The Holy City

  We also learned on the carriage tour that Charleston is nicknamed the Holy City.  Not necessarily because of the people, but because you can see so many church spires as you come close to the city by sea.  Let me tell you, there were old historic churches on every street.  Many had active congregations since they were built.

I can't tell you all of the names of them, but they were big and beautiful and most definitely old. 

Some were Catholic, some were Baptist, and others were some mix. 

  Before we came to Charleston, we knew we wanted to go to church on sunday.  Especially it being the sunday before Christmas.  And we knew we wanted to go to a black church.

  After some exploring online, we decided to go to Emanuel AME (African Methodist Episcopalian) Church.  Aka, Mother Emanuel. 

  We knew it was going to be a black church, with African in it's name and all.  However, when we walked in, we didn't expect to be THE ONLY non-black people in the building.  Oh my goodness, I felt so uncomfortable at first.  People were very nice though, obviously we were visiting and they greeted us as they walked in.  We sat in the way back, trying to sneak in, and if the service went too long, to be able to also sneak out.  Let me just say that I felt like ALL eyes were on us, and no sneaking was going to be done.

  However, I did sneak a quick picture of the gorgeous inside.  And when I say sneak, I mean SNEAK!  :)

  The service was liturgical with a program of when to stand, when to sit,  and which hymns to sing.  However, we did get some of the experience we were wanting when a gospel choir sang and the pastor got his preach on.

  We also got another experience that we were trying to avoid at all costs and that was when it was time to introduce visitors.  Whyyyyy do churches have that awkward time?!?!  About halfway through the service, it was time to introduce visitors.  A lady got up to the mic and asked any visitors to stand.  STAND!  What were we going to do, not stand?  It was oh so clear that we were visiting.  So, Mike and I slowly stood up and all eyes that I thought were on us, were definitely on us.  Oh man.  Then, the lady, with her mic, started walking toward us.  I might remind you that we sat in the back and this was a big church!  We were like in row 28 of 30.  As she started walking I hear Mike mutter under his breath, "Oh God."  She finally got to us, and straight up handed Mike the mic.  No insructions, just here you go.  After he said nothing for about 5 seconds, she says, "tell us your name, where you're from..."  Mike did so well and said, "Hi, my name is Mike and this is my wife Lindsay.  We are visiting from California." Which got a lot of oohs and ahhs.  Then he finished with, "we are here celebrating our 10th wedding anniversary."  And you could hear a collective, aww and clap.  I was so proud of him and at that point all of the tension was released.  Those around us gave us hugs and congratulations during the meet and greet time and I felt welcome.

  I know that very few would do something like that, but I am SO glad we did.  Black churches are a HUGE part of the South's history and we are comfortable with the black church we were members of in Seattle and wanted to experience it here.  Hands down one of the most memorable experiences of the trip to the Holy City.  And I am not just talking about the visitor introduction, but the message as well.

For NOTHING will be impossible with God.

-Luke 1:37 NASB