The Center of Our Church

I recently read an article in Christianity Today in which the author reminded us that Protestants moved the pulpit to the center of the church displacing the altar.  If that is really true, it is a reflection on the priorities of American evangelicalism.  I say that because the altar in the scriptures was always a place where the people of God came to allow God to act on their behalf.  Altars were always memorials to the deliverance or promise of God now made real and present.  And to me that seems much more than what the pulpit could ever be.  It reflects this tendency in our churches to replace the presence of God with the word of God.  There is a danger in substituting the Bible, the written word of God, for the living Word of God, Jesus.

But back to the altar.  I recently used this as an illustration in a call to worship.  I reminded the congregation that we did have an altar at the very center of our front dais, and although Protestants tried to downplay it or call it a table or put a choir loft in front of it, it still pretty much looked like an altar in a church to me.  And it contained everything about the story of God's work on our behalf.  It was white reminding us of the holiness of God and His high calling upon us.  We ascended up multiple steps to reach its level to remind us that God's dwelling place is exalted above all the earth.  I pointed out that it was a constant reminder of God's love, because in its very center, lifted above all else, was the cross of Jesus.  By that cross we gained access to God in the first place.  In front of it was an open Bible, reminding us that the word of God is good news given to all people and that it lies open before us, not hidden away or incomprehensible.  And on either side was a lit candle, reminding us that light has come into our world in Jesus, and that the darkness has been overcome.  We need never fear it again.

We stare at the altar in our church for nearly two hours each Sunday and hardly give it a second's notice because our eyes are always drawn to either side by the worship leaders or the pulpit.  But in its image we see reflected the whole counsel of God and the whole work of God on our behalf, renewing covenant, renewing each of us on every Sunday gathering.