By Billy Hall, ContributorAT THE time of the 16th Century Protestant Reformation someone remarked, 'The pulpit has been raised above the altar'. It is a perceptive comment and one that has profound implications for the Anglican Church, universally and locally. It brings into focus the need for putting much more emphasis on pulpit delivery over the liturgical elements of worship.
Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic liturgical practices are heavy, with the Orthodox churches foremost of all the churches in Christendom. So, in those churches, consistent with their historic, ancient traditions, the altar remains higher than the pulpit. For example, the priests who serve at the altar in the Roman Church exercise power vested in them, and transmitted through their bishops, to perform the 'miracle' of transubstantiation, whereby the ordinary bread and wine of the Communion feast, upon priestly consecration, become the actual body and blood of Christ.
Protestants, in the Calvinistic tradition, have rejected the notion of such a 'miracle' and instead emphasise the miracle of salvation that occurs when God's Word proclaimed from the pulpit converts the soul. Therefore, consistent with this emphasis on the Word proclaimed the pulpit is central in the architectural design, and there is no altar
Systematic preaching then, is the Protestant Minister's chief task, as Calvin saw things, and so he promoted pulpit proclamation over altar sacrificing. In so doing Calvin lifted the status of the chief preacher to that of 'Doctor' of the Church.
Coming into that fray, and observing the contention between Catholics and Calvinists on the continent, Anglicans decided on a via media. It is a characteristic of the English people to avoid extremes and settle, instead, for a 'compromise'.
George Bernard Shaw, famous English literary master and celebrated wit, is said to have remarked: 'England and America are two countries separated by one language'. There is more truth than humour in that perceptive remark for although in the United States, 'compromise' is a bad word, tainted by association with 'corruption' in one form or another, in England, 'compromise' is a good word, for it is about artfully finding a prudent path between extremes.
The word 'compromise' has affected deeply the English Church, and the ambivalence is reflected in a term such as 'Anglo-Catholic'. It is a term that suggests being something of both Anglican and Catholic. And in a certain sense that is true for Anglicans, because the Anglican break with Rome, examined closely, was much more practical, mundane, organisational, and national than theological.
Consequently, within the Anglican Church there is, traditionally, tension between those who prefer the altar above the pulpit. This identity ambivalence between Catholic and Protestant is manifested in the popular 'High Church' and 'Low Church' distinctions often made within the Anglican Church.
To understand this tension, there is a need to appreciate the way the English temperament affected, and continues to affect, the Anglican Church. The English 'divines' looked at the turbulence in Church developments across the English Channel and decided to avoid the excesses of either side.
A classic example of the English demonstrating artful compromise occurred when the Catholic Council of Trent pronounced hell fire anathema upon any who would dare to suggest that there are not seven Sacraments. The English Church agreed to seven but acknowledged as the 'Greater Two' the Protestant exclusive list of Baptism and the Lord's Supper.
So, if the Anglican Church in Jamaica is to recover to advance, the pulpit must be raised above the altar, and evangelism must be the message of priority.
It is this artful accommodation of conflicting views that has kept within the Anglican Church such internationally leaders as John Stott, an evangelical of pedigree acclaim, and, John Spong, a radical regarded by many as a heretic.
In most instances then, wherever the Anglican Church has flourished in evangelical witness, and wherever it has not, the critical element is leadership the individual rector or bishop. In the case of John Stott, his ability to expound the Scriptures makes him stand out in any place on earth. The Anglican Church in Jamaica needs pulpit preachers that are dynamic. The peculiar challenge of the Anglican Church in Jamaica at this time relates to the priority tension between emphasis on the altar or emphasis on the pulpit. The choice is whether, in church settings, there should be more use of incense or more inspirational proclamation.
One thing is clear, and it is this: in the Jamaica of today, the better path is a pulpit emphasis. The people of Jamaica respond better to dynamic preaching than rote ritual. The preaching of Bishop Gibson is still recalled for he was dynamic, and sheer oratory he has not been succeeded.
In my recent visit to a large and influential Anglican Church I was appalled at the low standard of preaching. Granted, that might have been a particularly bad example, and so I must be hopeful that there is much better preaching than that throughout the Anglican Church. However, what cannot be denied is that good pulpit delivery is essential for church effectiveness, much more than rich ritual display.
Perhaps, then, an essential reforming need of the Anglican Church is to conduct preaching seminars for clergy and lay leaders. This is an idea that could even be taken to a higher level, and a Bishop Gibson School of Public Speaking established, to serve all churches, not just Anglicans, and as well the wider society.
My experience in attempting to conduct preaching seminars is that the pastor does not attend. For such seminars, the tendency is for the pastor to send others, even to do so enthusiastically, but to remain conspicuously absent.
However, the Anglican Church must be commended for being one that is more willing to venture and to do so ecumenically. For example, there was a recent successful effort to get the most famous Anglican preacher conduct such a seminar in Jamaica, the Rev. John Stott. Preachers from other churches attended. But more than that commendable effort is needed. The care of a motor vehicle is not adequate because an expert mechanic once took a close look at it. But in the realities of today, for the greatest effectiveness in evangelism to occur, the pulpit must give way to the pew. The messengers must be not one, but many.
At this time, in the life of the Anglican Church in Jamaica, the average pew member would need to be first better instructed in the Christian faith as understood and as proclaimed from the historic, orthodox, Anglican perspective. This need, of course, would have to be first acknowledged, so that it can be prioritised. No concrete, systematic action may be expected until such is done. Significantly, from the early 1960s an Anglican clergyman acknowledged this and attempted in a limited way to correct things by writing a book, not dated and now out of print.
(THE CHURCH - Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow - What Every Anglican Should Know, by Rev. A. Hugh Smythe).
