Ship of Fools: Lecterns and their like

Thread: Lecterns and their like Board: Oblivion / Ship of Fools.

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Posted by Avila (# 15541) on :

This thread comes out of exploring the website for Victory Church . (see image in box to top right)

When it comes to a lectern choice in a new church and therefore free to pick anything... Why? Just why?

I know there was a phase in chapel architecture that mimics the roman/greek temples, but why make that image a lectern?

I also dislike the clear perspex lecterns like this * - I don't need to see your notes, glass of water and box of hankies or whatever.

I am equal ops in my lectern/pulpit views - I grew up in a church with a pulpit 9 steps up each side. Ever since I have had an allergy to pulpits - I will go in them only if necessary to see and been seen or if mic system fixed.

What are the best and worst examples of lecterns/pulpits/reading desks you have come across?

* I love how this example is under 'household products'

(Edited to complete sentences!)

[ 20. May 2013, 15:04: Message edited by: Avila ]

Posted by Bob Two-Owls (# 9680) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Avila:
I also dislike the clear perspex lecterns like this * - I don't need to see your notes, glass of water and box of hankies or whatever.

A church I visited had a lectern similar to that one but there was a piece of coloured card glued to the inside. It made a nice background for the emblem on the front (a dove I think) but on closer inspection it said on the side facing away from the congregation "Check your flies!!!".

Personally I'm a sucker for a brass eagle, I always make a special effort when reading from one!

Posted by Zach82 (# 3208) on :

A lectern not shaped like an eagle hardly deserves the name lectern at all. Just saying.

Posted by Avila (# 15541) on :

Plenty of readers have disappeared behind eagles - some never to be seen again so I hear!

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :

Them eagles is birds of prey, remember ...

It is, of course, possible to get lecterns with built-in computer screens.

(You can also buy beds like that ... only they're not intended for use in churches!)

Posted by MrsBeaky (# 17663) on :

The lecterns here in Kenya appear to be designed for use by the Maasai. I preached a couple of weeks ago and had to move out from behind as I could neither see nor be seen!

Posted by Sober Preacher's Kid (# 12699) on :

Well, this thread is going straight to Eccles. [Big Grin]

I'm very traditional in my tastes in lecturns, if present. I prefer a traditional wooden stand, no eagles please!

Even better, the traditional rig of a single pulpit without a lecturn (could be considered an ambo). That's very common in smaller churches in the UCCan. It was near universal until 1920.

Posted by L'organist (# 17338) on :

Eagle lecterns definitely, your choice of either wood or metal.

For pulpits I definitely prefer wood, and it must have a sounding board above.

One trend I've noticed is for modern wooden pulpits to be fitted with a slope, which can cause problems. A visiting priest decreed that readers at a wedding should do so from the pulpit; hot day, female reader removed her jacket to reveal strapless dress - from the body of the church she looked naked [Eek!]

We were donated a movable/collapsible reading thing (looks like a deficient clothes horse) with front hanging of white figured satin damask: it is no thing of beauty and the fact that the damask bit can't be removed for cleaning means we now have non-liturgical grey [Snigger]

Posted by no prophet (# 15560) on :

I can say *not* that lectern. Looks like something made of moulded plastic brought in from a garden, faux ruins and the like. I wouldn't have said this until seeing this one: a lectern should not distract, nor create a sense of silliness.

That's quite the website also. The title "outpouring" has distinctly non-churchy associations here, lacrymose and micturition.

Posted by Avila (# 15541) on :

[Eek!]

Oh no not Eccles.... [Eek!]

Actually was after the wacky and the weird that people have come across in the range of church furnishing for enabling standing at and talking...

Posted by Eigon (# 4917) on :

I once came across a wooden lectern that was in the shape of a young woman with a star on her brow, which I thought was quite a nice change from brass eagles. It was somewhere near Lancaster.

Posted by Albertus (# 13356) on :

As any reader of chapters XI and XII of Augustus Carp will remember, new lecterns can cause trouble...

Posted by norfolkadam (# 17674) on :

That perspex lectern looks incredibly tacky (Norwich Cathedral has something a bit similar, here). I suppose it would depend on my surroundings, if you're in a Victorian church you probably want a Victorian lectern; if you're in a Modernist church you probably want a modernist lectern.

I have to say I am quite enamoured by the solid, concrete lectern at Clifton Cathedral. See here. It feels rooted to the body of the church (itself a lumpen mass of concrete).

Posted by FooloftheShip (# 15579) on :

quote:
Originally posted by norfolkadam:
(Norwich Cathedral has something a bit similar, here).

These are in its new conference/meetings facility, the Hostry.

[ 20. May 2013, 21:15: Message edited by: FooloftheShip ]

Posted by norfolkadam (# 17674) on :

quote:
Originally posted by FooloftheShip:

quote:
Originally posted by norfolkadam:
(Norwich Cathedral has something a bit similar, here).
These are in its new conference/meetings facility, the Hostry.

Ah, that makes sense. I still don't like them, even in the more modern setting of the Hostry (which is a fantastic piece of architecture). I see Norwich actually has a rather attractive Eagle and a tasteful wooden lectern in the nave and sanctuary.

[ 20. May 2013, 21:22: Message edited by: norfolkadam ]

Posted by Avila (# 15541) on :

quote:
Originally posted by norfolkadam:
.

I have to say I am quite enamoured by the solid, concrete lectern at Clifton Cathedral. See here. It feels rooted to the body of the church (itself a lumpen mass of concrete).

From the same era as the Methodist Church in Longbridge Birmingham, concrete pulpit, altar and all other upfront furnishings AIRC - very rooted, not great for flexibility though

Posted by norfolkadam (# 17674) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Avila:

quote:
Originally posted by norfolkadam:
.

I have to say I am quite enamoured by the solid, concrete lectern at Clifton Cathedral. See here. It feels rooted to the body of the church (itself a lumpen mass of concrete).
From the same era as the Methodist Church in Longbridge Birmingham, concrete pulpit, altar and all other upfront furnishings AIRC - very rooted, not great for flexibility though

I suppose it is difficult to find something rooted and flexible. You hardly want to get the pneumatic drill out every time you feel like re-arranging.

Posted by Pia (# 17277) on :

This is substantial enough to look solid, but flexible too. It takes up quite a lot of space, though.

Posted by Jade Constable (# 17175) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Sober Preacher's Kid:
Well, this thread is going straight to Eccles.

I'm very traditional in my tastes in lecturns, if present. I prefer a traditional wooden stand, no eagles please!

Even better, the traditional rig of a single pulpit without a lecturn (could be considered an ambo). That's very common in smaller churches in the UCCan. It was near universal until 1920.

Weirdly enough, my own AffCath place has a pulpit and no lectern. Does my priest have secret URC leanings? [Big Grin]

Posted by Ariel (# 58) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Sober Preacher's Kid:
Well, this thread is going straight to Eccles.

quote:
Originally posted by Avila:
Oh no not Eccles....

'Fraid so. Hold on tight to your pew seats now while the virtual removal men pack up the lecterns, and transport you to a more ecclesiastical setting...

Ariel
Heaven Host

Posted by Avila (# 15541) on :

I posted in heaven as intended to be fun examples - but Eccles can do fun....yes?

Posted by Jengie Jon (# 273) on :

To keep up the avian theme there are of course lecterns that are Pelicans.

Some of you might want to be careful of your identification of lectern birds as Eagles, if they are picking up biblical references then the original bird might have been a vulture.

Jengie

Posted by stonespring (# 15530) on :

In RC Churches the norm is to use the pulpit for all Scripture readings and for the homily (unless a bishop preaches from the chair) and to use a lectern for the cantor. If there is no cantor an the psalm is read not sing, it is usually done from the pulpit. In cathedrals with really fancy pulpits I have seen the pulpit only used for the gospel and homily and the lectern used for the rest, or the lectern used for everything when it is just an ordinary daily Mass, but I am not sure if that is allowed.

I guess you can look as the 20th century Liturgical movement focusing on three locations: the altar/table, the ambo/pulpit, and the presider's chair. Is it wrong to have two ambos? In some Episcopal churches, the first and second readings are done from the lectern, the Gospel is proclaimed in the center aisle, and only the sermon is delivered from the pulpit, meaning that at least at the principal Sunday Eucharist the pulpit is not used for the proclamation of the Word at all. In that case one wonders whether or not the lectern is more of an ambo than the pulpit. I personally think all Scripture readings and preaching should be from the same location but that is very Vatican II of me. As for having a microphone for a cantor or other announcements then an additional lectern can be added. Interestingly many RC churches that have a lectern for the cantor use the pulpit for announcements and for prayers of the faithful, meaning that only the cantor gets a "lectern-type" place just for her/him, which is odd. Is it wrong to use the pulpit for the prayers of the faithful and announcements?

Posted by stonespring (# 15530) on :

On Second thought I guess a sermon counts as a form of proclamation of the Word, but it still seems very odd that there would be a Eucharist where the pulpit is used for the sermon but no Scripture readings are done from it.

Posted by Vade Mecum (# 17688) on :

quote:
Originally posted by stonespring:
On Second thought I guess a sermon counts as a form of proclamation of the Word, but it still seems very odd that there would be a Eucharist where the pulpit is used for the sermon but no Scripture readings are done from it.

But that was in fact the case for hundreds of years, the readings being read from the missal at the altar and legilium, by the sacred ministers. Indeed the whole tenor of the Western Rite sequence of readings acts to emphasise both the scriptural 'hierarchy' of [Prophecy], Epistle, Gospel, by location, reader and tone sung, and to unite the proclamation of the Word with the Sacrament of the altar, in the unity of place and person (i.e. sanctuary and clergy).

It might even be said that the post-conciliar tendency sets up Word and Sacrament as poles between which the Mass oscillates, in a way which might be called unhelpful. Both models seem to have coherence.

Posted by georgiaboy (# 11294) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Jengie Jon:
To keep up the avian theme there are of course lecterns that are Pelicans.

Jengie

And one that I have seen (in Dio of South Florida, IIRC) was either a gull or a tern. Quite handsome, though.

Posted by Angloid (# 159) on :

quote:
Originally posted by stonespring:
I personally think all Scripture readings and preaching should be from the same location but that is very Vatican II of me.

So do I, but I'm as Vatican 2 as an Anglican can be.

My previous parish had two ambos. The church was (re)built in the early 1950s in line with then early Liturgical Movement thinking, but quite what that thinking was I don't know. I would have preferred to have used one of them for all three scripture readings and the sermon, and the other for intercessions/announcements etc, but I was over-ruled and the OT was read from one, the epistle from the other, and the gospel in the nave. Not helpful, to my way of thinking.

Posted by stonespring (# 15530) on :

I understand the point of readings from the altar in the per Vatican II rite. But wasn't the restoration of the ambo to its place as the site of the proclamation of the Word one of the keys aspects of the Liturgical Movement? If a pulpit is just or preaching (ie, breaking of the word), is it an ambo? Is a lectern designed for certain readings (ie, an eagle lectern) a form of ambo? Does that mean a Church can have two ambos?

Posted by Jengie Jon (# 273) on :

Now a owl

I know this is not a lectern but the dove on this webpage is magnificent. However Kevin Mayhew do do a dove.

I wonder if anywhere has a wild goose?

Jengie

Posted by Pigwidgeon (# 10192) on :

This one seems to have everything except a wild goose -- "a parrot, a turkey, a heron, a peacock, a cock, a little owl and many other birds."

Posted by Jade Constable (# 17175) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Jengie Jon:
Now a owl

I know this is not a lectern but the dove on this webpage is magnificent. However Kevin Mayhew do do a dove.

I wonder if anywhere has a wild goose?

Jengie

Or a phoenix! Some of the pelican lecterns are incorrectly labelled as phoenixes but a phoenix would be perfectly appropriate too.

Not a church lectern of course, but Dumbledore famously has an owl. I'm surprised an actual church has an owl lectern though, since they were a symbol of death.

Posted by Galloping Granny (# 13814) on :

At a neighbouring church that our lot joined with one summer holiday, the congregation for some reason (they don't usually) avoided several rows of front pews. The minister was leading the service from a lectern in the centre; it turned out to be on casters and she simply trundled it down the aisle to where the people were.

GG

Posted by Albertus (# 13356) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Jengie Jon:
Now a owl

I know this is not a lectern but the dove on this webpage is magnificent. However Kevin Mayhew do do a dove.

...Jengie

I didn't know Kevin Mayhew did church furnishings too. This looks OK but if they apply the same standards to their furniture that they do to their hymnbooks I bet that when you get close up there's something unnecessarily fiddly about it. Hard to see how anyone could sod about with a lectern but if anyone could...

Posted by Anselmina (# 3032) on :

For the perspex lectern, one word: fingerprints.

No woman (okay, let's not be sexist, no-one who does church cleaning) would've designed a perspex lectern.

Eagles are great. But they are usually too tall, even the ones with little podiums. Readers in Victorian times must've come equipped with stilts.

Posted by venbede (# 16669) on :

There appear to be two ambos here at San Clemente in Rome, although facing in opposite directions.

I'd like all the readings from one place, but it does need some imagination as to how to make it look telling. Sometimes it just looks as though it is being off hand. (I knew one church with seating collegiate fashion with the altar at one end. The then vicar had a very large double lectern at the West End and the readings and biddings for the intercessions were done from there. Very effective. Unfortunately the arrangement made his successors uncomfortable and went back to legillium (?) at the front.)

Posted by Albertus (# 13356) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Anselmina:
...
Eagles are great. But they are usually too tall, even the ones with little podiums. Readers in Victorian times must've come equipped with stilts.

Yes, that's curious, isn't it: I'd never thought of it, but of course 100/150 years ago people were generally shorter than they are now (even allowing for the fact that only men would have read from the lectern then), so if people today find Victorian lecterns too high, how did they cope then?

Posted by Oblatus (# 6278) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Anselmina:
Eagles are great. But they are usually too tall, even the ones with little podiums. Readers in Victorian times must've come equipped with stilts.

Thanks for using "podium" correctly, as you would. So often elsewhere, I hear things like "The lector reads from the book on the podium," which would be a very strange sight indeed.

Posted by leo (# 1458) on :

I once saw a perspe3x ALTAR in Spain.

Presumably designed to allow the congregation to see the elaborate high altar behind it.

Posted by Oblatus (# 6278) on :

quote:
Originally posted by leo:
I once saw a perspe3x ALTAR in Spain.

Presumably designed to allow the congregation to see the elaborate high altar behind it.

And to see the altar stone within it? That would be neato.

Posted by Pigwidgeon (# 10192) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Oblatus:

quote:
Originally posted by leo:
I once saw a perspe3x ALTAR in Spain.

Presumably designed to allow the congregation to see the elaborate high altar behind it.
And to see the altar stone within it? That would be neato.

Or perhaps an entire saint? (Granted, this altar is glass not perspex, but the principle's the same.)

Posted by The Silent Acolyte (# 1158) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Oblatus:
Thanks for using "podium" correctly...

Metonyms aren't really that annoying, are they?

Posted by ArachnidinElmet (# 17346) on :

Not quite the same as elaborately carved pelicans, but the pulpit at St Mary's, Whitby (the one in front of the Abbey, and nearly over the cliff) has a 3-4m long ear trumpet. In days gone by, the vicar had it installed so his profoundly deaf wife could hear his sermons.

Posted by Oblatus (# 6278) on :

quote:
Originally posted by The Silent Acolyte:

quote:
Originally posted by Oblatus:
Thanks for using "podium" correctly...
Metonyms aren't really that annoying, are they?

They shouldn't be. I'm odd. [Hot and Hormonal]

Posted by Jade Constable (# 17175) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Pigwidgeon:

quote:
Originally posted by Oblatus:

quote:
Originally posted by leo:
I once saw a perspe3x ALTAR in Spain.

Presumably designed to allow the congregation to see the elaborate high altar behind it.
And to see the altar stone within it? That would be neato.
Or perhaps an entire saint? (Granted, this altar is glass not perspex, but the principle's the same.)

Maybe I'm just not Catholic enough, but to me that's just a very creepy version of Snow White's glass coffin [Ultra confused]

Posted by Pigwidgeon (# 10192) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Jade Constable:
Maybe I'm just not Catholic enough, but to me that's just a very creepy version of Snow White's glass coffin

Very creepy -- I've had the strange experience of seeing the real thing.

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Galloping Granny:
At a neighbouring church that our lot joined with one summer holiday, the congregation for some reason (they don't usually) avoided several rows of front pews. The minister was leading the service from a lectern in the centre; it turned out to be on casters and she simply trundled it down the aisle to where the people were.

Wilbert Awdry (the Thomas the Tank Engine man) once preached at a church which, he was surprised to see, had no pulpit. He needn't have worried: in the hymn before the sermon a choirboy disappeared behind a pillar and turned a handle. This caused a lectern to appear on rails (very appropriate) and trundle to the centre of the chancel steps. At the end of the sermon the process was reversed.

And no-one batted an eyelid - they'd all seen it before!

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :

PS Knowing that Awdry was living in Stroud at the time, I wonder if this could have been at St. Paul's Cheltenham? And, if so, is the pulpit still there?

Posted by Jade Constable (# 17175) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Pigwidgeon:

quote:
Originally posted by Jade Constable:
Maybe I'm just not Catholic enough, but to me that's just a very creepy version of Snow White's glass coffin
Very creepy -- I've had the strange experience of seeing the real thing.

Even worse than the preserved body in the Holy Souls chapel at Westminster Cathedral! *shudder*

Posted by The Silent Acolyte (# 1158) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Oblatus:

quote:
Originally posted by The Silent Acolyte:

quote:
Originally posted by Oblatus:
Thanks for using "podium" correctly...
Metonyms aren't really that annoying, are they?
They shouldn't be. I'm odd.

Cheer up! If you weren't odd, blind that I am, I wouldn't have recently learned that podium was generally used metonymically. And this certainly is the right board for that sort of stuff.

Posted by The Silent Acolyte (# 1158) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Baptist Trainfan:
...in the hymn before the sermon a choirboy disappeared behind a pillar and turned a handle. This caused a lectern to appear on rails (very appropriate) and trundle to the centre of the chancel steps. At the end of the sermon the process was reversed.

There is a Congegational church in Copley Square, Boston—Old South, I believe—that has a stonking big pulpit that is also on rails.

Posted by PD (# 12436) on :

One of the churches in Carlisle (England, not elsewhere) has a pulpit on rails. These days I think it tends to hang around somewhat left of centre rather than getting cranked all the way out into the middle of the Church.

In an earlier generation, when Anglican churches had been used as two rooms, there was a tendancy in some place to put the three-decker pulpit in the middle of the east end of the nave, with a gate on either side leading to the chancel where the altar table was the focus of attention. King's Norton, Leics, is a durviving example of that design, though there the Church is on the one room plan.

PD

Posted by Angloid (# 159) on :

quote:
Originally posted by PD:
One of the churches in Carlisle (England, not elsewhere) has a pulpit on rails. These days I think it tends to hang around somewhat left of centre

Not the Tory party at prayer, then.

Posted by Rosa Winkel (# 11424) on :

The good thing about lecterns on wheels are of course that, if a sermon is being done there and is taking too long, someone can simply wheel it off.

Posted by NatDogg (# 14347) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Rosa Winkel:
The good thing about lecterns on wheels are of course that, if a sermon is being done there and is taking too long, someone can simply wheel it off.

Posted by Metapelagius (# 9453) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Baptist Trainfan:

quote:
Originally posted by Galloping Granny:
At a neighbouring church that our lot joined with one summer holiday, the congregation for some reason (they don't usually) avoided several rows of front pews. The minister was leading the service from a lectern in the centre; it turned out to be on casters and she simply trundled it down the aisle to where the people were.
Wilbert Awdry (the Thomas the Tank Engine man) once preached at a church which, he was surprised to see, had no pulpit. He needn't have worried: in the hymn before the sermon a choirboy disappeared behind a pillar and turned a handle. This caused a lectern to appear on rails (very appropriate) and trundle to the centre of the chancel steps. At the end of the sermon the process was reversed.

And no-one batted an eyelid - they'd all seen it before!

Great St Mary's in Cambridge has a 'pulpit on tramlines' arrangement, though there it looks to be that the pulpit is put in whichever position (side or centre) it is required before rather than during service. The centre position appears to be the rule for University sermons, at least on the few occasions that I have been there for one.

Posted by ChaliceGirl (# 13656) on :

Why are so many lecterns eagle-shaped? I never knew the significance of that. Is there a scriptural reason for it?

Posted by Basilica (# 16965) on :

quote:
Originally posted by ChaliceGirl:
Why are so many lecterns eagle-shaped? I never knew the significance of that. Is there a scriptural reason for it?

I was taught that the mediaeval belief was that the eagle can look directly into the sun. The Bible, by analogy, is that by which we look directly into the light of God.

This has the whiff of a backwards justification to me, but I'm not sure either way.

Posted by leo (# 1458) on :

According to this article,

quote:
THE FLYING eagle is the symbol of John the Evangelist (see Revelation, ch 4, v 7) who proclaimed Christ as 'the Word of God' at the beginning of his Gospel. The flying eagle is thus a suitable emblem from which God's word is read, reaching (we hope) the ends of the earth.

Posted by dj_ordinaire (# 4643) on :

I've heard the symbolism of St. John as well, but also that it is a misinterpretation of images of the pelican. Pelicans were considered symbolic of Christ as the Mediaeval bestiaries taught that if their chicks died, a pelican could bring them back to life after three days by ripping open its chest and feeding them its blood (heraldically, this was blazoned as 'a pelican vulning itself', or if seated on its nest 'a pelican in its piety', as seen on the Arms of Corpus Christi, Cambridge).

As not many people had seen a pelican they were usually depicted as eagles.

Posted by Comper's Child (# 10580) on :

quote:
Originally posted by dj_ordinaire:
I've heard the symbolism of St. John as well, but also that it is a misinterpretation of images of the pelican. Pelicans were considered symbolic of Christ as the Mediaeval bestiaries taught that if their chicks died, a pelican could bring them back to life after three days by ripping open its chest and feeding them its blood (heraldically, this was blazoned as 'a pelican vulning itself', or if seated on its nest 'a pelican in its piety', as seen on the Arms of Corpus Christi, Cambridge).

As not many people had seen a pelican they were usually depicted as eagles.

I'm dubious on this as certainly the "eagle-looking" pelicans would have been vulning themselves with chicks at their feet. As it is they appear to be eagles without progeny to feed. I am willing to be corrected, however!

Posted by ken (# 2460) on :

quote:
Originally posted by ChaliceGirl:
Why are so many lecterns eagle-shaped? I never knew the significance of that. Is there a scriptural reason for it?

Its the four living creatures in Ezekiel chapter 1, also known as cherubim, who continually sing praises at the Throne. They had faces like those of a man, a lion, an ox. and an eagle. They were used to symbolise the Gospel writers - Matthew a winged man, Mark a winged lion, Luke a winged ox, John an eagle. Probably just because of the order they come in with some retrofitted symbolism later.

John gets to be the one most associated with preaching and proclamation, so his symbol gets used most.

Posted by churchgeek (# 5557) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Anselmina:
For the perspex lectern, one word: fingerprints.

That was my first thought, too! I'm a verger...

We have a Plexiglas Altar Book stand - it replaced the pillows we used to use, thanks be to God. But I find it helpful to use a little dish soap and water on it in the Sacristy every once in a while.

quote:
Originally posted by Baptist Trainfan:
Wilbert Awdry (the Thomas the Tank Engine man) once preached at a church which, he was surprised to see, had no pulpit. He needn't have worried: in the hymn before the sermon a choirboy disappeared behind a pillar and turned a handle. This caused a lectern to appear on rails (very appropriate) and trundle to the centre of the chancel steps. At the end of the sermon the process was reversed.

And no-one batted an eyelid - they'd all seen it before!

Haha! I've often joked about having mechanized furniture in the church (to satisfy people who feel the need for more flexibility than pews and a stone altar in the crossing will allow) - e.g., pews that fold into the floor like the third seat in a minivan, or a hydraulic system to raise and lower the high altar (it would have a sort of trap door over it when it's under the floor - no walking on the altar), or an electromagnetic system to keep the pesky little detached kneelers in a straight line under the pews... but who would have thought anyone would have actually done it? Besides, isn't the point of a nice, solid ambo/pulpit/lectern to reinforce a sense of permanence and gravitas of what's being proclaimed?

quote:
Originally posted by Rosa Winkel:
The good thing about lecterns on wheels are of course that, if a sermon is being done there and is taking too long, someone can simply wheel it off.

My co-worker once had to yank someone out of the pulpit! Our pulpit is concrete, built into its spot, though.

I was going to ask about the eagles too - thanks for the great explanations above!

Posted by Pigwidgeon (# 10192) on :

quote:
Originally posted by churchgeek:
My co-worker once had to yank someone out of the pulpit!

Now that's a story I want to hear!

Posted by the giant cheeseburger (# 10942) on :

quote:
Originally posted by churchgeek:
Haha! I've often joked about having mechanized furniture in the church ... but who would have thought anyone would have actually done it?

I agree. Most people would be satisfied with using a sack truck or a low trolley or two with castors.

I wouldn't mind a trapdoor for the preacher though.

Posted by PD (# 12436) on :

In my church the best place for the pulpit and lectern would be on the centre line of the building just in front of the apse. The trouble is that my old-fashioned Anglican congregation says 'it blocks the view of the altar when you come in.' However, if you are in the pews, the present position of both - you guessed it - blocks the view of the altar! [Roll Eyes]

I have moved the pulpit back as far as I can, and substituted a small reading stand for the old lectern, which as reduced, but not solved, the problem. However, in many respect we are still trying to get this building to work for us, at least now we are to the ironing out the bugs stage!

PD

[ 22. June 2013, 15:58: Message edited by: PD ]

Posted by Olaf (# 11804) on :

PD, do you have a sacristy or room next to your chancel? If so, perhaps you could benefit from something like this, only smaller (bottom pic, takes a moment to load). Basically it would be a wineglass-on-the-wall sort of thing, but it need not stick out too far. A foot or two, if the nave is small. Have a doorway cut into the wall from the sacristy, and cover it with a curtain.

[ 22. June 2013, 20:09: Message edited by: Olaf ]

Posted by Enoch (# 14322) on :

Perhaps the organ could come up out of the floor, with the organist actually playing like in an old fashioned cinema. It would be particularly appropriate for hymns like 'The day of resurrection'.

Many years ago, and I can't remember where, I read of someone being surprised when attending a church in Norway in the C19, where at a baptism, the font was winched down from the ceiling, and back up afterwards. I seem to remember she also said it was embellished with angels' wings.

Posted by PD (# 12436) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Olaf:
PD, do you have a sacristy or room next to your chancel? If so, perhaps you could benefit from something like this, only smaller (bottom pic, takes a moment to load). Basically it would be a wineglass-on-the-wall sort of thing, but it need not stick out too far. A foot or two, if the nave is small. Have a doorway cut into the wall from the sacristy, and cover it with a curtain.

Yes, there is a room on both sides of the apse! It would be easier to place the pulpit on the north side, and I could probably combine it with a reading desk, however, it would be more comfortable on the south as I am right handed.

I like 18th century arrangements. That said, my "throne" - the building also serves as the unofficial pro-cathedral - would have to wander, probably to the southside if the pulpit went on the left. It is an intriguing idea, nonetheless.

PD

[ 23. June 2013, 03:59: Message edited by: PD ]

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