THIRTY CELEBRATIONS FOR YOUTH, FAMILIES, AND PARISHES Ritual Prayers for the Liturgical and School Year Jerry Welte and Marlene Kemper Welte PDF, $17.95 8½" × 11" ISBN 0-89390-551-8 View Table of Contents View Excerpt

Liturgies work best when they are designed for a specific worshiping community. Thirty Celebrations for Youth, Family, and Parishes will help you design your own services for various occasions and communities — from a family rite for first communion to an adult celebration of childhood. It is an "e-book" (PDF), which means you can browse and print out whichever liturgies you need.

About the Authors

Marlene Kemper Welte directs music ministry at St. Lawrence O'Toole Church in Matteson, Ill. She received a music degree from DePaul University in Chicago and a master of pastoral studies degree from Loyola University in Chicago. Jerry Welte is youth minister and director of liturgy at Mother McAuley High School in Chicago.

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Introduction

Advent/Christmas Celebrations

1. Celebrating Advent in Color: A Celebration of the Moods of God's Love
2. Shower God's People with Love: A Celebration of God's Graciousness
3. Dream of the Jouous Day to Come: A Celebration of Dreaming
4. Roses in December: A Celebration o fLife from Death
5. On Angels' Wings: A Celebration of Presence
6. Shine Like Stars: A Celebration of Epiphany

Lent/Triduum/Easter Celebrations

7. The Ripple Effect: A Celebration of Connectedness
8. The Cross and the Flower: A Lent-Easter Celebration
9. Stone and Light: A Rite of Easter Witness
10. Come Sail Away: A Celebration fo Being Lost and Found

Eucharistic Celebrations

11. Unless You Become a Child: An Adult Celebration of Childhood
12. Be the Light of Christ: A Family Rite for First Communion
13. Gather around God's Table: A Celebration of Community Re-membering

Reconciliation Celebrations

14. Let the Valleys Be Raised: An Advent Rite of Reconciliation
15. Building Bridges: A Family Celebration of First Reconciliation
16. Lighting the Way to Forgiveness: A Community Reconciliation Ritual
17. Digging in the Dirt, Washing in the Water: A Rite of Cleansing
18. Opening God's Gifts: An Advent Reconciliation Ritual

Opening and Closing Celebrations

19. Knock and the Door Will Be Opened: A Rite of Beginning
20. I Will Give You Rest: A Rite of Leavetaking or Closure
21. The Tree of Life: A Celebration of the Circle of Life
22. Building the House of God: A Celebration of Community Building

Miscellaneous Celebrations

23. Sharing the Seed of God's Blessings: A Celebration of Thanksgiving
24. Let Our Prayer Rise Before You: A Rite of Intercession
25. Many Yet One: A Celebration of Unity
26. Salt of the Earth: A Rite of Ecological Justice
27. Baptized in Water and the Spirit: A Prayer for Catechumens
28. I Will Plant a Seed: A Rite of Intercession
29. The Green and the Gold: A Rite fo Balance
30. Home and Family Rites:
        Cross
        Washing of Feet
        Oil
        Bread and Wine
        Word
        Laying On of Hands
        Fire
        Water

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Following is an excerpted activity from 30 Celebrations for Youth, Families, and Parishes. All rights reserved. Copyright © 2002 Resource Publications

1. Celebrating Advent in Color: A Celebration of the Moods of God’s Love

This is more than an Advent service. It is an entire Advent program, a way of celebrating Advent. We first used it as a high school program for Advent, but it could be easily adapted for a parish or other faith community. This program assigns a different color to each week of Advent and provides a way of celebrating each week of the season according to that color. Included here you will find: (1) an opening service to begin Advent; (2) a closing service to end Advent or to use just before Christmas break in an academic setting; (3) resources for each week of Advent to be used outside the liturgical services.

General Preparation
The main thing you need for the time outside the rituals is spools of colored ribbon in the four colors being used to celebrate the season. The four colors we used are below, but you may choose any four colors you wish. The ribbon is cut into six-inch lengths and distributed to the participants for wearing during the appropriate weeks. The color for week one is green; week two is blue; week three is red; and week four is white. The green and white ribbons will be distributed at the opening and closing liturgies respectively. The other ribbons can be given out at any convenient time near the beginning of the corresponding week. Other resources listed below, such as readings, themes, qualities associated with each color, etc., can be used at your discretion. The main idea is to have the color for each week permeate the environment.

Colors of the Advent Wreath:
* green of the evergreen branches
* blue of the three candles (or violet if preferred)
* red of the ribbon
* white of the fourth candle (or Christmas candle)

Note: Our Advent rituals consistently suggest the use of blue colors rather than violet. We agree with those liturgists who find that using blue for Advent preserves the integrity of the season, reflecting a hopeful expectation that properly distinguishes Advent from the more penitential character commonly associated with the violet of Lent.

Week One: Green
Qualities: freshness/newness, hope, growth, renewal, fertility, adaptability

Focus:
* the earth/environment
* renewal of church & world
* hope for the oppressed
* women as new life for church
* resting in God (Ps 23)

Scriptures:
Jer 17:8 (He/she is like a tree planted beside the waters*its leaves
stay green.)
Ps 23 (In green pastures God gives me rest.)
Gen 1:28*29 (See I give you every kind of green plant.)

Week Two: Blue
Qualities: tranquility, loyalty (true blue), depth (deep blue sea), surprise (out of the blue), sadness (the blues).
Note: Similar color associations can be made by those using violet candles.
Focus:
* faithfulness/commitment
* sorrow/depression (holiday)
* depth/not shallowness (skin deep)
* stillness: patience/peace
* spontaneity

Scriptures:
Lk 2:8 (Shepherds kept watch at night; all is calm.)
Mk 4:35*41 (Jesus calms the storm at sea.)
Lk 2:51 (Mary pondered these things in her heart.)

Week Three: Red

Qualities: passion, strength, fire, excitement, life, action, warmth
Focus:
* just anger/anger as a virtue
* spirit, life, fire in our living
* taking action/getting involved
* compassion: feeling with others
* warming others amid life’s cold

Scriptures:
Acts 2:2 (Pentecost: tongues of fire)
Mt 5:14*16 (You are the light of the world.)
Mk 11:15*18 (The Moneychangers)
Lk 12:49*51 (I have come to cast fire on the earth.)

Week Four: White

Qualities: awe, joy, light, purity, silence
Focus:
* keeping wonder alive/overcoming boredom
* time of silence/listen/communicate
* purity of heart: not perfection, but sincerity/single-heartedness
* being the light of the world
* being happy/lighten up/true joy

Scriptures:
Is 1:18 (Your sins will be made white as snow.)
Mt 17:1*8 (Transfiguration)
Mt 5:8 (Blessed are the pure of heart.)
Preparation for the Opening Ritual
* evergreen branches for the wreath or an evergreen wreath
       (not artificial)
* three blue candles for the wreath
* one white candle for the wreath
* a red ribbon for the wreath
* Dressing the dancers in the four colors for the service is effective. We
       made four simple pullover costumes, one in each color, for four dancers
       to wear.
* green ribbon cut into six-inch lengths (one for each participant)
* decorative baskets to hold the ribbons for distribution
* an aspergillium or a branch for sprinkling
* an undecorated Christmas tree (optional)

Outline for the Opening Ritual
* Gathering Hymn (any suitable Advent hymn)
* Signing in Faith/Sign of the Cross
* Opening Prayer (planner's/presider's option)
* Reading (Eccl 3:1*8: There is a season for every purpose.)
* Response (any sung setting of Ps 23: In green pastures God gives me
       rest.)
* Homily (sample reflection included below)
* Presentation/Blessing of The Advent Wreath (Choreograph presentation
       according to available dancers and space.)
Color/Leader  Action   Prayer (all respond)
Green dancer  presents wreath. Color God's world with hope.
Blue dancer  presents candles. Color God's world with peace.
Red dancer  presents ribbon. Color God's world with love.
White dancer  presents candle Color God's world with joy.
Presider  sprinkles the wreath. May it remain ever-green.
Youth reps  sprinkle the tree. May it remain ever-green.
Dancers  distribute  (Hymn/music accompanies
   the ribbons  action.)
Adult reps  sprinkle the people. May we remain ever-green.

* Sign of Peace
* Prayer (planner's/presider's option)
* Closing Hymn (any suitable Advent hymn)

Note: The following reflection is included here as a resource. Care should be taken, however, to tailor the reflection to your particular celebrating community. Consider, for example, the significance this service would take on in an inner-city parish where colors are gang trademarks and are often matters of life and death. Also, while we ascribe specific meanings to each
color here, we minimized such explanations in our use of this service in order to maximize the ability of each participant to identify the meaning of each color symbol for him or herself.

Homily/Reflection
 When we were children we found great happiness in the simple activity of coloring. At Christmas we received a new coloring book, pulled out a box of Crayolas, and colored away the hours to our heart’s content.  How sad that growing up often means learning to put away our colors and look at the world as an adult, in black and white. Instead of seeing things in their many shades and hues, their combinations and contrasts, we are taught to divide the world into good and bad, right and wrong, winners and losers, haves and have-nots. The truth is that the world can never be so simple. When we try to make
it so, it loses its beauty. So today we begin our celebration of Advent by pulling out our colors again and pledging to see the world in color, to appreciate the rich and varied palette in which the world and its people are painted. We recognize that these
colors live within us and will grow brighter or dimmer by the way that we live. Most of all, we proclaim that God can be
born into the world in color and so the colors we wear actually reflect human hopes for God's colorful arrival. We will wear blue and strive for the loyalty that is true blue, the clarity of a clear blue sky, the depth of a deep blue sea, the spontaneity that comes out of the blue,  and the compassion that sings the blues with the lonely and
abandoned. We will wear red so as to live with spirit and fire, to fight angrily against the injustices which are heaped upon the
poor, to remember those who have shed their blood in the cause of truth, and to blush in the realization of the great love
which God shows us all.  We will wear white as a pledge to be lights for the world, to be pure in our intentions and desire, to wait in awe and silence for the miracle of God's coming, and to rejoice in a creation which reflects the glory of God in white clouds and white snow.
 And today we begin by accepting these green ribbons to wear. We rejoice in green grass, green leaves, and green trees. We pray that the earth may be ever-green with life through our more responsible care for the earth. Finally, we take this green in order to be signs for a world in need of hope and new life.

Preparation for the Closing Ritual
* several rolls of white ribbon
* decorative baskets to hold the ribbons for distribution
* large vigil lamps (twelve inches) in the four colors of the season: green,
       blue, red, and white. These are available at any church goods store. The
       number of lamps depends on the size of the group and the worship
       space. You should have enough to create a strong four-color effect when
       the lights go down (we used twelve lamps of each color).
* Again, costumes for the dancers in the four colors are effective.
* If you have a selection of slides, set them to an instrumental version of
       "Silent Night" (a good one is on the CD Mannheim Steamroller
      Christmas).

1. As before, cut the white ribbon into lengths of about six inches and place
      them in the baskets for easy distribution.
2. Select representatives from each class or from the group to bear the
      candles in the assembly. Position them throughout the room and instruct
      them to keep their candles hidden until the Gospel, when the dancers
      will light them. Also instruct them about processing forward with the
      candles and placing them in designated areas, alternating the colors for
      maximum effect. You must determine the location and spacing of the
      candles that will achieve the best effect in your worship space. It is a
      good idea to practice this procession ahead of time.
3. Choreograph a dance for the presentation of the colors. We used long
      streamers in the four colors as well as one candle of each color.

Outline for the Closing Ritual
* Presentation of colors (In opening dance, each dancer bears one of the
      four colors; we choreographed the dance to "Coventry Carol,"
      Mannheim Steamroller Christmas.)
* Gathering Hymn (any appropriate Advent hymn)
* Signing in Faith/Sign of the Cross
* Opening prayer
* Reading (Is 9:1*6)
* Response (Ps 27 setting "The Lord Is My Light," David Haas, GIA)
* Alleluia (sung as dancers light the candles that have been distributed in
       the assembly)
* Gospel (Jn 1:1*8 short form, lightbearers in the assembly are asked to
       hold their candles high during the Gospel.)
* Procession of candles (Lightbearers process and place candles in
       designated areas. The lights are dimmed so the colors dominate.)
* Hymn ("Silent Night" or other hymn, sung in the glow of the colored
       light)
* Slide reflection (We moved from the sung hymn to the instrumental
       recording of  "Silent Night" for the accompaniment to the slides.)
* Distribution of Ribbons (Dancers move through assembly with white
       streamers while other dancers distribute white ribbons; participants are
       invited to wear  these ribbons the rest of the day and throughout the
       Christmas season.)
* Hymn during Action ("The People That Walk in Darkness," Bob
       Dufford, New Dawn)
* Sign of Peace
* Recessional Hymn ("Joy to the World" or any joyful Advent/Christmas
       hymn)

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