Who Am I?

An assembly for Lent

by Alexandra Palmer

Suitable for Whole School (Pri)

Aims

To explore our identity by considering how Jesus handled the devil’s temptations during his 40 days in the wilderness.

Preparation and materials

• You will need two frying pans or tennis rackets and two tennis balls or sponge balls.
• Have available the YouTube video ‘The temptation of Jesus’ and the means to show it during the assembly. It is 2.37 minutes long and is available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mc-x4qKY6Wc
• Optional: you may also wish to use the extension activity (Who Am I? - Extension Activity) that accompanies this assembly.

Assembly

1. Start the assembly by playing a game with the frying pans or tennis rackets and the two balls.
   
   Ask four children to come to the front. Ask two of them to see how many times they can bounce the ball on the pan or racket in 30 seconds. Ask the other two children to count for them. Repeat this a few times with different children.
   
   
2. Ask the children whether they have any favourite pancake toppings.
   
   Listen to a range of responses.
   
   
3. Ask the children if any of them know why we eat pancakes on Shrove Tuesday.
   
   Listen to a range of responses.
   
   Explain that Shrove Tuesday is the last day before Lent. Some Christians celebrate Lent by giving up something important to remind them of the time when Jesus spent 40 days in the wilderness, not eating. A long time ago, Christians would give up eating all rich food during Lent, and this included eggs. So, on Shrove Tuesday, people used to make pancakes to use up all the food that they weren’t allowed to eat during Lent.
   
   Nowadays, people might give up eating chocolate, buying hot drinks from coffee shops or playing games on the Wii. Some people decide that, rather than giving something up, they will do something special each day during Lent instead.
   
   
4. Show the YouTube video ‘The temptation of Jesus’ (2.37 minutes long).
   
   
5. Discuss the video by asking the following questions.
   
   - What did Jesus do before he went into the wilderness for 40 days? (Answer: Jesus was baptized by his cousin, John the Baptist.)
   - What did God do to show that he was pleased with Jesus after he had been baptized? (Answer: God’s spirit came down onto Jesus as a dove.)
   - What were Jesus’ temptations? (Answer: the devil asked Jesus to turn some stones into bread because he hadn’t eaten anything for the whole time he’d been in the desert; the devil took Jesus to a high point in Jerusalem and asked him to jump off because God would tell the angels to save him; and the devil took Jesus to a high mountain and told him that if he worshipped and obeyed him, he would give Jesus all the kingdoms in the world.)
   
   
6. Ask the children, ‘Who is Jesus?’
   
   Listen to a range of responses.
   
   In the Bible, after Jesus is baptized, God reveals to John the Baptist that Jesus is his son, saying, ‘This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.’ (Matthew 3.17)
   
   Christians believe that God was confirming Jesus’ identity as his son to John the Baptist and the surrounding crowds. God said that he loved Jesus and was pleased with him even before Jesus had carried out any of his miracles. This means that, before Jesus endured 40 days in the wilderness, he knew that his father in heaven loved him.
   
   
7. Explain that the three temptations that the devil presented to Jesus also help to explain Jesus’ identity.
   
   - Jesus refused the first temptation of turning stones into bread because he knew that he should only use his power to help others, not himself.
   - By refusing the second temptation of jumping off a high point, Jesus was demonstrating that he knew that God loved him and that he shouldn’t test his father in heaven in this way.
   - Jesus turned down the third temptation of worshipping the devil because he knew that he should only worship and obey God.

Time for reflection

Jesus knew that his strength, talents, skills, patience, kindness and love all came God. When we think about our own identity, we can reflect on all the things that we are good at and the different roles that we play in people’s lives.

Ask the children, ‘What do you enjoy doing?’

Pause to allow time for thought.

Ask the children, ‘What makes you, you?’

Pause to allow time for thought.

Ask the children to consider the different roles that they play in other people’s lives: daughter/son, brother/sister, grandchild, cousin, friend, pet-owner, artist, athlete and so on.

Pause to allow time for thought.

Prayer
Dear God,
Thank you for the example of Jesus.
Thank you that he spent his life thinking about and caring for other people.
Please help us to follow his example.
Thank you that you made each of us and that we are all unique and special.
Please help us to remember how different and unique we are during this season of Lent.
Amen.

Song/music

‘Our God is a great big God’, available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eaXPXWBcE3I (3 minutes long)

Extension activities

1. Give each child a copy of the sheet that accompanies this assembly (Who Am I? - Extension Activity). Ask them to create a mind map of the different roles that they play in life. For example, daughter/son, brother/sister, grandchild, cousin, friend, pet-owner, artist, athlete, book-reader, gymnast, baker, cyclist, swimmer, helper at home and carer. If they have a faith, they may wish to include that too.