canopy overhead which is not purely decorative but acts to reflect the preacher's voice, and it's usually located close to or in the nave of the church. The larger the church, the further the pulpit tends to be from the altar. It's separate from the lectern/ambo, from which the scriptures are proclaimed, which tends to be in the sanctuary/chancel.

With the development of amplification, the practical need for a pulpit has diminished. The Catholic tradition, at any rate, was always a bit uncomfortable about having a separate, and larger, platform for preaching than for proclaiming the scriptures, since the symbolism seems a bit off. Modern church buildings are now usually erected without a separate pulpit, with the scriptures being proclaimed, and the homily being delivered, from the ambo. Older churches still have pulpits, but often they are not much used. From LordSutch's post, there seems to be a similar trend in Anglicanism.

LordSutch

....homily being delivered, from the ambo.

What's an ambo?

Peregrinus

LordSutch wrote: »

....homily being delivered, from the ambo.

What's an ambo?

A lectern, but permanent; a fixture; not moveable.

Ambo:


Generally the ambo is smaller than the pulpit, and it's in the sanctuary, whereas the pulpit is in the nave, or at the point where the sanctuary meets the nave.

Pulpit:


And, for completeness -

Lectern:

LordSutch

Lectern, ah yes we all know what the lectern is, but 'ambo' was s new one on me :-)

Like your pulpit pic ...
Ours is made from white stone.

Peregrinus

LordSutch wrote: »

Lectern, ah yes we all know what the lectern is, but 'ambo' was s new one on me :-)

Like your pulpit pic ...
Ours is made from white stone.

Bit like this?



That one, perhaps fortunately, was never constructed. But I'm sure yours is just as impressive.

CelticRambler

Peregrinus wrote: »

The Catholic tradition, at any rate, was always a bit uncomfortable about having a separate, and larger, platform for preaching than for proclaiming the scriptures, since the symbolism seems a bit off.

... preferring instead the symbolism of a disembodied voice dispensing wisdom to the faithful. :pac:

As a Catholic, practising mostly amongst the easily distracted in France, constantly whispering and shifting on their creaky 13th century pews, I frequently find myself thinking "for God's sake, would you climb up into the pulpit where we can see you?" At least then it might be possible to lip-read the sermon ... :mad:

Nick Park

I must confess that I'm one of those preachers who likes to go walkabout during the sermon. For some traditions, a sermon is not just the delivery of a prepared text, but is a two-way process that invites participation from the congregation. Making frequent eye contact is part of this process.

As Peregrinus has pointed out, modern amplification has superseded one of the pulpit's main purposes - to provide the right acoustics for everyone to hear the Word.

The placement of the pulpit often speaks to the theological priorities of a church. For example, in traditions where the preaching of the word is viewed as the main focus of a church service, the pulpit tends to be up front and central. In other traditions the pulpit is often tucked away to the side.

Nick Park

Note the placement of the pulpit in the Metropolitan Tabernacle in London, where the Baptist preacher C.H.Spurgeon used to deliver his sermons. Everything in the architecture draws the eye to the pulpit which is at the front and central.

LordSutch

Nick Park wrote: »

As Peregrinus has pointed out, modern amplification has superseded one of the pulpit's main purposes - to provide the right acoustics for everyone to hear the Word.

Thanks for your reply: Thing is, my elderly parents and their friends would argue "where is he" I can't see him/her, can you? Why doesn't he use the pulpit where everybody can see him!

That's the kind of argument I've heard a lot in recent times. I do get the whole 'getting down with the congregation' and interjecting with them, but that may not suit everyone, specially tho old traditionalists down the back, hard of hearing and visually impaired, who can only make out the silhouette of an empty pulpit!

Peregrinus

Yup. In church architecture you can focus on the altar, or you can focus on the pulpit, or you can try to get some kind of dynamic tension between the two of them, and the choice is going to be heavily influenced by the theological/liturgical tradition within which you're working (and to some extent by contemporary fashions within that tradition). As Nick notes, the Reformation gave rise to some protestant traditions which place a central emphasis on preaching, and this resulted not only in a central placement for the pulpit, but in increasingly assertive pulpit structures, as in this nineteenth-century Presbyterian church, where the pulpit is massively wide, and incorporates a seating area for several ministers and an overhead choir gallery. The table in front, presumably used for celebrating communion, is low-key by comparison.



The Catholic tradition, of course, preferred to keep a focus on the altar, but the Counter-Reformation - there's a bit of a clue in the name - was not shy about taking lessons from Protestants and also drawing increase attention to the pulpit. A common technique was to keep the altar on the central axis, but to highlight the pulpit through riotous decoration and lashings of gold leaf:



Donald Trump would have been proud! :-)

LordSutch

Thanks Peregrinus, Some of you pulpit pictures are quite amazing, but nothing like our traditional C of I pulpits which are much more low key, but always elevated.

hinault

Novus Ordo Mass, the priest delivers their homily from what is a lectern.

Traditional Latin Mass, the priest delivers their homily from the pulpit.
The pulpit is usually located in the nave of the church building away from the altar. It is also located above the congregation.

Thinkingaboutit

Given that for a good number of years I only fulfill my Sunday obligation with the Mass of Ages, the homily is delivered from the pulpit only. It is traditional, correct and right. Given fifty years of near empty often seminaries, places of heresy and sexual predation (Maynooth, where now the Archbishop of Dublin no longer sends seminarians, but other Irish bishops see no issue with a Grindr using element, which isn't surprising given how some don't appear to believe in hell or other dogmatic basics), fifty years of Conciliar decline, compared to over subscribed tradition Catholic seminaries, this can only be the future.