User:Snoviello
From The Peopling of New York City
Hey I'm Steve. =)
Recently I stopped by Trinity Baptist Church on the north shore of Staten Island. This is an map of the area:
And here is a journal entry detailing my trip:
Originally I was a bit apprehensive about this trip. I’m not one to travel past the mall or CSI on Staten Island. My neighborhood is pretty boring all around and I was a bit nervous to venture up to the north shore. On my way to the church I noted a few things. The environment in general was so different from my neighborhood. There was a run down looking auto shop, a bridge overhead, and the curves on each block seemed to make 90-degree angles! I thought about how out of place I was going to feel.
When I arrived at the church I didn’t know I was there. It took me a while to realize the store on the corner was actually the church. On the outside it resembled a storefront – it was just a brick building with an awning hanging over it. I waited outside for the rest of the people in my group to come, and took a look at some of the people going into the church. Some came in cars, a few from Jersey. Some walked, probably from nearby homes. Others got off the bus, coming from other parts of the island.
They were dressed in everything from traditional African garments, to jeans and a hoodie, to a suit and tie. Old and young, I watched the people file into their church until finally we joined them. Walking in initially was the most awkward part. A few people stared at us, possibly thinking we walked into the wrong place. Once we were ushered to our seats in the front the priest explained to the congregation who we were and welcomed us.
When the service began it was mostly singing. We didn’t have a hymn book for a short time so we really just stood there watching what was happening. One of the ladies in the next row noticed and handed me her book and pointed to where the song was up to. It was at this point that I felt so welcomed, and Alexa and myself started singing along.
Although I’m not a church person I know that the spirit that these people had was nothing like any church I had ever been to before. It seemed fun. The congregation was engaged in everything that was happening, whether singing or being preached to. ‘Hallelujah’ and ‘Amen’ were shouted along with sometimes just generally noises of agreement. There was this feeling of an inside joke that seemed to exist throughout the entire service. I’m sure it stemmed from how close these people had become to each other while attending Sunday mass.
At the end of the service the priest thanked us again for coming, and welcomed us back whenever we would like. The church as a whole told us that, “Everyone is someone inside Trinity Baptist Church."
As a whole I felt kind of bad at the end of the service. The church it self was pretty tattered. The door to the bathroom had no doorknob; the halogen light above us kept flickering on and off. They had stated that they planned to raise ten thousand dollars so they could get their own building instead of renting the room out. This is compared the church my family goes to: Our Lady Star of the Sea, who is working on their ten million dollar new church. I hope that everything works out for them and maybe sometime I’ll go back.