At 11:15 on Sunday morning, the Rev. Kristin Kaulbach Miles, a priest at Trinity Church Wall Street, stepped into the sanctuary of the soaring 1846 Gothic Revival building in Manhattan and delivered a sermon about the need to come together in the face of coronavirus.

But no parishioners were there.

The scene was repeated at some of the most well-known houses of worship in New York: St. Patrick’s Cathedral, the seat of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York; Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church; and the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, seat of the Episcopal Diocese of New York. Something similar had already played out in the city’s mosques during Friday prayers and in synagogues at Shabbat services on Saturday.

The coronavirus outbreak forced the cancellation of religious services across New York and much of the country this weekend, but faith leaders have stepped unto the breach in an effort to comfort and lead communities that are increasingly anxious and unsure about where to turn.

On Sunday, ministers preached messages of calm and compassion to empty churches as their congregants watched on live stream, isolated at home by public health warnings that convinced the Catholic Church and several major Protestant denominations to shut their doors.