At The Pulpit

There are so many different types of pulpits. When I was a little girl growing up in the hills of Pennsylvania, my family attended a little country Congregational church. A most sturdy pulpit with intricate carvings had stood here for 200 years. It had been built to withstand the hardest pulpit thumping. And I am sure it received a lot of that in the earlier days. However,as years passed, the thumping lessened, the message got watered down, and the people got colder. However, the minister would stand behind that huge pulpit and lead the congregation in singing all the old hymns with much form and ritual. I loved those hymns because of the great harmonizing that we could do and the words of each song were sermons in themselves.

I moved to San Antonio, Texas when I was 23 years old and heard a pastor preach Sunday after Sunday of God’s righteous anger and how my sins had nailed His Son to the cross. This pastor also had a massive pulpit, but he actually pounded his pulpit during each service. I came to the altar under this pastor’s leading and realized I was a sinner and bound for hell. One Sunday, after hearing “Just as I Am” fifty-five times, I repented of my sins and invited Jesus to come into my life.

Today, my family and I fellowship in another church. This church is plain, no ornate pulpit; in fact, the small stand that had been used has been removed. Our pastor sits on a stool with only his Bible in hand and speaks of God’s love, His desire to fellowship with me and to walk with me throughout every step of my life’s journey. We sing praise songs with a smattering of the old hymns that I still love to sing.

The different pulpits in my life remind me of my salvation. Someone had to plant the seed. Even though the first messages I heard were plain vanilla, that minister taught me about God through the beautiful words of those old hymns. Then the second pastor used his pulpit to draw me closer and to reap the harvest. However, it is the nurturing and maintaining of the crop that allows me to grow and flourish and causes a desire within me to know more of the One that the old songs spoke of so long ago. Isn’t it amazing how God can use three completely different pulpits to do His bidding and bring me to the place that He designed for me even before I was born? Isn’t He amazing!