Who is in Your Circle of Grace? Safe Environment Session for Middle School Youth JAMS Outline 545p 615p 615p 625p 630p - 640p 640P 650p 650p 7p 7p 715p 715p 720p 720p 730p 730p - 745p 745p 8pm 8pm Food Music (Videos / Power Points/ Hand Motions) Welcome/ Theme / Rules / Birthdays Safe Environment Intro Safe Environment: Friend or Fake? Safe Environment: You Can t Take it Back Safe Env: Who s in Your Circle of Grace Safe Env: Safety PLAAN Small Group Arts and Crafts Project in Small Group Closing Prayer 1
635pm - Safe Environment Introduction Friend or Fake? Can t Take it Back Circle of Grace PLAAN 640Pm - Friend or Fake? Watch Video on Friend or Fake? A video on messaging a person that is believed to be a pretty girl but not sure if they are real. Friends convince him that it sounds too fake to be real. STUFF TO KNOW Remember that not everyone you meet online is trustworthy. No one that you meet online should ask you to keep secrets from your trusted adults. Ask a trusted adult before sharing personal information with an online friend. Be suspicious if an online friend tries to turn you against your friends and family. Don t accept gifts from people that you meet online. A real friend, whether you ve met them in real life or online, won t pressure you into doing anything that makes you uncomfortable. Report anyone who sends you or asks you to send inappropriate messages and photos. Be a good friend: talk to a trusted adult if someone you know is planning to meet offline. If someone asks you to meet offline, tell a trusted adult immediately. Don t respond to people asking you for personal or inappropriate information. Youth Leaders present the following Skit: Curtis, Kibbe, Dylan, Julia Improv Skit on Friend or Fake: An improve skit involves youth leaders acting and using the audience to participate and change the skit. Situation 1: Two youthleaders are playing on the xbox (gamer 1 and gamer 2). A blip pops up asking to join your game. You notice that this person is on your friends friend list so you accept. You have lots of fun playing with all your friends on the xbox talking back and forth with them on your headset. As the night ends you all agree to play tomorrow morning as it is a holiday. 2
The next day: You wake up early and you log into your xbox. You notice all of your friends are starting to log in. You begin talking to whomever is on the headset and have short conversations. You all talk about your teachers, school work, what school you are attending and the neighborhood you live in. You hear others talking about their parents at work today so they talk about how they get to play all day long. Eventually someone asks to come to their house to play on split screen. Different voices say yes and no. FREEZE Ask a jammer to be gamer 2. UNFREEZE the situation and have gamer 1 try to convince the jammer to have the play date at their house. Ask the Jammer to continue with the skit. FREEZE. Ask another Jammer to be gamer 2 and continue with the skit. UNFREEZE. 7pm Scenario 2: You Can t Take it Back: You Can t Take it back? Video on Cyberbullying. When a group of boys made a website that rated the girls in their grade. They all participated on the website then the website went viral across the school. The next day all of the girls were crying and upset. When one of the boys went home he found his sister furious and crying. She was on the list. Youth Leaders present the following Improv Skit: Nick, Andy, Luka, Deja, Shannon Improv Skit on You Can t Take it Back Four youth leaders (two girls, two boys) are walking around taking pictures on their phone and sending it to each other. They are joking and laughing as they secretly take pictures of other students (Have other youth leaders doing random things at school like talking to a girl/guy, coming out of the bathroom, etc.) They talk about posting it to instagram/facebook/snapchat/ or sending it to their other friends. FREEZE Invite two jammers (one boy one girl) to step into a role and UNFREEZE. How would you handle this situation? 3
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715p Who s in your Circle of Grace (Trust Circle)? What is a Circle of Grace? The Catholic Church teaches that God has created each of us as unique and special. Genesis 1:27 tells us that we are created male and female in God s image and that God saw this as very good. In that goodness, we are meant to respect ourselves and everyone else as a person created and loved by God. Each of us lives and moves in a Circle of Grace. You can imagine your own Circle of Grace by placing your arms above your head then circle down in front of your body including side to side. This circle, front to back, holds who you are in your body and through your senses. It holds your very essence in mind, heart, soul, and sexuality. Know that God is in this space with you. This is your Circle of Grace; you are in it. God is Present because He desires a relationship with us. He is with us when we are happy and sad. God does not cause bad things to happen to us. He loves us very much. God desires to help us when we are hurt, scared or confused (unsafe). Having faith may not take away all of life s struggles. It is because of these struggles, God promised to always be present ; providing guidance and comfort in our time of need. God helps us know what belongs in our Circle of Grace Our feelings help us know about ourselves and the world around us. God helps us know what belongs in our Circle of Grace by allowing us to experience peace, love or contentment when something or someone good comes into our Circle of Grace. God helps us know what DOES NOT belong in our Circle of Grace God desires to help us when we are hurt, scared or confused (unsafe). The Holy Spirit prompts (alerts) us that something does not belong in our Circle of Grace by giving us a funny or uncomfortable feeling that something is not safe. This feeling is there because God want s us to be safe. God helps us know when to ask for help from someone we trust. God gives us people in our lives to help us when we are troubled or struggling with a concern. God wants us to talk to trusted adults about our worries, concerns or uncomfortable feelings so they can help us be safe and take the right action. 5
720p Safety PLAAN Discussion- Review Safety PLAAN P - Protect L - Listen A-Ask A - Act N - Notify The first letter P" stands for Protect with Respect Respecting ourselves as a child of God respecting others because they are also Children of God keeping unsafe words, touches, and images out of our Circle of Grace. The letter P" is about knowing that each of us has a Circle of Grace and respecting it. The letter L stands for Listen In every situation we need to remember that the Holy Spirit is always with us to help \ us stay safe. The Holy Spirit gives us feelings or instincts and we need to listen to them. The letter L" connects us with the Communion of Saints and the qualities we have been given as expressions of God's love. The letter A" stands for Ask When you have an uncomfortable feeling, you are recognizing the Holy Spirit helping you know that something is not right. The letter A" asks: "Does this say, 'Yes/ to what God has called me to be? Does this belong in my Circle of Grace?" There are some questions that the letter A" reminds us to ask ourselves whenever we are in a situation that makes us feel uncomfortable or that just doesn't feel quite right. The questions are also good ones to ask every so often even when we don't get a gut feeling - sometimes asking the questions helps us to hear the Holy Spirit when we did not remember that we needed to listen. Read each question allowing a few moments for quiet reflection between each. 1. How long have you known this person? 2. Is your knowledge of this person face-to-face? 3. How much do you know about this person? 4. How have you verified what this person has told you about themselves? 5. What do your feelings (instincts) tell you about this person or situation? 6. How many things do you have in common with this person? 7. Is the relationship respectful of your boundaries and the other person's? 8. Are you able to say, "No," to this person? 9. Does this person's age or status influence your behavior in the relationship? 10. Does this person ever ask you to keep secrets? 6
The next letter "A" stands for Act To protect your Circle of Grace, you need to tell trusted adults you need help. There are other things you can do to protect your Circle of Grace when your parents or trusted adults may not be around. Some of them are: 1. Don't reveal personal information on the internet. That includes full names, school, grade, address, phone, sports teams, church groups, etc. Perpetrators try to identify young people by learning about their activities and schedule patterns. Be particularly cautious of social networking websites. 2. Stay away or get away from situations that make you feel uncomfortable. 3. Tactics may include saying, "No," walking away, calling a parent. 4. Understand that comments about another person's physical attributes, race, religion, economic status, etc., which de-value or criticize are never appropriate. 5. Avoid unsafe situations, which involve alcohol, drugs, or smoking. 6. Be cautious about situations in which one is left alone with an adult. The last letter "N" stands for Notify Notify your parents or another trusted adult whenever someone has violated your boundaries, such as manipulating to control you or not respecting your Circle of Grace or someone else's Circle of Grace. Think of three people besides your parents whom you can trust, whom you feel will listen and would offer help. Ask yourself these questions: 0 Do these people respect your Circle of Grace? 0 Do they respect their own Circle of Grace? 0 Do they respect the Circle of Grace of other people you know? 7:30pm Small Group Questions: 1. What are some things you can do to determine if someone is fake or friend? 2. What are some things you can do to resist the temptation of posting bad stuff online or texting bad stuff to others? 3. What is your understanding of Circle of Grace? 4. Who belongs in your circle of Grace? 5. What does PLAAN stand for? 6. If a trusted adult violates your Circle of Grace is it OK to tell another adult? 7. Do you believe your parents will get angry if you tell about someone violating your circle of grace and if so do you still tell them? 7:45pm Our next activity will help us ponder who belongs in our circle of grace. 7
Circle of Grace Charm Pin Who is in your Circle of Grace? As you make this Charm pin think about the people that remind you of the meaning of these colors. Who are these people that are allowed in your Circle of Grace? The Pin: The pin reminds us of our Circle of Grace. It is a symbol of our own circle and who we allow inside of our circle of grace. Yellow - symbolizes the wisdom/knowledge, clarity, increases awareness and calms the nerves. This color is related to the ability to perceive and understand. o Who understands you and is this person in your circle of grace? Orange - This color reminds us to be enthusiastic, happy, sociable, energetic, and adventurous. o Who is constantly building you up and letting you know that you are capable of doing all things? Are they in your circle of grace? Pink- This color is associated with unconditional love, romance, purity, femininity, healing, calm, sensitive, friendly, and loveable. o Who gives you unconditional love and lets you know that you are beautiful? Is this person in your circle? Red - This color is associated with self-confidence, courage. o Who do you admire that demonstrates confidence and courage? Is this person in your circle? Blue- This color is associated with knowledge, healing, peace, truth, and harmony. It is said to be a cooling color that symbolizes faith, devotion, and deep insight. o Who is strong in their faith and very insightful? Is this person in your circle? Green - This color reminds us of those who are understanding, nature loving, generous, humble, and self-controlled. o Who is generous and humble in your life? Is this person in your circle? 8
Violet/indigo/Purple - This color allows for deep perception and intuition. It is associated with power, and inspiration. o Who inspires you? Is this person in your circle? Christian Symbol The Greek word for fish is "ichthys." As early as the first century, Christians made an acrostic from this word: Iesous Christos Theou Yios Soter, i.e. Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior. The fish has plenty of other theological overtones as well, for Christ fed the 5,000 with 2 fishes and 5 loaves and called his disciples "fishers of men." Greeks, Romans, and many other pagans used the fish symbol before Christians. Hence the fish, unlike, say, the cross, attracted little suspicion, making it a perfect secret symbol for persecuted believers. When threatened by Romans in the first centuries after Christ, Christians used the fish mark meeting places and tombs, or to distinguish friends from foes. According to one ancient story, when a Christian met a stranger in the road, the Christian sometimes drew one arc of the simple fish outline in the dirt. If the stranger drew the other arc, both believers knew they were in good company. o Is God part of your Circle of Grace? 755p Closing Prayer Call the young people to prayer by asking them to quietly reflect on disrespectful behaviors that they may have seen, received, or done to others. Remind them that as Catholics we have access to the healing grace of God through the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Invite them to listen as you pray, beginning with the Sign of the Cross: With each new day, I am growing up, Lord. I want to be a person close to Your Heart. It's very hard I think, to make the choices You desire which are always best for me. Today's culture would have me think otherwise especially when it is about respecting others and standing up for what is right. I pray that You will help me and guide me. Let me share each day, my talents where they are needed, and, when You prompt me with Your Holy Spirit, let me have the courage to be generous and open to do what you want. Amen. 9