AGE:
Secondary |
THEME:
Who Am I? Am I one person today, and tomorrow another? Am I both at once?
|
PREPARATION: |
Gather together a number of large portraits of faces - students could produce these using their own face or the faces of friends. If this proves difficult use the photocopier to produce large illustrations of different faces, ideally of people from different ethnic backgrounds.
Ideally, find students to help present the act of worship. You will need a main group of about four, plus one (with a strong voice) to stand at a distance.
Choose some music to play gently in the background during the reflection.
You will need a copy of the poem 'Who am I?' By Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Ask a student to search for this on one of the web sites dedicated to him, using a search facility. This is a good use of ICT in RE. |
DEVELOPMENT: |
- Either use the students or others in helping present the act of worship which should begin with individual students - at the front - asking a series of stark questions. They could 'present' the pictures as they ask the questions.
- The questions might be:
'Who am I?'
'Who do you think I am?'
'What am I to my parents, to my family?'
'What is it about me that makes my friends like me?'
'Why do some dislike me?'
'What does it matter to me that I am liked and disliked
... when I'm with those I trust
... and when I feel alone?'
- A new - firm - voice, standing at a distance, says:
'You ask - 'Who am I
... and do you really ask
Am I one person today, and tomorrow another?
Am I both at once?''
- Reflect on how we have many 'faces'... how we appear 'to be' for particular situations and with different people
(It's worth trying to inject some humour here):
- in the classroom
- out with friends
- explaining to parents why we're late
- pleading for extra time to finish work
and other examples which the group will recognise.
In life we learn to be our own person with our own priorities and values.
- Tell the group of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Born almost 100 years ago in Germany he became a well known minister and teacher in Spain and the USA as well as in Germany. Very much at odds with the Nazis, in the 1930s he was banned from teaching and his life was difficult. When war broke out in 1939 he returned to Germany from the USA. Although he didn't have to do so he returned to Germany and was a real thorn in Nazi flesh. Bonhoeffer was arrested in 1943 and a prisoner for the rest of his life, he was murdered in a concentration camp on April 9th 1945. He inspired many - including some of his jailers - by the 'face' they saw.
- Read the poem he wrote - from prison - a year before he died:
Who am I? They often tell me
Either obtain the text from the internet (see 'Preparation') or find it on p.112, Celebrating the Saints, compiled by Robert Atwell, published by Canterbury Press, ISBN 1-853-11218-6.
|
REFLECTION: |
With music playing quietly:
Who am I?
This or the other?
Am I one person today and tomorrow another?
Am I both at once?
...
Who am I? They mock me, these questions of mine,
Whoever I am, let me learn, O God, I am yours.
|
