St. Michael’s

A Story of Angel Food Cake

Last week, I was mentioning how much I was looking forward to Michaelmas, (which was yesterday), one of my favorite principal feasts of Christ on the church calendar. Ladybug immediately responded with “What are you making?”

Nothing?

I hadn’t planned on doing anything special. No angel hair pasta. No angel food cake. No fancy or themed food of any kind. Mondays are kind of a crazy busy day here this semester, and I didn’t figure it was worth it.

But this is what I’ve worked for all these years. My adult children hearing a church festival is coming up, and knowing that it’s a day for special food and feasting, a day to look forward to and celebrate. A day to recognize how God has provided for His people through the years.

This was the goal all along.

I can’t change how busy Mondays are. We didn’t have the time for a fancy dinner. But I did have time on Sunday after to church to bake an angel food cake, and I even found time to stop at Walmart to get some fresh strawberries to go with it.

I am so thankful that the traditions we’ve created over the years mean something. I’m grateful I found ways to make connections between the church year and home life. I’m glad that Ladybug heard a church holiday was coming up and wanted to know how we were going to celebrate it.

“I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.”

St. Michael’s Church

St. Michael’s Episcopal Church might not be the oldest church in Charleston, but it is arguably the most famous, and was one of my must-see locations when we visited the “Holy City.”

St. Michael's Episcopal Church

St. Michael’s Episcopal Church

It was built in the mid-1700s at the intersection of Meeting and Broad Streets, and was influenced by the architecture of St. Martin-in-the-Fields of London. The church graveyard is the final resting place of two signers of the United States Constitution. A beautiful building with an amazing history…what more can you ask for?

The Four Corners of Law

The intersection of Meeting Street and Broad Street in Charleston is often referred to as “The Four Corners of Law.” The four buildings at this intersection represent ecclesiastical, federal, state, and local law. Clockwise from left, the buildings are St. Michael’s Episcopal Church, the United States Post Office and Courthouse, the Charleston County Courthouse, and the Charleston City Hall.

St. Michael’s Episcopal Church
United States Post Office and Courthouse
Charleston County Courthouse
Charleston City Hall

This is the most memorable intersection from our trip to Charleston, and still functions to represent the many branches of law in our country today.

Charleston Churches

Charleston is known as the “Holy City,” and it’s not for nothing…there are steeples everywhere you turn! Some of the churches are, as you might imagine, located on Church Street, although there are plenty more spread throughout the city.

IMG_5005

IMG_4978

French Huguenot Church

St. Michael’s Episcopal Church
Circular Congregational Church
First Scots Presbyterian Church
St. Matthew’s Lutheran Church
St. Philip’s Episcopal Church

Some of my favorites included the pink French Huguenot church (one of only two left in the country), the unbelievably tall St. Philip’s, and the famous St. Michael’s. The history of these buildings is as astounding as their architecture is beautiful!

The church yards are also something to see, especially when you realize the figures from American history that are buried there!

We did also drive past the Emmanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, which was the site of June’s tragic shooting, and saw the memorial there…it seemed too sacred to photograph, though, so that is a memory that I will carry in my mind only.

Quote

Quote of the Day

A sudden noise made her jump. Then she realized that it was the chime of a great clock somewhere above them…Behind them the chimes ended their quartet of notes. A single bell rang once. “That’s every Charlestonian’s time-keeper,” Eleanor Butler said, “the bells in Saint Michael’s steeple. They record our births and our passings.”

From Scarlett by Alexandra Ripley