The Prow

There are a few memories I still carry of a trip some twenty years ago to the land of Vermont and New Hampshire.  One is a Bed and Breakfast tucked away in the middle of nowhere.  The second is a lobster bisque at a hole in the wall cafe suggested by a local.  And while there are certainly other things to remember, the one which came to mind again a few Sundays ago was a New England church, ancient, stark white, and stately on the edge of a town whose name I have forgotten.  Since I am preacher to the core, no one should be surprised that a church is stored away as one of the "most memorable."   

Actually, what is remembered about the church is the pulpit.  It was the thing which captivated my attention and called out to be seen by anyone who entered the sanctuary.  It was indeed high and lifted up.  Heaven could not have been more than a step or two away.  I could not help myself.  The preacher in me had to stand in that pulpit.  I was compelled to view the holy room from the place where the Word of God was proclaimed.  I made it to the top of those stairs and stood there for a few moments in silent awe and reverence.   

I remember remembering then Herman Melville's famous words from "Moby Dick."  "The pulpit is ever this earth's foremost part; all the rest comes in its rear; the pulpit leads the world...Yes, the world's a ship on its passage out, and not a voyage complete; and the pulpit is its prow."  What stirred the dormant memory was being in church not too long ago where a tall pulpit rose toward heaven calling for a preacher to stand and preach from it, only to have the preacher read the Word and step down to the altar to preach the sermon.  What a waste.  What a waste of a place of holy power.  It happens too often.  Why do preachers shun the pulpit?  Is it a fear of standing in such a holy place with a watered down word, or is it a way of bowing down to the god of accommodating a culture which cries out "Come, stand among us and be like us?"