Bricks and mortar

Legal battles make concrete what’s abstract in Scripture | Mindy Belz

Christ Church (Photo courtesy The New York Public Library)

Maybe I've lived too long in one or another of the 13 original colonies, but when I think of the old downtown churches I picture the lifeless hands of elderly greeters, liturgy murmured from a cold pew, and bingo. The word vibrant does not come to mind.

But on a warm winter Sunday last month in downtown Savannah, the churches were that. A trio of bagpipes played on the lawn of Independent Presbyterian Church (est. 1755, its first minister part of the Continental Congress, with President James Monroe present for its dedication). About 10 blocks away, families burst from the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist (est. 1799 by French and Haitian immigrants). Through the open doorway a priest lifted high an infant over a wide baptismal font as extended family encircled and looked on. And across town at Christ Church (est. 1733, its early rectors being John Wesley and George Whitefield), the singing spilled from the balconies and pews and out across Johnson Square.