who (am i)?

Identity. In my mind it is THE topic of middle school. And for probably a lot more of life than any of would like to acknowledge, but especially middle school. So, being at a new place and wanting the youth group to grow together, i thought that a series on identity would be a great start. I'm aiming it toward our fall retreat in mid-october, at which we'll be launching the rest of the year...a new name (and logo), midweek structure, sunday structure, etc. What better time to talk about identity when you're sorting it out, right?

The question then became what to cover in six weeks on identity. Here's my approach this time around...

1st Sunday...general intro's. Why is identity important? Talked about how we all have a desire to be known for something. among other things, i showed a pic of Mark Hamill and while all the students could identify him as Luke Skywalker, none of them (!) knew what his real name was. And so we spent some time considering whether we let our true identity shine through (at school, in our neighborhoods, in our family, at church) or if we spend the whole time playing out some part we think people want to see.

2nd Sunday...What should we identify with? Well, the Sunday school answer is Jesus, and while being correct...why?! We spent the morning in Exodus, looking at the conversation between Moses & God (at the burning bush) and God's name of I AM. God is THE definition...of life, love, and all things good. And Christ wants to live that out in & through us (a la Colossians 1:27)

3rd Sunday...If Christ wants to live out God's goodness through us, what does that look like? I figured we'd spend the last four weeks on claims that Christ makes about himself, using the "I am" statements that show up in John that reflect week #2's Moses/God convo. This week is Bread of Life.

4th Sunday...Light of the World

5th Sunday...the Good Shepherd

6th Sunday...Resurrection and the Life

I've only done the first 2 weeks, and am still working on the last four. If you have any ideas for ways that weeks 3, 4, 5, or 6 could be demonstrated, illustrated, exemplified, etc, I'm open to suggestions!