Creation Assembly

Creation Assembly

The unfinished masterpiece

There was once an artist, who was very, very good, but very, very slow. One morning he woke up with a brilliant idea for a painting. He got out some paper, very, very slowly. He sharpened his pencils very, very slowly. He mixed his paint very, very slowly. He thought a bit, and thought a bit more. Finally he was ready to begin. He started to draw. But he had taken so long that it was lunchtime and just at that moment his wife said the food was ready. Paulo loved his food, so he put down his pencil and went downstairs. After a long, long lunch he had a little nap, but when he woke up he just couldn’t remember what it was he was going to paint. He couldn’t even remember which way up it was going to be. And all he had was this…

(Show sheet of paper with a circle somewhere on it – better if it is not right in the middle. Turn paper round , portrait and landscape, so that they can see that the circle could be at the top, side or bottom.)

I wonder what he was going to paint? Do you have any ideas what this circle was going to turn into?

Think about it, but don’t tell me. Give a few children who think they have an idea a copy of the “unfinished masterpiece” and let them sketch while you talk.

I know you’ve got lots of ideas, and I bet they are all different.  You are a very creative bunch of people – point out artwork in the hall.

The Bible tells us that God is creative too. In fact it starts off with stories about him making the world. They are only stories. They didn’t really mean us to think that it happened like this – but the stories tell us that they thought God was creative, just like we are.

The story the Bible tells says that God made light and dark, heaven and earth and all that is in it, plants and animals. And after he had made each thing he looked at them and said “It is good!” He really loved the things he had made. He felt proud of them and enjoyed making them. And finally he made people. And the Bible said that he made them to be like himself – not that they looked like God, but that they were a bit like him in other ways. They could love like he loved. They could care for each other, like he cared for them. And they could make things too.

So when we make things we are being a bit like God – so long as we are making good things.

Look at pictures that the children have drawn – all different (In this instance I got a snowman, a girl on a bicycle, a portrait of one of the teachers, a drawing of an atom with spinning electrons, the London Eye, Big Ben clockface and the Earth) . It was up to you what you made of them - you all started with the same thing, but came up with something different. In the same way we can all make different things every day. We might make good things

I wonder what you are going to make today? It’s up to you. You can make a mess, or make trouble. You can make an enemy. Or you can make a friend, or make things better.

CREATION PSALM
Here is a sort of version of that Creation story that we can all join in with. I include actions - gesturing to heaven and earth, making sun and moon shapes, growing as trees and flowers - you can make up your own, I am sure. Make them big and sweeping, so that the movement becomes a part of the praise. I encourage them to join in with the bits in bold type, but I tend to find that they rapidly get the idea and often say the whole thing along with me, or repeat bits after me spontaneously, in which case I go with the flow!)
In the beginning God made the heavens and the earth and he said 
They’re good, I like them!
He made the angels and the archangels and he said 
They’re good, I like them!
He made the sun and the moon and he said 
They’re good, I like them!
He made the hills and the valleys and he said 
They’re good, I like them!
He made the trees and the flowers and he said 
They’re good, I like them!
He made the whales and the worms and he said 
They’re good, I like them!
He made all the people, big and little and he said 
They’re good, I like them!

And the heavens and the earth                      
And the angels and the archangels
And the sun and the moon
And the hills and the valleys
And the trees and the flowers
And the whales and the worms
All said

Three cheers for God
Hip, hip, hooray
Hip, hip, hooray
Hip, hip, hooray!

And all the people said
Amen, Amen!