Honoring children

By Father DAVID EPPS
Contributing Writer

Father David Epps is Rector of Christ the King Charismatic Episcopal Church which meets at 8 and 10 a.m. Sundays at 4881 E. Hwy. 34. He may be contacted at 770-252-2428, or at frepps@ctkcec.org

On September 8, 1996, our congregation held its first service on a Sunday morning. Prior to that date, several meetings took place in my home where "guiding principles" were established that would take us into the future. One of those guiding principles stated that, at Christ the King, we would honor our children.

That phrase may sound strange, but, in the United States, children are, for the most part, not honored. The Bible says that children are "blessings" and that they are "a heritage of the Lord." Yet, in the Western culture, children are routinely shoved aside, warehoused, neglected, abused, and even destroyed. Even this day, some 4,000 unborn infants will be put to death in America's legalized death clinics. Almost all of those children will die, not because their mother was raped or her life is endangered, but because they are inconvenient.

I served a church for over a decade where we unwittingly shoved the children aside, thinking we were doing them and their parents a good service. The children would come to Sunday School and go immediately to their class. When Sunday School was at an end, these same children would go to the Children's Church, far away from the "adult" service. We thought that was a good thing to do but, in truth, it was a good thing for the parents, the leaders, and anybody else who didn't wish to have their worship service disturbed by the wailing or outbursts of raucous children. The children, on the other hand, were totally isolated from the adult life of the church. It was a mistake and, as the pastor, it was my fault.

On my last Sunday at that church, my wife and I laid hands on each person in the church, including the children, and spoke prayers over each individual. By the end of the service, about 425 people had received prayer. On the way home, my wife noticed that I looked disturbed. When she inquired, I told her that I didn't know the names of hardly any of the children in our church. And, I continued, it was obvious that most of them didn't have a clue who I was either! I vowed it wouldn't happen at the next church. And, so far, it hasn't.

We don't have Sunday School right now due to a variety of factors. When the 10 a.m. worship service starts, the children, except for the infants in the nursery, are right there with their parents. Often, I get to speak to them before the service starts. Before the sermon begins, I call the children to the front and they receive the prayers of the entire congregation. We bless those who are present, those in the nursery, those traveling or sick and home, and those in their mother's wombs. The children come back into the sanctuary after their lesson and receive Holy Communion each week with their families. If I am the one to serve them at the altar, I call them by name. After church, the children are among those who greet me at the door and kiss me a huge hug or a peck on the cheek. Sometimes, the guys give me a "high five" on their way out.

As we have honored the children, The Lord has honored us with more children. Since the day we began services eight years ago, there hasn't been a day that someone wasn't pregnant. That's correct; we've have eight years of constant pregnancies at our church! If you think that's a bad thing, then you probably think of children as an inconvenience! Currently, we have either two or three moms expecting a child.

In December 1996, we held our first water baptism. Last Sunday, we baptized our 101st and 102nd person and, this coming Sunday, if our count is accurate, we will baptize our 103rd and 104th persons. While some of the 104 baptisms of the past eight years were "adult" baptisms, most of those were people who were of "children's church age" or younger.

Do the children get noisy sometimes? Sometimes they do. Do adults get irritated with them on occasion? I certainly hope not but, if they do, I trust that they will come to a biblical theology of children at some point and get over it. When children were an inconvenience for the disciples, they tried to keep them from Jesus. Jesus, however, rebuked the disciples and said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them ..." (Mark 10:14 NIV). How did Jesus treat children? "And he took the children in his arms, put his hands on them and blessed them" (Mark 10:16 NIV).

A few months ago, I was in a local book store when a piercing scream ripped through the quiet. A wisp of a little girl broke from her mother and ran toward me at full speed, screaming, "Faaathhhheeerrrrr Daaaaaaavvvviidddd!!!!" She leaped into my arms and gave me the best hug I received that week! She knows me. I know her. Such are the rewards of honoring children.

[Father David Epps is Rector of Christ the King Charismatic Episcopal Church, at 4881 Ga. Highway 34 between Peachtree City and Newnan. He may be contacted at Frepps@ctkcec.org.ÊThe church, which meets at 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. on Sundays, has a Web site at www.ctkcec.org.]