Bidden or Unbidden

The sound of the orchestra and the chorus seemed to echo all the way to China.  The huge arches went up as though past the Himalayas, the hard stone reflecting all it was given.  Surely it was impossible that Times Square was less than a block away; the reality of its existence denied our seemingly infinite expansion.  How can a church this huge be "tucked" away, hidden under all the lights, obscured by scaffolding?  And yet it is, and so many others are the same in this city.  It is an undeniable and strange quality of New York, that churches maintain pockets of peace and sanctity, in plain sight, but hidden from the pace of quick footsteps, myopic smart phones, hurried and important schedules.  Their doors are magical portals to other worlds, squeezed within all the other things that are New York.