What Happened to the Pulpit?

Blow a trumpet in Zion… For the day of the Lord is coming; it is near. (Joel 2:1)

In his novel Moby Dick, Herman Melville devotes three chapters to describing a church service at Whaleman’s Chapel in New Bedford, Massachusetts. Ishmael, the main character, is looking for divine reassurance before he sets out to sea on the whaling ship Pequod with Captain Ahab. He quietly enters the chapel and slips into a pew near the door. Father Mapple climbs the ladder into the pulpit and preaches a thunderous sermon on Jonah, the disobedient prophet, describing in vivid detail sin, judgment, repentance, and deliverance. It isn’t just the sermon that impresses young Ishmael, but the shape of the pulpit itself. It resembles the prow of a ship! Melville makes sure the symbolism is not lost on his readers.

What could be more full of meaning? – for the pulpit is ever this earth’s foremost part; all the rest comes in the 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. 

It seems that pulpits have gone out of fashion in the contemporary church. Have you noticed? It wasn’t long ago when the pulpit was the most prominent piece of furniture in the sanctuary. Typically, it was large, ornate, elevated, and difficult to move. Today, we have Worship Centers (not sanctuaries) with a platform where the most conspicuous piece of “furniture” is the drum set. Most churches opt for a low-profile lectern, table, or even a music stand for the preacher to use as he speaks. My, how times have changed. 

In this blog, it is not my intent to debate church architecture or the style of furniture that is best suited to support a preacher’s Bible and notes during his message. It is my intent to urge you, dear reader, to prayerfully consider the kind of preaching that is occurring in your church each Sunday. Is the proclamation of the Word central to the worship experience or is it secondary? Is the delivery shaped by Scripture or culture? Is the sermon informational or transformational? Is it sacred and solemn or entertaining and trendy? Does your pastor know the difference between preaching and teaching? Is it focused on feeding the sheep or entertaining the goats? I have a hunch that the disappearance of the pulpit signals more than a stylistic accommodation to new fashions and technologies. I fear that in much of the church today the power of proclaiming God’s Word has been lost. The results are catastrophic. An old proverb states the problem well: when there’s a mist in the pulpit, there is fog in the pew.

Similar to the contemporary church, Corinth Community Church relegated preaching to a place of secondary importance. She discovered that signs and wonders, music and technology, and goosebumps and tingles were more popular than expository sermons. In addressing these issues, the apostle Paul asked a poignant question: “If the bugle gives an indistinct sound, who will get ready for battle?” (I Cor. 14:8). He was probably thinking of the silver trumpets that God told Moses to make for the nation of Israel (see Num. 10:1-10). These trumpets were to be used for a variety of occasions: civic celebrations, worship ceremonies, and communicating basic messages to large groups of people. But their primary purpose was military. The trumpets were especially to be used in combat to send signals to the troops so that they could act in a unified manner.    

I can’t get Paul’s question out of my head. If the bugle gives an indistinct sound, who will get ready for battle? I think of it whenever I hear a sermon, and especially whenever I preach one! I’ve decided to let Paul’s question prompt me to pray: “Lord, help me to be a good bugle boy.” And I’ve begun to pray that God will raise up an army of buglers, both men and women, who know how to proclaim God’s word loudly and distinctly so that the church can once again stand on her feet, an exceedingly great army (see Ezek. 37:10)! Perhaps you are part of the answer to my prayer. If you’d like to be a rootin’ tootin’ bugle boy in company JC, here are your instructions. 

Understand your function.

As a bugler, your role is singular: blow your bugle as loudly as you can, but only when your commanding officer tells you to, and play only what he tells you to play. That’s it. It doesn’t really matter how well you blow your horn. What matters is that you are sending the signals your commander wants to send when he wants to send them: Wake up! Assemble! Charge! Eat! Go to bed! etc. If you fail in this endeavor, not only will you betray your calling but you will endanger the lives of many and jeopardize the mission. Remember that the battle of Jericho was won by bugles, not by swords (see Josh. 6:1-21).

Take good care of your instrument

Your bugle is more than a means of making music. Its purpose is not entertainment or personal enjoyment. It is a weapon of war (see II Cor. 10:3-4). So, recognize what is at stake, and then play your bugle with all your heart! Although early forms of the bugle were made of animal horns (the shofar, for example), the trumpets Moses made were of hammered silver. So polish your bugle and learn how to play it well. There is a war going on and without clear signals, the battle will be lost. Yes, in some ways, as a bugler, you are the most important person in the entire army of God.  

Learn your signals.

It takes years of training to play a modern trumpet, but you can learn to play a bugle very quickly. The truth is, almost anyone can do it. There are no valves to press, no music to read, and the playing range consists of only five notes. The songs a bugler plays are called “signals” and they are all short and easily memorized. Charge and Retreat are the most important signals to know when a battle is being fought, but there are other important signals as well: Reveille (wake up!), Taps (lights out), Mess (meal time), Assembly (gather together), etc. 

Blow as loudly and as clearly as you can!

If the preceding requirements have been met, there is only one thing left to do: play as loudly as possible and make sure your signal is recognizable and clear. Battlefield situations tend to be noisy and confusing, so make sure you play every note triple forte. The notes don’t have to be perfectly played but they do need to be loud and distinct. Muddled bugling may cause the battle to be lost.  

Are you ready to join the Lord’s bugle corps? I hope so. Moses desired that all the Lord’s people would be prophets (aka, buglers; see Num. 11:29). So, go get your bugle, learn the signals, listen for your instructions, and then blow it as loudly and clearly as you can. Then, watch what happens! 

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