First, and most importantly I make an example of how we have to really know someone to imitate them well. I ask my students if I am capable of imitating one of them. Usually they say I could. Then I ask if my twin sister could...I mean, we look the same, we talk the same, but could she? They recognize that it wouldn't work because she does not know my students. She has heard of them, yes, but she has never actually met them. After this first example we go through their own examples of people they know a lot about but have never met to fortify their understanding of the big difference between knowing about someone vs. meeting someone.
So, then the question becomes whether they, themselves, have ever met Jesus or if they just know a lot about Him. A lot of times students think it is impossible for them not to have met Jesus yet. They make arguments like "everyone knows Jesus." or "You would have to live in an isolated place to not have." That's where the next activity comes in.
I show this picture of Jesus from a picture book I have. I ask students to erase everything they know about Jesus and I walk around and show them this picture while saying things like "David, this man loves you! Hayden, this guy, yeah, He is IN LOVE WITH YOU. Jenna, This man, He is always thinking of you, George, He, yeah, this dude, He cares about you so much He is in love with you!" Then I ask them what they think. Usually they are plenty creeped out as they realize if they don't actually know Jesus it is really weird to think that the guy in this picture is so in love with them. At this point we have a conversation about how our world is full of people who have seen pictures of Jesus, who have heard His name, but who don't really KNOW Him.
That's when I set them on a mission. I explain that I am going to be having them introduce Jesus to someone who doesn't know Him, or doesn't trust Him, or maybe doesn't believe He loves them. This will be in the format of a picture and a letter. Their job, to start, is to find a picture of Jesus that really hits them, and explains Who Jesus really is. The letter will come later and will be a letter describing Jesus and inviting someone to meet Him. As they do the picture activity they should have the letter in the back of their minds so they can begin deciding how they will describe and introduce Jesus to someone else.
The day that they bring in all of their pictures I have them write four to five sentences underneath is answering these questions. Why did you pick this picture? What does it teach you about Jesus? What does it make you feel? After they are finished writing the class gets up and tours around the room with their journal. They look at each other's photos and read their descriptions as they write down anything that they might want to use in their letter. I usually play two songs while they tour around and they sit down once the second song is over. After everyone has toured around we share our favorites and I read some aloud. This goes really well because it helps students to recognize their own ability to inspire their classmates.
Now it is time to write their letters. Students are usually a little intimidated by this because they have never shared their faith in such a direct way before. I let them know that their letter can be given to me for me to hand out to people who might need it or they can choose who they want to give it to. For example, one student gave it to their older sister who had fallen away from the faith, another wanted to give it to a random person they felt called to give it to in public, other students wanted to give it to high school students that they hoped knew Jesus, and still others asked me to give it to my own friends or family members that I had talked about in class.
We write these letters in our school chapel. We begin with an opening prayer asking Jesus to help us to introduce Him well in our letters. I DO NOT put a sentence limit on these letters as I want these to feel much more like a prayer than an assignment, and I make sure to tell the students this. After opening prayer I lead a reflection. It goes like this:
1. Close your eyes and try to notice what is distracting you right now. Maybe you are cold, or a noise is distracting you, maybe something coming up today is worrying you, imagine yourself handing all of these distractions over to Mary right now.
2. Now imagine Jesus looking at you while you look at Him. What do you feel? What does He look like? What does He see? How does He feel about you? Remember that no matter what you think He is with you, and loves you.
3. I ask them to use their imaginations and five senses as I read Mk 8:27 and emphasize the questions: "Who do people say that I am?" and "Who do you say that I am?" I ask them to spend sometime answering Jesus in prayer. Then I read the passage another time.
4. At this point I let them know that I will be playing three songs. They should take their time. If nothing is coming to them they can keep praying about it and ask Jesus to speak to them to help them. Most students get writing right away and I remind them that if they start drawing a blank to pray and then get back to writing.
5. These are the songs I play with the reason beside them:
I Am by Mark Schulz- This song gives a lot of examples of how to answer the question "Who am I?" It also uses the words "come and see" and "follow me" to help students start out their letters in an inviting tone.
Everything by Lifehouse- This song describes Jesus on a more personal level and hopefully helps students to deepen their descriptions in their letters. It uses phrases like "He is the strength that keeps me walking" and "the hope that keeps me trusting."
I've Always Loved You by Third Day- This is a great song to end on. It is more lively and gives them good examples of how to encourage their readers with examples of how much and long and hard Jesus loves us.
Overall, students began the activity a little overwhelmed, uneasy, and excited but when I asked each class about how it actually went their responses were things like, "awesome!" "I wish I had time to write more!" and "It was easy in a really cool way!"
Finally, we read excerpts from the letters as we acknowledge that we all can get to know Jesus better in order to imitate Him better. I usually make copies of the letters so that I can use them later before handing them back.
Here are just a few examples below...pretty awesome!
The day that they bring in all of their pictures I have them write four to five sentences underneath is answering these questions. Why did you pick this picture? What does it teach you about Jesus? What does it make you feel? After they are finished writing the class gets up and tours around the room with their journal. They look at each other's photos and read their descriptions as they write down anything that they might want to use in their letter. I usually play two songs while they tour around and they sit down once the second song is over. After everyone has toured around we share our favorites and I read some aloud. This goes really well because it helps students to recognize their own ability to inspire their classmates.
Now it is time to write their letters. Students are usually a little intimidated by this because they have never shared their faith in such a direct way before. I let them know that their letter can be given to me for me to hand out to people who might need it or they can choose who they want to give it to. For example, one student gave it to their older sister who had fallen away from the faith, another wanted to give it to a random person they felt called to give it to in public, other students wanted to give it to high school students that they hoped knew Jesus, and still others asked me to give it to my own friends or family members that I had talked about in class.
We write these letters in our school chapel. We begin with an opening prayer asking Jesus to help us to introduce Him well in our letters. I DO NOT put a sentence limit on these letters as I want these to feel much more like a prayer than an assignment, and I make sure to tell the students this. After opening prayer I lead a reflection. It goes like this:
1. Close your eyes and try to notice what is distracting you right now. Maybe you are cold, or a noise is distracting you, maybe something coming up today is worrying you, imagine yourself handing all of these distractions over to Mary right now.
2. Now imagine Jesus looking at you while you look at Him. What do you feel? What does He look like? What does He see? How does He feel about you? Remember that no matter what you think He is with you, and loves you.
3. I ask them to use their imaginations and five senses as I read Mk 8:27 and emphasize the questions: "Who do people say that I am?" and "Who do you say that I am?" I ask them to spend sometime answering Jesus in prayer. Then I read the passage another time.
4. At this point I let them know that I will be playing three songs. They should take their time. If nothing is coming to them they can keep praying about it and ask Jesus to speak to them to help them. Most students get writing right away and I remind them that if they start drawing a blank to pray and then get back to writing.
5. These are the songs I play with the reason beside them:
I Am by Mark Schulz- This song gives a lot of examples of how to answer the question "Who am I?" It also uses the words "come and see" and "follow me" to help students start out their letters in an inviting tone.
Everything by Lifehouse- This song describes Jesus on a more personal level and hopefully helps students to deepen their descriptions in their letters. It uses phrases like "He is the strength that keeps me walking" and "the hope that keeps me trusting."
I've Always Loved You by Third Day- This is a great song to end on. It is more lively and gives them good examples of how to encourage their readers with examples of how much and long and hard Jesus loves us.
Overall, students began the activity a little overwhelmed, uneasy, and excited but when I asked each class about how it actually went their responses were things like, "awesome!" "I wish I had time to write more!" and "It was easy in a really cool way!"
Finally, we read excerpts from the letters as we acknowledge that we all can get to know Jesus better in order to imitate Him better. I usually make copies of the letters so that I can use them later before handing them back.
Here are just a few examples below...pretty awesome!
