Church of St Mary Magdalene, Gisland

St Mary Magdalene’s Church at Gisland was in danger of becoming one of those very few churches about which I had literally nothing to write. I know it is hard to believe, but there is a handful of churches I visit in which I think “even I cannot scrape the barrel that much, or else there is no barrel left to scrape, and I should find myself scratching the stone flags beneath”. Gisland’s church, an otherwise predictable little Victorian affair in Northumberland, nearly qualified for such a distinction, though it apparently warrants a remarkably detailed Wikipedia page.

I was momentarily struck, however, by its pulpit. It is built of pale, whiteish stone, instead of the usual dark wood or deeper hued sandstone. Although a properly laundered surplice would soon show up the dullness of its lustre, it looks rather pure and bright while unoccupied.

Several times in the scriptures is God’s word described as ‘pure’. For example:

Psalm 12:6: The words of the Lord are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.

Psalm 119:140 Thy word is very pure: therefore thy servant loveth it. (Geneva Bible)

What sullies and bespoils it are human additions: ungodly opinions, unsupported applications, out-of-context assertions. Those who enter pulpits and presume to expound God’s word should be careful of their own souls, and those of their hearers’, for He whose words are pure shall judge most severely those who preach. May our pulpits be clean, preachers be pure and God’s word shared, undiluted.