Sunday School Improv--First Day

We did our first Sunday School Improv on Sunday, and it went very well. We decided to start at the very beginning--creation! Or, to be more specific, the first Creation story, where God makes everything and declares it good, very good.

We asked for seven volunteers, and each volunteer would represent each day of creation. With guidance, they had to do something that represented the day. So, for the day where God creates rain, one of the children did a rain dance. On the day where God creates trees and other vegetarian, a boy stood in the Yoga tree pose. On the day where God creates creatures, a teenager led us through a singing of "The Itsy, Bitsy Spider."

Our narrator had recorded some sound effects, so every time the text said, "It was morning" a cock crowed. "It was evening"--cricket sounds. Every time God declared something good, half the room cheered. The other half of the room would cheer when God declared something bad--but God never declares anything bad. To me, that's the important message of the text: God never looks at a creation and says, "Blhh. This didn't turn out right at all. This is so ugly. I'm so stupid. How could I have thought this idea would work!" No, that inner critic that so many of us hear is not--NOT--the voice of God. God declares it all very good.

Everyone on Sunday seemed to have a really good time, youth and adults alike. Will children remember the story? We hope so. We hope that it comes alive for them, that they carry some of these seeds with them into their adult lives. And along the way, we can all have some improvisational fun.