There is a lot to get through this first week, and you will need to keep an eye on the clock. Be prepared to make decisions about what activities you will cut if necessary. For small groups or studies, you may want to consider blocking out a longer period of time each week to avoid having to cut discussions off.
Be sure to arrive early to your classroom and have the environment set up. Before people begin arriving you will want to:
Be ready to greet people at least five minutes before class begins. As students come in, greet them and have them sit down, encouraging people to sit in spots that will fill groups. Hand them the materials and ask the students to fill out the pre-assessment form and to hand it in before they leave today. Assure them that there are no “right” answers and that this form is simply a way for you to get an idea of their feelings about the topic as they’re coming into the class.
When it looks like most of the class has arrived, briefly introduce yourself and the course, and then open in prayer.
Teacher’s Note: It is common for students, especially the first week, to come in quite late. Be prepared to quickly get them comfortable and situated. Students arriving late do not want attention drawn to them; however, they may be confused at first since many Sunday school classes tend to be more lecture and less student participation. You will want to find a blend between not drawing attention to them and helping them get acclimated. Something like:
“Hi, I’m Jason. Don’t worry. You haven’t missed much. This class will have some small group discussion along with other activities. There’s some room over here with Sarah’s group if you would like to join them. We’re discussing how the theme of creation fits into the whole biblical narrative.”
Tell the students to take a minute to briefly introduce themselves to the people in their group and then take 5 – 7 minutes to discuss the prompt:
“If someone asked you to relate the basic Christian narrative, and gave you only two minutes to do so, what would you say? What details would you include, what would you leave out, and why?”
Tell students that you have set up a table at the front of the room and, if they would like, they can use the items on the table to tell the story. While the groups are discussing, travel around, listening in to each group briefly and getting an idea of the types of answers the groups are coming up with.
Teacher’s Note: You will likely have a number of students who are confused by this question. Be prepared to rephrase it or explain it in a different way. However, part of the confusion may stem from the fact that the student has never thought about the biblical narrative and is not accustomed to thinking about the underlying narratives that guide his life. This is okay. This exercise is not meant to give an exhaustive introduction to narrative theories but is intended to get them thinking about the idea of a narrative before the introductory video. For students who are particularly perplexed, do the best you can to address the reason for their frustration and perhaps give some examples of what you mean. Something like:
“Well Sally, we’re trying to articulate the basic story that the Bible, as a whole, is telling. Think of it like this: you can view the whole Bible as just a bunch of unrelated episodes, or it could be telling one larger story. If someone gave you only a few minutes to sum the whole story up, how would you do it? ... An example? … Well, there are a lot of ways people do it. One might be: God made people, who sinned against him, and so he sent Jesus to die on the cross to forgive those sins. That’s a basic story. But is that enough? Talk about it with your group for a minute and tell me what you think.”
Following the video, lead a large group discussion based on the final question: “What would happen if we started the story with the words ‘In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth’?” Would this change the way they told the story? How does this compare with the answers they gave earlier? Ask people to explain why they would or would not change their answers. What elements might need to be added to their answers and why?
It is not necessary to complete the discussion here or to offer final answers. The goal here is for students to begin considering the larger implications of the biblical narrative and that it deals with more than sinners and Jesus dying on the cross.
Time Savers: If you are running behind or know that you will not have a full hour, this is a good place to save ten minutes. Rather than leading a discussion, offer a brief summary and transition into the next activity. Your summary might sound something like this:
“We often don’t think about creation as having anything to do with the basic Christian narrative. As the video suggested, we often don’t even acknowledge it. Yet if we look at the Bible, we see that the creation was always there, and it is not the narrative that has changed, but our retelling of it. If we start our story with God creating everything and not just with man falling into sin, it may force us to pick up on some of those themes. Let’s take a moment to hear how Dr. Arand does this in his video lecture for the week.”
This time should be used to answer relevant questions brought up by the students. Further questions worth exploring include:
Teacher’s Note: Even phrased this way, the question may be tricky. Many Christians do not realize how little the Bible talks about heaven as opposed to its strong emphasis on the new heaven and new earth. It is not uncommon to have a student who becomes defensive on this point. Ask them what passages of Scripture they have in mind, and then read them together, paying careful note of the context. Reassure the student that you are not suggesting that heaven doesn’t exist or that believers do not go to be with Jesus when they die, simply that with rare exception, the focus of Scripture is the resurrection and the new creation.. Ask what implications that focus may have.
Bring people back into their small groups. Based on what they have learned today, have them propose a new answer to their initial question of how they would tell the Christian story. Is creation an integral part of the Christian narrative?
It is unlikely there will be extra time this week unless this is being used for a small group Bible study or in a scenario where it is possible to go longer than an hour. If there is extra time, consider the following activities:
Teacher’s Note: One could teach an entire class on this last topic. Perhaps the most obvious application is when one is speaking with people who are not open to thinking of themselves as “sinful,” but who are still quite aware of the defects within creation. The theme of creation broken and then restored through Christ offers a different place to begin talking about the relevance of the gospel for their lives.
As you prepare for the lesson, you may find yourself struggling to answer the central question: How would you tell the basic biblical narrative in a quick way that still includes the vital, central parts? There is no one right answer to this question, although, as we have hopefully seen, there are a number of wrong ones. You will want to take some time to think through and prepare your own answer. And, since you are the leader, you will need to be able to explain why you included the elements you did.
So what elements should you include? There are many answers to offer, but perhaps the easiest place to look for help are the Apostles’ and Nicene Creeds. These two ecumenical creeds are mini-encapsulations of the basic Christian narrative. As such, they become a good touchstone as we search for the basic elements of the Christian narrative today. It may have been a while since you have thought about the creeds as you were saying them in church, so take a moment to read them again here, thinking about what they are saying and what you are confessing as you do:
The Apostles’ Creed
I believe in God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth.
And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried. He descended into hell. The third day He rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. From thence He will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Christian Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.
The Nicene Creed
I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth and of all things visible and invisible.
And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, begotten of His Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made; who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary and was made man; and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate. He suffered and was buried. And the third day He rose again according to the Scriptures and ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of the Father. And He will come again with glory to judge both the living and the dead, whose kingdom will have no end.
And I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son together is worshiped and glorified, who spoke by the prophets.And I believe in one holy Christian and apostolic Church I acknowledge one Baptism for the remission of sins, and I look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. Amen.
Besides the obvious emphasis on the Trinity in each of these creeds, you will note there is a basic narrative in each of them. It begins by emphasizing God as creator of everything and then moves to the story of God’s redemption of creation through Jesus. The third section in each creed moves on to life now as the Holy Spirit works through the church, and then each creed ends by pointing us not toward life in heaven, but towards the return of Christ and the “resurrection of the dead.”
Given all of this, what elements should you strive to include? No summary of the Christian narrative would seem complete without talking about:
There are, of course, many other details that can be added. How then might you tell the story? You will have to work on that on your own as you prepare for this lesson, but here are three different examples to help you get started:
Dr. Arand’s answer.
The wonder of creation is that it exists at all. But God loves life. He is a God of life. And so he creates as an act of love to bring the beauty of life to life. God then made two creatures in his image and gave them the task of looking out for the creation so that creatures would flourish on earth.
But in wanting to become more than creatures and to become like God himself, human beings declared themselves independent of God and independent of his life-giving order of creation. Yet in that act of autonomy, they violated God’s life-giving order of creation. The result? Creation unravels and comes apart. Violence and death replaced harmony and life.
God won’t let life on earth slip away. He sent his Son into the creation to rescue it and restore life within it. This is the same Son through whom God created all things. Jesus died to rid his creation of death. But God raised him back to life so that he could bestow his life upon us and then upon the entire creation.
Jesus now sends the Holy Spirit, the lord and giver of life. He comes to give us new life within a new creation. The Spirit who hovered over the waters in Genesis 1 now hovers over the waters of baptism. And in giving us life, he sets out to renew the face of the entire earth at the return of Jesus into the life of the age to come.
Pastor Joel Kurz’s answer:
Why did the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit create Earth and fill it with life? Because God is the fullness of life and loves to share absolute goodness, not hoard it. He speaks forth light into darkness, connects air and land and water, and makes birds and fish, animals and humans to sustain each other and be sustained by him.
He made humans to be like himself, but they became discontent with their place in his domain. So they despised all that he blessed for their provision and claimed in distrust what he warned would be their undoing. Creation’s harmonious order was ruptured and has suffered ever since, even though divine beauty and goodness still show through.
The Lord instructed succeeding humans to live in this strained creation according to a way of sacred rest—Sabbath. But the repeated pattern has been to live without limits and think only for the moment. So the Son entered this realm as a human being to restore the fullness originally intended for all creation. He took water, bread, and wine and blessed them as gifts of divine repair. He gave himself in total sacrificial love throughout life and to the limit of death. In completion of all things, the breath of life reentered Jesus and he overcame the finality of death. Then he departed this earthly realm but gave the Spirit to his followers so that they live out the fullness of blessing for all creation and make it known.
God is renewing his creation in anticipation of that day when heaven descends to the earth and all is made whole once again.
Pastor Matthew Kobs’s answer:
In the beginning, God made all that is. With a word he created light and dark, sky and sea, sun, moon, stars, plants, birds, fish, and all living things. As the crown of this creation, he created human beings—male and female—in his image to care for the world he had made to help it to thrive. But, wanting to be more than God made them to be, these human beings disobeyed God, and through their disobedience all of creation was broken.
But God, not content to abandon the creation he had made, acted to save his broken world. He chose a family—Abraham and his descendants, the people of Israel—and through them revealed his will and plan for the restoration of all the earth. But they were unfaithful in their mission, needing to be saved themselves. So at just the right time, the Creator entered the creation as Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus as the representative of God’s people fulfilled the mission they couldn’t and through his death on the cross and his resurrection saved them and all creation from sin and the death and brokenness it brings about.
Having accomplished all this, Jesus ascended to the right hand of God the Father, where he even now reigns over all things. His reign is presently hidden, recognized only by his people the church, but it will be revealed fully on the last day when he comes again in glory to finish the job of creation restoration that he began on the cross. As we, God’s people, wait for that day, the Holy Spirit works through us to call others into his kingdom, wherein Jesus forgives our sins, proclaims to us his word, and gives us his Sacraments.
Take a moment to do a brief overview of the class. As this is the first week, it will be important to introduce the class and state the main goals. Do not spend too long on this. Be sure to spell out how this week fits into the overall goals of the class.
Teacher’s Note: You may say something like this: “Sometimes Christians feel they are bringing something new to the faith when they talk about creation issues. They fear we are caving to the pressures of society and letting culture dictate to us what is important. Hopefully today’s class has helped you to see this is not the case. Creation issues have always been a part of the Christian experience, and it is only in recent decades that we have told the story in a way that hides this. The way you tell a story emphasizes what is important and what is not. Before we can begin focusing on what the world has to say about creation, we must first understand what God says about our relationship with his creation.
Use this opportunity to pass out the books. Direct them to read this week pages 1-6 in the short version of Together with All Creatures and tell them that if they are interested in going a little more in-depth, they may enjoy reading pages 1 – 29 in the large version of Together with All Creatures.
Encourage the students to use the devotional helps located on the back of their worksheets.
Close in prayer. This first week, you be the one to pray. Be sure to include themes from today’s lesson in your prayer. Stay around to answer any questions.