The term pulpit is derived from the Latin pulpitum, meaning "a wooden platform" and refers to the place where the sermon or homily is preached.

Those who read last week's offering on the lectern might be, rightly, confused as it was suggested that the word was preached from the lectern, with no mention being made of the pulpit whatsoever.

When then did the pulpit supplant the lectern as the homily's home?

The short answer is no one really knows.

However, most scholars agree that the pulpit developed form an as yet unmentioned liturgical furnishing called the ambo.

Arising from the Greek meaning "a raised edge," what made the ambo distinct from the lectern was its height.

In essence, the ambo was nothing more than the lectern's taller sibling.

Yet, while the ambo and lectern were at one time liturgically interchangeable - i.e. lessons and other parts of the liturgy were said or sung in either place - some have suggested that the ambo rose to the occasion and became the place where the sermon was preached because of its vertical prominence.

There is scriptural warrant for this argument; in 2 Chr. 6:13, Solomon addresses the Israelites from a brazen scaffold and Esdras the priest and reader of the law stood up upon a pulpit of wood, which was made for that purpose. (1 Esdr 9:42).

Other scholars erect their argument from Christian tradition, citing the raised platforms upon which mendicant friars of the middle ages would preach in the shires and hamlets they encountered in their wanderings.

A third more realistic, albeit cynical, explanation is that preaching the word from higher ground added to the prominence of the priest, leaving him six feet above criticism, as you've heard the saying go.

Whatever the explanation, pulpits (or ambo's as they are still commonly referred to in many Roman Catholic and Lutheran churches) have come to be the place where the word of God is expounded.

However, in recent years the pulpit has fallen into disuse, if not disfavour in many churches.

Some would argue that the lectern is the most appropriate place to preach the word; since it is the place where the scriptures are opened up, it should also be the place where the scriptures are... opened up.

Others suggest that the altar is the appropriate place to preach the Gospel.

The merit of this approach is that it embodies the unity of word and sacrament, symbolizing that we "do not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God."

However, I tend to take the Everest approach to where the Gospel is preached, climbing the pulpit "because it's there."

In other words, rather than allowing pulpits to become repositories for cobwebs, if you have it use it.

Besides, debates notwithstanding, it matters not so much where the Gospel is preached, but that it is preached.