Based on the Book of Genesis, chapter 1
[Before this story, the children had been making water-related crafts—fish, little paper boats, octopuses, etc. There is a hand-made drawing of the world on the wall. The introduction is more for the adults than the children, but we are sowing seeds for the kids too.]
There are different ways of telling stories. For example, let me ask you a question:
- If I asked your mum about you, what would she say: “She’s 7 years old and she’s cute and has long brown hair. She’s smart and funny and helpful and she loves licorice. And I love her to bits.”
- But if I asked your doctor about you, what would she say? “She’s 4 feet tall and 50 pounds. She’s due for her shots next month, she`s just getting over a bad cold, and I think she’ll need glasses in a couple of years.”
Both are stories about you, but they’re very different! Which one is right? Well, they’re both right—aren’t they?—but in different ways.
So there are different stories about where the world came from. This is one way of telling the story, and it’s the story of God, and how God made everything. So I’ll tell you the story, but I’m going to miss out one very important thing from the list of things God made, so you listen carefully, and see if you notice what I’ve missed out. Don’t say it till I’ve finished, and then I’ll ask you if you noticed. OK? So . . .
In the beginning, before there was anything, so long ago you can’t even count it in millions of years, there was nothing, a lot of nothing, and it was dark, very dark.
But there was God. And wherever God is, you know something is going to happen, because God is very creative. And God looked around at the nothingness and the darkness, and he said something. I think he said it very quietly, because he didn’t need to shout. He said, “LET THERE BE LIGHT!” And suddenly—there was light. And God said, “Boy, is that ever G-O-O-D!”
And the angels jumped up and down and clapped their hands, they were so excited.
And God said, “OK, light over here, and darkness over there. And I think we’ll call the light day, and the darkness we’ll call, um, maybe we’ll call it square. No, that doesn’t sound right. Maybe we’ll call it purple. No . . . I know, we’ll call it night! Yes, that works.”
The next day, God made sky and God made the earth. And God said, “Boy, is that ever G-O-O-D!” And the angels did a little dance for joy because it was all so beautiful.
And God spoke to the earth, and said, “OK, what I want you to do is produce trees and plants and bushes and vegetables. And not just ones that will grow for a bit and then die so that I have to start over. I want you all to have fruit and seeds, so that you can have baby trees and baby plants and baby bushes and baby vegetables.” So the earth did what God said, and God said, “Boy, is that ever G-O-O-D!” And the angels did handstands all over heaven because they were so happy.
And then God made the sun, the moon and the stars, and the birds and the animals from the biggest to the smallest, from the most beautiful to the strangest looking. And he loved them all.
Finally, God made one more thing. God made human beings. Everything God made was special, but human beings were especially special because they were more like God than anything else God had made. They could love, just like God, and they could think, just like God and they could be creative, just like God. And God said to the first people, “OK, this world is your home, it’s a good and beautiful place, and I want you to enjoy it. But it’s also your job—all of you, big and small—to take care of it for me. So there’s a blessing, but there’s also a responsibility.”
What did I miss out? WATER!!! OK, come and stick your watery crafts on the picture of the world . . .