“The Scripture Theater,” Friend, July 2024, 14–15.
The Scripture Theater
“What if we got out the Sunday box?” Jonny asked.
This story happened in the USA.
“I’m bored.” Jonny lay on the living room floor.
His sister Jenna stared out the window. “There’s nothing to do,” she said.
Jonny looked up at the ceiling. Why did it feel like Sundays were no fun?
Then he thought of something. “What if we got out the Sunday box?” Jonny asked. The Sunday box was a special box filled with games to play on Sunday.
Jenna’s face lit up with a smile. “That sounds fun.”
Jonny and Jenna rushed to Mom’s room. They dragged the large box into the living room.
“What should we do first?” Jonny asked. He opened the box and pulled out some picture books and a card game.
“Let’s play the scripture hero matching game,” Jenna said.
The game had cards with pictures of Book of Mormon prophets. Jenna laid the cards on the floor face down. They took turns picking cards and trying to find the matching ones.
Jonny picked up two different cards with Captain Moroni on them. “I found a match!” he shouted.
“Me too!” Jenna held up two cards showing Sariah.
Jonny and Jenna played a few more rounds. It was fun to think about their favorite stories from the Book of Mormon.
After a while Jenna said, “Let’s do something else.”
“OK. Let’s act out one of our favorite scripture stories. We’ll have a scripture theater!” Jonny started to pick up the cards.
“Yeah!” Jenna helped gather up the game and put it away.
Jonny dug through the box until he found some of the costumes. He took out a fuzzy brown robe and put it on. “I’m Samuel the Lamanite!” He jumped up on a chair and acted like Samuel, teaching on the city wall.
Jenna opened the Book of Mormon picture book. She searched through the pages until she got to Samuel the Lamanite. She read it out loud while Jonny acted out the story.
The kids practiced the story a few times. Jonny felt warm and happy inside. It felt good to remember prophets who taught about Jesus Christ.
When they felt ready, Jonny ran and got Mom, Dad, and their younger sister, Makenna. “Come see our play!”
Jenna stood in the middle of the room with her arms spread wide. “Welcome to our scripture theater. Today we’ll be presenting the story of . . . Samuel the Lamanite!”
Then she began the story. “A long time ago, a prophet named Samuel came to teach the Nephites . . .”
When it was Jonny’s part, he stood tall on the chair. He spoke in a loud voice. “I am Samuel, and Heavenly Father wants you to make good choices. Stop doing bad things. Because in five years Jesus Christ will be born.”
“The power of God was with Samuel,” Jenna said. She finished telling the rest of the story. When it was done, Mom, Dad, and Makenna clapped.
“That was great!” Mom said.
Jonny and Jenna took a bow. They had big smiles.
“Let’s do another play,” Jonny said.
“We would love to see another one,” Mom said. Makenna clapped and smiled.
Jenna and Jonny raced back to the Sunday box to get more costumes.
“Sunday is fun! I like learning about the scriptures,” Jenna said.
“And Jesus.” Jonny smiled as he found another costume. Sunday really was a special day!
Illustrations by Shawna J. C. Tenney