Aim: 1. To encourage an interest in the natural world.
2. To remind girls that the earth was created by God.
Go on a Nature Ramble. Observe the Country Code.
Make a collection of:
(a)
10 wild flowers and leaf and stalk from at least three different habitats
e.g. meadow, sea-shore, moorland, marsh, hedgerow etc. These could be
pressed, mounted and named.
(b)
A collection of 10 common tree leaves pressed, mounted and labelled,
together with pictures of the trees from which they have come.
(c)
Any relevant items of news obtained from the
National Press.
(d)
Pictures or drawings of butterflies,
moths, beetles and insects etc. seen
during that time.
News and views (15mins)
Read Genesis 1:25-28; 2:8-9 and Joel 2:21-27, then ask:
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From these readings, do you think God wants us to strip the earth of its
resources or take good care of the world?
What examples are there of humankind harnessing
and using the world in a non-polluting and nonexploitative way?
Does the Bible teach that humankind is equal to
animals or rules over them?
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Explain that an increasing number of people get their ideas about
creation and ecology from the New Age movement. New Agers
borrow a lot of ideas from Eastern religions and philosophies that
teach us we are equal in status with animals, insects, even plant
and rocks. They see everything as equal and believe that humans,
animals, plants and minerals are divine. This belief which regards
God as in everything is called pantheism.
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Although the Bible teaches us that we should respect and not abuse
creation, it also teaches that people are uniquely different from the rest
of God’s creation because we are made in God’s image (Genesis 1:26).
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God has entrusted us with the care of his world but he remains closely
interested. The Bible teaches that God knows and is interested in the
smallest details of life on planet earth.
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Read Romans 8:18-25. Sin has affected creation as well as human beings,
and Paul teaches that all creation looks forward to a day when it will be
made whole again.
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Some Christians treat this as a good excuse to be careless about looking
after the world, while others believe that we are responsible for being part
of the healing process.
This example requires some musical equipment. It doesn’t
require much musical ability, simply the ability to create an
atmosphere, which is often best achieved by a totally
unorthodox use of an instrument. A single electronic instrument - synthesizer,
organ or guitar - would be very useful, but not
essential.
You will need:
The best way to involve the whole group on this
project is to split them into small groups, then
the whole group can hear the sounds each
group have invented and choose the best.
Finally make a number of different tapes, or
one person can take responsibility as a director
combining the sounds together.
Using a tape recorder it is possible to record
one sound effect, then turn off the tape as you
prepare the next bit of narration or sound
effect.
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Wire brushes
buckets full of water
a small box
tambourine
drum, cymbal, gong and other
percussion instruments
bells
newspapers
ruler
recording equipment cassette tape
recorder, cassettes,
microphones.
SCRIPT
NARRATOR:
In the beginning, when God created the universe, the earth was
formless and desolate.
(Use wild and unformed sounds to create the feeling of the unfinished
world - unrelated, dissonant electronic sounds; random piano notes or
plucked piano strings. A single piece of paper scrunched up and then
opened out repeatedly will make a good background.)
NARRATOR:
A raging ocean covered everything.
(Add water sounds over the existing sounds - a wire
brush on a drum sounds good.)
NARRATOR:
And the power of God was moving over the water.
(A percussion sound begins amid the other sounds which gradually
become quieter.)
NARRATOR:
God commanded.............
DARK VOICE:
(use megaphone to amplify or have a second voice giving a whispered
echo)
Let there be light!
(Create an open, spreading sound - for instance, run your finger up and
down a piano or xylophone.)
NARRATOR:
God separated the raging oceans and made the sky.
(Splashing water sounds. Dip hands in and out of a bucket of water to
create effect.)
NARRATOR:
Then God commanded............
DARK VOICE:
Let the waters below the sky come together in one place so that
the land will appear. (Wind sound. Use three or more people at
different volumes, in rotation, overlapping one another. Make a sort
of whistling. Pucker the lips and let air escape through the mouth with
less speed and force than it would take to whistle.)
NARRATOR:
And it was done. God named the dry land Earth and
the waters which had come together He named Sea.
Then God commanded....
DARK VOICE:
Let the earth produce all kinds of plants.
(Rustling sound. Put a cupful of dry, uncooked rice in the bottom of
small box. Shake it gently so that the rice moves about. Or shake a
tambourine.)
NARRATOR:
So the earth produced all kinds of plants.
Then God commanded..................
DARK VOICE:
Let lights appear in the sky to separate day from night,
NARRATOR:
the sun, the moon and the stars.
(cymbal hit with a stick or a sudden drum or gong-roll)
(Give the same sound three times at a different
pitch e.g using three different bells. Loud and
for the sun, soft and high for the stars)
low
NARRATOR:
Then God commanded.............
DARK VOICE:
Let the water be filled with many kinds of living beings and the air
filled with birds.
(Use previous water sounds. Hold a folded newspaper in one hand, slap
the corner of it with the finger of the other, to make a big sound.)
NARRATOR:
Then God commanded..............
DARK VOICE:
Let the earth produce all kinds of animal life : domestic and wild,
large and small.
(Cattle sound - “moo” into a bucket or cupped hands.
Imitate roar of lions or tigers and intensify sound by
making the noise through funnel shape.)
NARRATOR:
Then God said......................
DARK VOICE:
Now we will make human beings; they will be like us and resemble
us.
(Loud clash of cymbals)