Collective Worship 5 - Too Much Selfie isn’t Healthy!

Content Overview: There are 7.6 billion people in the world. We want children to know that they are loved but HeartSmart is about loving others too, as Jesus says in Mark 12:31, “Love your neighbour as yourself”. Using the story of the Good Samaritan from Luke 10, we want children to explore the happiness that comes by thinking about themselves less and considering others more. We want to create a culture defined by empathy and challenge children to live #Unselfie.

SLIDE 1) Say, “HeartSmart is about being smart with our heart. The life of our heart affects the whole of our life. Today we’re going to look at the second of the HeartSmart High Five.”

SLIDE 2) Read the slide “Too Much Selfie isn’t Healthy!” and highlight Boris’ new position. Ask the children what they think the principle means. Explain that it’s all about loving others. You could say “We’ve been looking at Don’t Forget to Let Love In, the fact that we’re treasure, we’ve got purpose and we get a second chance. But if all we do is think about ourselves then we’re missing out. We are one in million but so is everyone else on the earth. ‘Too Much Selfie isn’t Healthy!’ is about how we can open ourselves up to and look out for the people around us.”

SLIDE 3) Ask the children how many people they think that there are in the world.

SLIDE 4) You could check http://www.worldometers.info/world- population/ to get the most up-to-date figure. Otherwise 7.6 billion is a pretty close guess. Our lives will always involve other people. Being HeartSmart means learning to consider, listen to and get along with others.

SLIDE 5) Sometimes ‘Too Much Selfie isn’t Healthy!’ means doing for others what they can’t do for themselves. Tell the story of the Good Samaritan from Luke 10 in the Bible to illustrate what this looks like. You may want to make up your own version, e.g. set in modern day within a school playground.

After telling the story ask the children why the others didn’t stop to help?

SLIDE 6) Say, “We have opportunities every day to stop and help others. But sometimes we don’t. Why do you think that is?” Explain there are three main reasons:
Need: we all need things to live and sometimes we feel the need to have nice things like sweets, toys, nice time with people. Sometimes we can fall into the trap of thinking that we have to have a lot of a thing before we can give it away e.g. I have to have a lot of money before I can give any to charity. It’s always great to consider others. Even if we think we don’t have much, we can always think of ways to share.

© HEARTSMART, Hilltop Media Ltd, 2018. Please do not use without a valid licence.

Collective Worship 5 - Too Much Selfie isn’t Healthy! SLIDE 7) Greed: sometimes the desire to look after ourselves can train our heart to block out other people. We get stuck in a cycle of thinking about how we can get more or how we can hold on to what we’ve got. Perhaps it’s because we’re scared that we’ll run out of sweets, toys, nice time with people... If we struggle with this we can challenge ourselves to think about the other person and how they might be feeling. If we share or help others, how does that feel for them? How does that make us feel?

SLIDE 8) Speed: life is busy, there’s always lots to do. As soon as we get home we might rush to the TV or games console. When we’re hungry we might rush to the fridge or the front of the queue at lunchtime. When we rush we are more likely to miss an opportunity to help someone. We’re so busy thinking about what’s going on in our world that we don’t see someone in need of our help or friendship. We don’t stop to put ourselves in someone else's shoes because we haven’t made the time to stop. Decide to do things a tiny bit slower, to look out for opportunities to be “Unselfie” and to ask the question, ‘what can I do for you?’ It will actually make you happy!

SLIDE 9) There is another way to live and it’s the way of the good Samaritan from the story. It’s not ‘need’, ‘greed’ or ‘speed’. It’s succeed. When we live “Unselfie” we not only help others succeed, we’re sowing seeds of success for ourselves too.

SLIDE 10) Ask the children if they remember the power on button. Ask them what it stands for. (I = loving ourselves, O = loving others). Don’t Forget To Let Love In is all about “I” - loving ourselves. ‘Too Much Selfie isn’t Healthy!’ is all about “O” - loving others. Jesus says in Mark 12:31, “Love your neighbour as you love yourself.” If you want to live well you need to learn to love well. To love yourself well but to love others well too.

SLIDE 11) Launch an #Unselfie Challenge for the week or month. Challenge the children to watch out for their classmates making #Unselfie decisions. When they spot someone doing something kind or #Unselfie ask them to write about it on a slip of paper. At the end of the challenge, choose one or two children to be your #Unselfie heroes.

Finish with a 2 minute reflection and prayer. You could say, “Think about need, greed and speed. What gets in the way of us showing love to others? What can we do for someone else today as part of the #Unselfie Challenge?”

SLIDE 12) Holding slide

© HEARTSMART, Hilltop Media Ltd, 2018. Please do not use without a valid licence.