Two ministers and an imam walk into a Presbyterian church. ...

It's not the beginning of a joke.

It's the lineup of speakers for the Jan. 24 interfaith service to kick off Catonsville's 200th anniversary celebration.

"I think this is a real testament to Catonsville," said the Rev. Jennifer Sowell-Glover, one of the three speakers.

"They could have done a lot of things, but they chose a worship service," said the pastor of St. John's United Church of Christ on South Rolling Road.

"I was really honored that they asked me to speak," she said.

Joining her are Imam Mutee Mulazin, of Masjid Al-inshirah, a Muslim organization off Dogwood Road in Windsor Mill, and the Rev. Rick Powell, pastor of the Christian Temple, on Edmondson Avenue in Catonsville.

"It puts forth a nice vision for the future, peace and people getting along in the community," Sowell-Glover said.

Mulazin agrees.

"I'm definitely looking forward to it," he said.

Mulazin doesn't see an interfaith service as particularly strange.

"For us, it wasn't a big jump," he said.

After all, Mulazin said, the Quran contains passages that talk about Muslims, Christians and Jews working together in peace.

"The things that separate us are very small, really," Mulazin said.

"Our families are Christians and other faiths," he said. "I believe, bottom line, we're all good people."

Having an interfaith service start off the year of celebrating Catonsville's 200th anniversary is being done "partly because Catonsville has always been a community of churches," said Joan Bender, president of the Catonsville Historical Society.

Old Salem Lutheran Church, a small stone building surrounded by a cemetery on the west side of Ingleside Avenue just south of Route 40, serves as an example of that, Bender said.

In 1848, when the church was built, it was the only church in the area, so the Lutherans allowed area Catholics and other denominations to use their sanctuary for worship.

This is one of many little-know pieces of history in Catonsville, Bender said, which is part of the reason for the 200th anniversary celebration.

"The real goal is to educate Catonsvillians, the general public and whomever that we are a lot older than most of them think we are," Bender said.

"We go back, probably, to the early 1700s," she said.

To celebrate Catonsville's history, the historical society continues to plan events for throughout the year.

"We've been working as a group since the fall of 2007 to come up with functions and celebrations," Bender said.

One of the highlights will be a bus tour through Catonsville, visiting 10 to 12 historic sites, she said.

"We will end the year, in December...with an open house (of churches) the day after Christmas," she said.

That way, Catonsville residents can enter a church across the street from their house or one they pass by every day and have a look inside, she said.

During Saturday's service at Catonsville Presbyterian, 1400 Frederick Road, Sowell-Glover, Powell and Mulazin will speak about readings from the Old Testament, the New Testament and the Quran.

"Several congregations will provide musical offerings, each drawing on its own faith tradition," according to an invitation letter from Anthony Brow of Morning Star Baptist Church, on Winters Lane south of Route 40.

Members of several congregations will sing "The Promise of Living" together, and children from the congregations are invited to sing "We Are Marching in the Light of God" together.

An offering collected during the service will go to the Catonsville Emergency Food Ministry, the letter said.

A reception will follow the service.

The next event celebrating Catonsville's birthday will be the annual, Groundhog Day appearance of Catonsville Catey, the toy groundhog, at the historical society, 1824 Frederick Road in Catonsville.

A schedule of events will be posted on the Catonsville Historical Society's Web site, www.catonsvillehistory.org.

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