Lament in the City

Abstract

In January 2020, foreboding signs of what we now call the COVID-19 pandemic emerged as a threat to global public health, and within a month, fears of an outbreak in New York City were increasingly real. By mid-March 2020, New York City, where we are located, shut down. For a time, the city became the epicenter of this pandemic, bringing unspeakable loss of life. Hundreds of thousands of deaths from COVID-19 have been recorded in New York City, more than one out of five total deaths from the virus in the United States. Sustained by the Spirit is a project developed by City Seminary of New York to listen to what is taking place on the ground, particularly among African, Asian, and Latin American churches in our city during the COVID-19 pandemic. In this proposed paper, we will report on how churches are lamenting what has been lost, what they have missed, and how lament forms the seeds of a new social beginning. This is especially for new ministries mobilized to care for vulnerable populations, those facing job loss and economic precarity, and families caring for children home from school and parents working from home. We will also be reflecting on lament in our Harlem neighborhood, and the impact of losses. This also touches on the area of life, community, pastoral care, and cities. From the interviews and site visits, we developed case studies for a more detailed portrait of this sample of churches and pastoral ministry. With the killing of George Floyd, New York City has become a center of protest and lament, which has its own liturgical life. Instead of the singular COVID-19 pandemic, churches speak of the pandemic of racism as well, another layer of lament. Given that both the public health crisis and our research are still in process, we are not ready to state more than descriptive and emergent findings. However, facing new questions while amid change is a normative experience for the global churches of New York City. In our observation, they have adapted well, continuing to be innovative and agile out of necessity. The churches are making a difference in the everyday lives of New Yorkers, the very fabric and future of the city. And they are lamenting losses that continue to press upon the city.