This Sept.

8, our church, Christ the King, will observe its sixth anniversary. It

hardly seems possible that in 1996 we met in a living room with 19 people.

Today, our first sanctuary is being constructed and we're a pretty excited

bunch. The last church I served as pastor was founded in 1979, so they

celebrated their 23rd anniversary this year. Most of the churches in the

area, in fact, are probably less than 35 years old.

A few weeks

ago, I attended Morning Mass at All Saints Church in Brisbane, Australia,

which bills itself as the "oldest Anglican church in continuous service

in Brisbane." The congregation was founded in 1864. At 138 years

old, that's an ancient church in a nation that is younger than the United

States.

A couple of

weeks ago in Coweta County, Georgia, two Baptist congregations observed

milestones. Providence Baptist Church celebrated its 165th anniversary

while the good folk at Macedonia Baptist Church hit the 175-year mark.

For this area, even for the United States, that's a couple of impressive

anniversaries.

Yet, by European

standards, all of those dates just mentioned barely merit a raised eyebrow.

In January 2002, I had the opportunity to study Celtic Christianity in

Ireland. The group visited its first church, St. Patrick's Cathedral in

Dublin, on a Sunday morning where we attended services of worship. The

Boy's Choir sang that day and I sensed the history in the ancient edifice.

After the service, as I was wandering around, I saw a sign near the choir

room which said, "Boy's Choir - Singing Continuously to the Glory

of God Since 1492." Now that's humbling to a pastor whose church

is not quite six years old.

As we continued

our tour of churches in Ireland, I stood where St. Patrick proclaimed

the Gospel in the 5th century and visited St. Brigit's Church (Brigit,

abbess of a large double monastery in County Kildare, lived in the 5th

and 6th centuries and was said, by some, to have been a bishop in Ireland).

I also visited the monastic settle of St. Kevin founded in the 6th century

at Glendalough (which was active for 1,000 years), strolled upon the grounds

of Clonmacnoise, which was founded in 545 A.D. and housed over 2,500 students

and was a renown center of learning. It was attacked approximately 40

times from the 8th to the 12th century.....8 times by the Vikings; 6 times

In 1552 it was finally reduced to ruin by the English garrison in Athlone.

At Trinity College, Dublin, we saw the Book of Kells, a beautifully illustrated

version of the four Gospels which was produced over 1,200 years ago.

In the 4th

century, in what is now County Tipperary, a fortress castle was built

and became known as the Rock of Cashel. St. Patrick converted their leader

in the 5th century in a ceremony in which the saint accidentally stabbed

the king in the foot with his crozier (a large walking staff). The king,

thinking this was a painful initiation rite, bore the pain. Considering

the actions taken by St. Patrick on other occasions against nonbelievers,

possibly he was afraid to react. I walked on the same ground and saw crosiers,

chalices, and other liturgical items that were over 1,000 years old.

If all that

wasn't old enough, I was able to go into Newgrange, a pre-Christian Neolithic

tomb that was build by an unknown people between 3300 and 2900 B.C.! They

even let me run my fingers along the ancient carvings that are over 5,000

years old.

In the U.S.,

people are prone to consider a computer that is two years old as "ancient."

After walking in some truly ancient and sacred ground, "old"

takes on a new meaning. For the last six years, I have proclaimed to our

people that we are "building for the future" and that we are

"planning for the generations to come." Six years seems like

a pretty good start but, should the Lord delay his coming, we and our

descendants will, God willing, be still serving the Lord at Christ the

King for 165 or 175 years. Or even 1,000 or more. Impossible? Not at all.

We're in this for the long haul!

[The Reverend

Canon David Epps is rector of Christ the King Charismatic Episcopal Church

in the Coweta/Fayette County area of south metro Atlanta. He may be contacted

at [email protected] or at www.ctkcec.org.]