The Good Shepherd

THE FIGURE OF THE GOOD SHEPHERD IN THE MEMORIAL CHAPEL
 
The figure of Jesus as the Good Shepherd which now stands in a wooden niche in the Memorial or Remembrance Chapel was originally part of the pulpit that was made in 1893.
 
The Good Shepherd
In the gospel of John, Jesus likens himself to a Good Shepherd, in contrast to the many bad shepherds who preceded him. He said this in John chapter 10: 

‘I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me and I lay down my life for the sheep.’               
 
In saying this Jesus and his audience will have remembered King David’s famous song (or Psalm) No 23: ‘The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not lack for anything. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul.’
 
The 1893 Pulpit
When All Saints Church was enlarged and extended in 1893 under the leadership of the Rev Edward Hardcastle, a new and grander pulpit was made of stone and marble. This pulpit replaced the two wrought iron pulpits with curved steps that had been installed when the medieval church was largely demolished and the present building came into being.
 
The parish magazine for the 1890’s record that the pulpit was a gift of the Pinder family, who probably had a house in Brookfield Park. In the churchyard there is a memorial stone to four members of the Pinder family including Ann Pinder who died in December 1890, not long before work started on the enlargement of the church. She had been married to William Maynard Pinder who had died 21 years earlier. The parish magazine also tells us that the ‘Misses Pinder’ gave £100 towards the cost of the enlargement and that on the occasion of the rededication of the church (29 June 1893) the Rev North Pinder ‘preached a beautiful sermon on the Worship of the Church, which was all the better because it came from one who loved Weston and spoke to Weston hearts.’
 
Removal of Pulpit in 2024
Church architecture changes in line with changed thinking about the way in which ‘church should be done’. Until quite late in the twentieth century, in many churches, the figure of the priest and what he (it was always ‘he’ then) did in church was kept quite separate and in some ways distant from the congregation. So it was that the priest would speak to the congregation from an elevated pulpit high above their heads (and often the sermon would indeed be ‘above their heads’). Holy Communion was celebrated at the farthest point from the congregation and often with the priest’s back to the congregation. Towards the end of the twentieth century there was a move to bridge the gap between clergy and laity. This gap was narrowed physically, e.g. by bringing the communion table much nearer to the congregation or by having a more modest preaching desk only slightly higher than the congregation - and in other ways too. E.g. by the greater involvement of the laity in leading of services and of preaching.
 
At All Saints Weston, the pulpit had not been used for preaching for more than 30 years when the refurbishment took place in 2024. It was also very damaged in places. So, it was decided to remove the pulpit altogether (this then allowed a ramp to be constructed in its place, thus allowing easy access for all to that part of the church which in the past had only been occupied by clergy and choir. However in removing the pulpit, the figure of Jesus as the Good Shepherd was retained intact and is now in the Memorial Chapel. It was made by the same person or persons who made the statuette of Christ ascending into glory which is the centrepiece of the reredos (the decorative panelling on the wall behind the communion rails and table).