SANKOFA: Harlem Journal - A Ministry Offers Services Where the Homeless Are

For People on the Margins, a Ministry Steps Outdoors

James Estrin/The New York Times

On Sunday, ministers from churches of various denominations held services for homeless people in Marcus Garvey Park.

By TRYMAINE LEE
Published: July 16, 2010

A barefoot woman with a head full of tangled locks staggered into a circle of worshipers, trying to hold up her head as the preacher delivered a sermon. She found a worn patch of grass and sat, lowering her head between her knees and nodding as the minister spoke of God’s love and loving thy neighbor.

That love, the minister said, was a privilege extended to the prince as well as the pauper.

A few minutes afterward, a man joined the group, later explaining that he had come to pray for help in kicking an addiction to alcohol for the umpteenth time, and to find a place to live. The past few nights in the park had been rough, he said.

The scene played out on a recent Sunday afternoon in Marcus Garvey Park in Harlem, much as it had for more than a year and a half. One by one, in a procession of penance, homeless and hard-luck men and women joined a circle of prayer and worship led by a cross-denominational group of ministers and church members who brought services to those not likely to find their way into a traditional house of worship.

James Estrin/The New York Times

Pastor Cynthia Jackson, left, and Nadja Fidelia offered the eucharist wine and wafer to worshipers

James Estrin/The New York Times

Attendees also received a free lunch.