This blog comes to you from Barcelona of all places, a city I have been visiting off and on since a teenager. In many ways it is very much the same place – La Rambla is just as busy and expensive as ever while Christopher Columbus, atop his column, continues to point in the wrong direction. But Barcelona has changed in one very significant way. In 1964 it was in Spain. I remember then being fascinated by the ever-stern members of the Civil Guard with their distinctive tricornio hat and their machine gun held purposefully at their side. What I didn't not realise at the time is that they were General Franco’s occupation troops, suppressing the Catalan people along with their language and culture with a degree of ruthlessness you can only find in an authoritarian regime. So that today, some 41 years after Franco’s death, Barcelona is determinably Catalan, seeking its independence from Spain. Most public notices are in three languages: Catalan, Spanish and English. Sometimes the Spanish is defaced. There are clear parallels with the Scottish referendum for independence – and even the imminent referendum over staying in the EU. There seems to be a determination to assert national identity, it is an important component of who we are. But who are we? How do I define my identity as a person? And how important is my nationhood or culture in making me me? It struck me attending the funeral of Rhys Jones which filled Liverpool Cathedral in 2007 that for this 11 year old an important part of his identity as a person was his support for Everton FC. Clearly this was an important part of how he saw himself. And here I think he speaks for an entire generation, seeking to define who they are, in their allegiances and passions. For we all need a clear sense of personal identity. For as I move between different roles and contexts I need to hold onto a sense of being one and the same person. Wherever I am, whatever I may be doing, I am always me. Christian psychiatrist Glynn Harrison in writing of personal identify observes: “A relatively stable sense of self is integral to an individual’s mental health and wellbeing.” He continues: “The ability to act effectively and confidently, to give love and receive it, requires a sense of self-worth and significance.” So as Franco sought to crush Catalan culture he was doing more than simply outlawing a language, he was seeking to mould people’s key identity to maintain political power. Hence the powerful desire today for independence against Spanish oppression. Certainly what gives us our identity, the sense of who I am, came to the fore just two weeks ago in a very different context when the Daily Telegraph broke the news regarding Archbishop Justin’s biological father. Certainly for the people of the Hebrew Bible, you were defined by who your father happened to be. Hence all those ‘begat’ passages. But faced with his discomforting news Justin made it very clear on how he sees himself: “I find who I am in Jesus Christ, not in genetics, and my identity in him never changes.” For as ever, Jesus makes all the difference whoever you are, for as the apostle Paul rejoiced: “So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!” (2 Corinthians 5:17) It is this understanding that gives Archbishop his security as a person, the defining centre. Of course, we may see ourselves in differing categories, our nationhood, occupation, marital status, talents. But these can only be secondary. To be found in Christ is all we need. As ever he is sufficient. “What marvellous love the Father has extended to us! Just look at it—we’re called children of God! That’s who we really are.”(1 John 3:1). So Henri Nouwen can affirm: “Spiritual identity means we are not what we do or what people say about us. And we are not what we have. We are the beloved daughters and sons of God.”