My First Sunday in NYC

My first Sunday in New York City

Church and Manhattan’s Upper East Side

Written by Dan McDonald

 

            I spent two weeks on vacation in New York City with three full weekends. New York City has a reputation of a place where one can so easily get lost so far from God. But the reality is that it is a place full of religion. There are an abundance of churches of every stripe, of synagogues, mosques, Buddhist and Sikh temples and even places to get your palms read and your fortunes told between the various houses of worships. New York City is full of religion including those with an Evangelical faith such as mine.

On my three Sundays in NYC I visited 3 different churches from somewhat different Evangelical traditions. On Sunday May 24 I visited a sister church within the same denomination as the church I attend in Oklahoma. St. Alban’s on 317 East 50^th Street in New York City is a Reformed Episcopal Church, within the Anglican Churches of North America. I expected to find worship similar but a little different from my own church’s worship. It was understood that the church in New York City would be more low church Evangelical while our Oklahoma parish was a somewhat higher and more Anglo-Catholic church in comparison. But the differences were not major as we had the same Morning Prayer service in the traditional Anglican Book of Common Prayer.

My photograph of St. Alban’s entrance – 317 E. 50^th Street

 

            I gave myself plenty of time to find the church and was there early. I met the church’s minister who told me not to expect a large group for Memorial Day. He told me of how when he first came to New York City to be the church’s minister he discovered something about New Yorkers and summer time. On the last weekend before Memorial Day weekend during his first year as minister one of the persons speaking on behalf of his family thanked the minister for the sermon and then added “We will see you in September.” This troubled him until he discovered that this was common for a number of families in the church. In summer many New Yorkers leave the city in search of weekend retreats in places like Long Island, the Jersey Shore, or upstate New York. I guess New Yorkers leave the city to make room for the summer rush of tourists into the city. Maybe that is no coincidence.

The church was not packed but the membership was diverse. There were Nigerians and African-Americans as well as Caucasians. The sermon was encouraging. It was Pentecost Sunday and the minister pointed out how the Spirit’s coming on Pentecost was related to Christ’s ascension ten days earlier. We sometimes forget that the Scriptures describe how Jesus remained on earth for forty days after his resurrection, met with his disciples, and sometimes taught them in those days. One teaching he gave in that time was the Great Commission. That was the morning’s text used for Morning Prayer and the minister emphasized how Jesus pointed out in that teaching how he had been given all authority both in heaven and on earth. Jesus ascended at the end of the forty days and The Holy Spirit came to the Church on Pentecost Sunday. It was Jesus, being granted authority that told the disciples to wait in Jerusalem and it was when Jesus ascended to the right hand of the Father that made it time for the Holy Spirit to come and lead the Church. It was encouraging for me to realize that Jesus has been given all authority. It is important to remember when in the church we see so much doubt, division, corruption and abuse. Outside the church we see a world where a group like ISIS seems to be laying waste everywhere. The Church can seem to be a disappointing place. But perhaps the church’s imperfection shows it to be the perfect place of refuge for people escaping the muck to find a tabernacle between that life of the slavery of our remaining sins and the promise of the place to which we journey in the mercies of Christ.

            After church I did a little bit of walking and sightseeing on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. The area has an international flavor as the United Nations Building and a large number of diplomatic residences are in the Upper East Side. New York City, is as much a global city as it is an American city.

            Two doors east of the First REC Church is where the consulate for Latvia is located.

 

            If you walk further to the east until 50^th Street ends just before you get to the East River there is the present consulate of Luxembourg. An interesting fact about this consulate is that before it was a consulate it was the Irving Berlin’s home for the last forty-two years of his life.

Along the East River (beyond the view of this photo) it is a peace filled place, fitting for Irving Berlin and Luxembourg

 

            Then there is this famous building where delegates to the United Nations serve.

 

            Not far from the United Nation’s Building there was this tower. I looked for but did not see a certain businessman with a really bad looking haircut.

 

Trump World Tower

 

 

                There were unique businesses that I thought would appeal to a certain group of people I know who seem to be interested in literature, the Holy Spirit, and also some lesser spirits. Beekman’s Bar and Books looks on the outside to be such a place.

 

            Finally I had been seeing all sorts of discussions on Twitter about privilege. I didn’t realize that they were talking about a restaurant on Manhattan’s Upper East Side until I discovered this sign and realized – that this is what all the fuss was about. I had heard so much about it that I took one photograph and didn’t linger in this place of Privilege.

 

 

            That's all folks. That is the highlights from my first Sunday in New York City. I think it helped get me in the mood for one of the most perfect evenings of my life. But that is for my next blog.