If you were in Anderson Park by Union St yesterday morning facing north or south between 11:30 and 12:00, you would have heard bagpipes in one ear and a very amplified Christian band in the other.
There was a funeral service in the Second Reformed Church that utilized bagpipes and a large group representing Hackensack's Emmanuel Christian Church on the Pangborn Place side of the park.
I had heard bagpipes a couple of hours earlier and - from my roof - saw a kilted gentleman practicing in the church parking lot (first picture).
Later when I heard the other music, I took the second picture - also from my roof. The band is mostly blocked by foliage and shadow and everyone associated with that church wore red shirts.
When the band wasn't playing, the proselytizing was loud and clear and bounced off the churches and apartment buildings surrounding the park. It was a strange sound seven floors up.
Later, I went downstairs and walked across the street to the park to get a better look. The third picture was taken from Pangborn Place behind all the activity.
It wasn't just religion being offered. As you can see from the flyer in the fourth image, the church event was called "Clothing Closet in Your Neighborhood" and had tables with lots of free clothes for children.
According to their website (
http://ecfhackensack.com/):
The Evangelism Ministry goes into the neighborhoods, street corners, the projects, rooming houses and parks of Hackensack. Each person is equip with their personal testimony of how Jesus saved them from a life of sin and death and set them free in the power of God, and they tell of the mercy of God.
Project Mercy roams from neighborhood to neighborhood giving away food and clothing as one of our Pastors proclaim the Word of God in an open air meeting.
