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Narrator: The theme: Luke 1:46-48
Reader 1: Mark 10: 13-16
Reader 2: A child’s story.
I am a girl child. I am lovely and confident, giggly and carefree, and very, very vulnerable. I am your daughter, granddaughter, niece, and neighbor. I love life and find great joy in colors and fabrics and music and dance. But beware, I need you. I need protection. I am in danger of exploitation, oppression, disease, and poverty. I am filled with hope. I am an innocent and a faith-filled child.
Narrator: As women we must pay attention and be filed with care for the children in our lives. We know that in our world little girls are far more at risk of danger than their brothers. May we never forget to pray for them and to advocate for their needs in our complex society.
Reader 1: Luke 2-46-52
Reader 3: A teen’s story.
I am half woman, half child. I believe I am on my way to great things. I often do my won thing. I don’t ask permission, I just do it! I am filled with enthusiasm and sadness, energy and gloominess, smiles and tears. I am a living contradiction. I am not comfortable in my body, so look into my eyes. They express all my confusion and pain and happiness and excitement. I may try to run away or push you away, but do not give up on me. I need you. I am on my search for God, for authority, for identity. Please celebrate my age – most people just hope I will grow out of it! There is a time for my sadness and my joy. Help me to see that. There is a season for everything and I am ready to grow!
Reader 1: Timothy 4:12-16
Reader 4: A young adult’s story.
I am women! I have come into my own! I am competent and capable. I have so much to give and feel compelled to give it all, constantly. The Church needs me, desperately! I have the desire to reach out. I feel the call of God to use my gifts for others. So I will give! I will serve! And I will also challenge! The Gospel has become my soapbox. I have the courage to protest injustice. I have the energy to work for social change. I have the tenderness to rock and sing lullabies to my firstborn. I do not need your protection; I need your companionship. I know the dangers. They are ever-present as I weep with my sisters who experience domestic abuse and as I stand beside those who are hungry and homeless. I am ready to do the leading, so be ready to step aside. I choose to love and to serve in the name of Jesus.
Narrator: In young adulthood the search for spiritual connectedness is at its peak. A young women examines the images of God, prayer ways, and institutionalized doctrine that have formed her beliefs. A young adult hungers for someone to mentor her into a deepening faith life. May the adult women among us take up that challenge.
Reader 1: Judith 8:11a-12, 20a;16:13-14, 1b
Reader 5: An adult woman’s story.
I look out among you and I see the fruits of my labor-my children, my convictions, my life of faith. I am proud to be a woman. I am glad to have been born female. I honor my gender. I am valuable and precious in God’s sight and in the sight of this assembly. I love my family, my country, my Church-even though there are times when I am disappointed I their actions or behaviors or policies. I believe there is a power in goodness that can overcome evil. I believe we never stand alone because I believe that God walks beside us through the bad times and dances with us in celebration of our good times. I belong to God and I have signed up for the long haul. I am a woman of commitment and I believe that god has called me, by name, to do God’s work on this earth. I am here because I am special to God and am needed to do jubilee justice. I am woman and I am proud of it!
Narrator: An adult woman needs her sisters, other adult women, those younger and older. She needs them to be her companions in her journey of faith and living. May we always extend an obvious sign of care-filled presence for those women who grace our circle of sisterhood.
Reader 1: Ruth 1:11-12, 14-15; Luke 1:42, 45
Reader 6: An elder’s story.
I am blessed- I am a woman of
God. I have seen it all-the vulnerability of childhood, the contradictions and excitement of adolescence, the joys and convictions of young adulthood, and the commitment of adulthood. I am considered an elder, but I remember my yesterdays as if they were a minute ago. God has been so good. I am still very concerned with the world and how we as a society treat the oppressed, the marginalized, the other. We must move towards nonviolence in our homes, our communities, and our world. I believe the adage: “War is not healthy for children or any living creatures” because I believer in lie, not death. I want my granddaughters to see the goodness of God in the goodness of others. So I join their march for a better world. I feel the shadows growing as I face the winter years of my life. I know that I will soon see God face –to-face and I am as giggly about that as a child. I know that the mark I leave will be held in esteem because I am important to this world now and forever. I will march out of this world loving God and all God’s people. I am woman and I am proud of it!
(Courtesy of Carole Goodwin, director of youth ministry, Archdiocese of Louisville)