The Stage or the Pulpit?

(The pulpit and the altar shortly after being "discovered" by the demolition crew.)

Recently, our congregation undertook the task of renovating our Fellowship Hall. Macedonia AMEC is the oldest Black church in the city of Camden, N.J. (1833) and the present building sits on land that was purchased with the help of Bishop Morris Brown. As the construction crew began the demolition by removing the stage, they encountered an unexpected find. Hidden beneath it was a pulpit surrounded by a beautiful mahogany altar! Not even our oldest members had ever heard that there was a pulpit buried beneath the stage in the Fellowship Hall.

Since this “discovery,” I’ve been troubled by a nagging and persistent question: How does a congregation forget that there is a pulpit and an altar buried beneath the stage?

Then it occurred to me that this discovery is not too different from the experience of Josiah and the builders in II Chronicles 34. In the text, renovations are underway in the Temple when the workers “stumble” upon a scroll containing the Word of God that had been lost. Think about the irony of that statement: The Word of God was lost inside the Temple! How do the priests and the lay leadership ever get to a place where the Word gets lost in the building where the Word is to be proclaimed?

What did they preach in those days when the Word was lost? Maybe they preached the prosperity message of Baal. Maybe they preached the situational ethics put forth by the Ashteroth poles. Maybe they just preached what people wanted to hear. In any event, when the Word was found, Josiah had enough good sense to lead the people back to God by following the precepts found in it. At least for his generation, this discovery led to a time of spiritual renewal.

Could this be a Word for African Methodism today? Could this historic find be God’s way of communicating to us? Could it be that in too many places, we are not growing because we have built stages over the pulpit and the altar? On the stage, humankind is the central player, humankind writes the script, humankind gives the direction, and humankind plays the tune. In other words, when we put stages in the place of pulpits, we elevate our needs and wants, while God is pushed aside until the Word can no longer be found in the Temple.

If it was true for Josiah that spiritual rebirth occurred only by returning to the old landmark, then possibly our resurrection as a denomination in places where we are currently experiencing drought and stagnation, is just as simple: tear down the stage and put back the pulpit! In the pulpit and the altar, God is central, God writes the script, God gives the direction, and God plays the tune. In the pulpit and the altar, the power is not in fund raising via chicken dinners and fish fries, slick P/R campaigns, nor annual days. Empowerment, instead, is found in trusting in the power and the presence of an almighty God, represented by the pulpit and the altar.

Lest I forget Gethsemane,

Lest I forget Thine agony;

Lest I forget Thy love for me,

Lead me to Calvary.