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JOANIE'S RING

MAIN POINT
The sexual revolution has come full-circle. Those who grew up in a sexually permissive age have become parents in the AIDS generation, watching fear-fully as their children begin to make the same pivotal–and potentially deadly–choices that they made years before. Caring parents can feel helpless in guiding their children to pure and healthy boundaries concerning sex. Many tools have been created to help, including purity covenants and promise rings, but in the end, the decision becomes solely that of each individual.

CHARACTERIZATION
Joanie is an enthusi-astic, vibrant, and fairly typical 16-year-old. She’s just beginning the official “dating”
years, excited but also aware. She’s on the verge when it comes to her sexual stan-dards. Play her so that the audience is rooting for her and agreeing with her request for more trust and space, rather than as a rebellious, potential prodigal. 

Dad is a caring and well-meaning father. He’s a rookie when it comes to being a dad to a dating-aged girl, so he’s making mistakes along the way. But he knows it, and he’s not afraid to admit he’s doing some bone-headed things in his zeal. Beneath his drive to protect is a pained fear that longs to secure his daughter from the scars he inflicted on himself. Resist the temptation to play him heavy-handed. Make him self-deprecating enough to endear him to the audience as they understand his foibles, and kind enough that they sup-port him in his passion about the ring.

DIRECTOR'S NOTES
1) Physical touch can be a powerful communicator in this sketch. Dad can affectionately put his hand on Joanie’s shoulders as he shares. She can take his hand as she says she forgives him. Their physical interaction can do as much as the dialogue to show genuine, loving connection as father and daughter. 

2) The ring is central as a prop. When Dad is talking about it, it should be almost as if the ring IS Joanie’s purity, so that her losing it or giving it away is equal to her deciding to do the same with her sexual standards. Don’t rush the silent, final moments when she is handling the ring.

3) A special moment might be created if a song dealing with sexual choices and purity begins while the sketch is still finishing, overlapping with Joanie’s introspective handling of the ring.

4) If lighting is not available to fade out of the final scene, have Joanie wander thoughtfully off the stage (opposite where her father exited).

5) If the bedroom scene is difficult to stage, you could easily convert it to a base-ment
with two chairs, and let Joanie keep the ring in her pocket.

RELATED SCRIPTURES
For passages on the importance of sexual fidelity and fleeing from temptation, see 1 Corinthians 6:12-20, Ephesians 5:1-14, Colossians 3:5-7, and 1 Thessalonians 4:3-8. The importance of making and keeping vows is addressed in passages such as Numbers 30:2 and Psalm 76:11, 116:14.

RELATED THEMES
This content is probably too graphic to use in most worship ser-vices. This sketch was designed as an excellent tool for youth meetings or retreats, especially those dealing with sex and purity. Try it during a series on parenting, espe-cially parenting adolescents.