From America: 6

After an increasingly warm journey in our yellow school buses to New York, we arrived at the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem shortly after 10.15. The Deacons of the church, very large gentlemen immaculately dressed in colourful suits, checked our paperwork and formed us into a line on the other side of the street. Shortly after 11.00 the congregation from the 9.00 service left; and we were ushered into our seats in the gallery of the church.
The service commenced with prayers lead by a young curate. The processional Hymn saw the arrival of the choir in their maroon robes into the choir stalls, set high up at the end of the church under a magnificent stained glass window. The singing was everything we had been led to expect. The choir swayed in time with the rhythm, filling the church with their wonderful harmonies and with some outstanding soloists who sang with passion and conviction.
Various groups of visitors to the church were announced and welcomed, but not us. The announcements were a mixture of the sort of thing that could be heard in any parish church, and community events and news, including an important announcement about the future of the local hospital (The pastor being chairman of the board of trustees).
There followed a celebration of all those who had recently graduated from High School or above. Each came forward, said who they were and what they had done, and what their next steps would be, before being presented with a Bible. Some half dozen scholarships, awarded by the church for undergraduate studies at college were then announced.
The sermon was on the theme of the importance of education which, the pastor explained, was what had allowed the status of African Americans to be raised. The importance of thinking for oneself, rather than blindly following authority, was passionately stressed. The powers of his oratory, the changes in pace, intensity and volume, and the touches of humour held us all spellbound.
After this sermon the presence of a group from St Bede’s School, Sussex, England was announced, and we all had to stand up, although we did rather stand out anyway, to receive applause from the congregation.
The service ended with 10 candidates, be-robed in white, coming forward for baptism by total immersion. The whole service had lasted just over three hours but it was always fascinating; it was clear that the church really is at the centre of the lives of the people.

A short drive took us to the Dallas Steak House for a late (3.00pm) lunch of half chicken or rack of ribs, (or in Mr. Dixon’s case the Super Combo, which contained examples of nearly every species of North American fauna), all served with French fries, coleslaw , corn bread ( almost like a very yellow Victoria Sponge) and very welcome unlimited supplies of iced drinks.
At 4.00 pm, about 2 hours behind our original schedule, our City guides led us the 200 yards to the Dakota Building, where John Lennon lived and met his death, and then across the avenue to Strawberry Fields on the edge of Central Park.

Back on our buses we attempted to reach downtown Manhattan to see the World Trade Centre. Unfortunately traffic was appalling due to the disruption caused by the annual Gay Pride parade. However we did get to see New York life in all its colourful variety. A short stay at the World Finance Centre allowed us to view the construction work going on at Ground Zero. For those of us who came on the original visit in 1999, the contrast with what we saw then brought home once again the horror of 9/11. However the vitality and resilience of the American people was clear.
We returned to our buses and headed back to New Jersey via the Holland Tunnel (not so much a tunnel, more a very long fan-assisted oven) to arrive back at 8.00 pm for a somewhat shorter evening with our hosts. We were hot and tired, but we wouldn’t have missed the day for the world.