ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, December 29, 1996 TAG: 9612310058
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: KEN GARFIELD KNIGHT-RIDDER/TRIBUNE
Some believe God's word deserves to be delivered from on high every Sunday morning, specifically a pulpit box several feet above the chancel. What better way to illustrate the power of God's word?
Others, though, wonder about the implications of a church raising its leader above the people. With worshipers coming for comfort, should pastors be put on a pedestal?
We're not talking about architecture. At a time when mainline churches are losing members and struggling to reach those still coming, we're talking about how best to relate to God and the pastors we empower to interpret his word.
Wake Forest University divinity school Dean Bill Leonard says a minister must keep a healthy intellectual distance from the congregation while also becoming close to his flock.
``There is that struggle for balance between imminence and transcendence,'' Leonard says. ``Too much transcendence is elitism. Too much imminence is tackiness.''
Few churches talk about raised pulpits, though a Presbyterian pastor in Charlotte, N.C., got his congregation buzzing recently when he declined to climb up his pulpit for several Sundays. He believes the raised pulpit puts a barrier between him and the congregation. But he's going back, because some said he wasn't being seen and heard as well.
``Some people don't like change,'' says Bob Mason, Myers Park Presbyterian lay leader.
The issue isn't explored nearly as much as whether to let women preach from your pulpit and gays worship in your pews. That's too bad, because raised pulpits say a lot about the values of a church.
Besides the obvious reason for raised pulpits - so pastors could be heard before amplification came along - the Rev. John Rogers Jr. of Covenant Presbyterian in Charlotte appreciates the symbolism.
Raised pulpits, he says, are evidence of the Reformed Presbyterian tradition that puts the sermon at the center of worship. ``The word is lifted above everything else,'' Rogers says. ``A prominent place is given to it architecturally and theologically.''
Rogers says it lends reverence to those 20 critical minutes when a preacher tries to inspire worshipers: ``I'm not up there just as John Rogers, who has picked up the paper and said, `Now what can I say this week?' It's not the individual who is set apart, but the preacher as one who has been called and trained by the church.''
But does it make pastors inaccessible?
``To me, it's sort of like a pulpit robe,'' says the Rev. Todd Hobbie of First Presbyterian in Concord, N.C. ``It separates you from the congregation.''
The Rev. Charles Bugg preached from a raised pulpit at Providence Baptist in Charlotte until he left in May to teach at Baptist Theological Seminary in Richmond. He wonders whether raised pulpits - usually in larger, more traditional churches - are one more sign of mainline stuffiness.
``It lends a certain dignity to the service,'' Bugg says. ``Some feel dignity is stifling.''
The discussion of raised pulpits may be intensifying, fueled by the growth of churches reaching the unchurched with more informal methods of worship.
People attracted to a new way want the same thing as those who have made church their second home. ``When people come to church on Sunday,'' Bugg says, ``they want to feel like they've come for something.''
The question is, are raised pulpits part of what people come for?
Ken Garfield is the religion editor at The Charlotte Observer
LENGTH: Medium: 68 linesby CNB