The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 4 plus 2 plus 3 plus 5 letter word LEFT AT THE ALTAR
I've seen this crossword clue in Financial Times
L
E
F
T
A
T
T
H
E
A
L
T
A
R
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Abandoned/directions to the pulpit, maybe" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case abandoned/directions to the pulpit, maybe = left at the altar.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.