In an upcoming resource relating to our health initiative, the writer asks this pointed question:
How might you connect the enthusiasm of youth to the yearnings of midlife and the wisdom of the elder years?
That question really speaks to me because it describes the community that can (and does) exist within Women of the ELCA. It is our vision that within Women of the ELCA, women of all ages work together to fulfill our mission and achieve our purpose.
In the best of situations, we encourage the enthusiasm of youth, we respond to the yearnings of midlife and we honor the wisdom of the elder years. I’m not totally naïve (despite what some may say). I know that my “best of situations” description doesn’t hold true everywhere.
There are places within our organization where the new ideas of younger women and their eagerness to try something different are squelched by older women. There are places where the yearnings expressed by those in midlife are dismissed or even where those yearnings go unexpressed for fear of dismissal. And there are places where the wisdom that elders bring is rejected or shelved summarily as “out of touch.”
Where does your unit of Women of the ELCA fall?
Are all ages active within your group?
How would other women in your congregation who are not part of your unit answer that question ?