1. Identity and asking the right questions.
Collective Worship
Identity and asking the right questions.

2. Today’s Gospel reading:
One day when Jesus was praying alone in the presence of his disciples he put this question to them, ‘Who do the crowds say I am?’ And they answered, ‘John the Baptist; others Elijah; and others say one of the ancient prophets come back to life.’ ‘But you,’ he said ‘who do you say I am?’ It was Peter who spoke up. ‘The Christ of God’ he said. But he gave them strict orders not to tell anyone anything about this.
‘The Son of Man’ he said ‘is destined to suffer grievously, to be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes and to be put to death, and to be raised up on the third day.’

3. What does this mean for us today?
Who you say Jesus is will determine everything about how you follow Him. If you think Jesus was a good teacher, you will follow Him like you would a good teacher. If you think Jesus merely had some good ideas, then you will listen to what He says every once in a while. If you think Jesus was a good example, then you will try to follow His example. However, if you believe that Jesus was and is the promised Messiah who came to the earth to save us from our sins, to conquer sin and death, and to reign and rule over all as Lord, then that changes everything about how you live.
Discuss with the person sitting next to you: Who do you think Jesus was/is. Why do you think this?

4. Identities are a set of characteristics that define a person or a thing.
Your identity is ‘who you are’.
We are born with some of the things that make us ‘who we are’ e.g. eye colour, race, gender etc. Others things develop and change over time e.g. personality, interests, beliefs etc.

5. Guess who?
As a class you are going to create and play a game of ‘Guess who?’. You will each be given an identity card to fill in – examples are on the next two slides. Be sure to put your name at the top. Once you have filled in the card hand it back to your form tutor. Your form tutor will give you one piece of information at a time. The aim of the game is to be the first to guess who your form tutor is describing.
Good luck!

6. Gender (male or female): Female
Age: 16 years
Favourite hobby: Street dance
Favourite TV programme: Eastenders
Favourite food: Peanut butter and jam sandwiches
Hair colour: Blonde
Nationality: Scottish
First and last letter of your name: L_ _ _ A

8. So……
Identities are made up of lot’s of different characteristics and multiple layers i.e. religion, nationality, gender etc.
There are lot’s of things that make us who we are!
We are born with some of these things, but others develop over time.
Is it fair to treat people unfairly just because of who they are e.g. black, white, gay, disabled, short, tall etc?
It is always important to get to know people.
We can always find things we share in common. Often our first impressions are wrong.
Whilst we share lots of characteristics in common, we should all be proud of our own unique identities.
Our differences make us unique and special!

9. Dear God,
The most high, the loveliest, the creator of creation.
Have you created me in your image?
Do I look like you?
Do I have your mouth?
Give me your mouth, that I may speak your words and breath your breath.
Do I have your eyes?
Give me your eyes, to see you in all others and look with love into all other eyes.
I hope I have your hands,
to hug and hold.
To work and plant seeds of joy and peace.
To plant food to feed the hungry
To plant trees to shelter the homeless.
Amen