Living Simply
The tiny-house movement
by Claire Law
Suitable for Whole School (Sec)
Aims
To consider how the tiny-house movement prompts us to live simply and sustainably.
Preparation and materials
- You will need the PowerPoint slides that accompany this assembly (Living Simply) and the means to display them.
- Have available one of the following videos, and the means to show it during the assembly:
- a clip from the Channel 5 show, Susan Calman’s Grand Day Out, available at: https://tinyurl.com/mry5x5pk (1 minute long)
- ‘The smallest house in Britain’, available at: https://youtu.be/iLqqEb2kaBI (1.56 minutes long) - Optional: you may wish to ask two students to read from Mark 6.7-9 and Matthew 6.25-27 and 33-34 during the ‘Time for reflection’ part of the assembly.
Assembly
- Show Slide 1.
Welcome the students to the assembly. - Explain that houses, just like people, come in all different shapes and sizes. Some people live in vast mansions, some in smaller properties with multiple rooms and some in more compact spaces. But did you know that, according to the Guinness Book of Records, the smallest house in Great Britain is in Conwy, North Wales?
- Show Slide 2.
This tiny house was built in the sixteenth century. It has two rooms: a downstairs living space and a cramped upstairs bedroom. The whole property is just over three metres tall, three metres deep and less than two metres wide.
Amazingly, its various inhabitants over the years have included couples as well as people living alone. The last person to live in the house was a local fisherman, who was over six feet tall. He was forced to move out in 1900, after the local council decided that the size of the house made it unfit for human habitation.
The house is now a tourist attraction.
Show the clip from the Channel 5 show, Susan Calman’s Grand Day Out, (1 minute long) or the YouTube video ‘The smallest house in Britain’ (1.56 minutes long). - Ask the students to consider how they would manage to live in such a small space. There would be little space for possessions, so they would need to think carefully about how they lived and what they owned.
Ask them to consider what they would need to sacrifice to live in a home of this size. Do they imagine that there would be any benefits? For example, it would cost less to heat a home of this size, so bills would be reduced. - Although this house has been declared unfit to live in, there has been increasing interest in recent years in living in smaller spaces as a more environmentally-friendly approach.
The tiny-house movement encourages us to simplify our lives and live with less. Some people are choosing to downsize and live simpler lifestyles, so architects have been experimenting to see how small homes could work for people who want to live sustainably. - Let’s take a look at some of the latest designs for tiny homes from around the world.
Show Slide 3.
First, we have this pre-fabricated home in Spain.
Show Slide 4.
Next is this holiday cabin in the Austrian Alps.
Show Slide 5.
Finally, we have this house on wheels, which was self-built by its owner in the USA. - To live in such a small space requires a commitment to living simply. Rather than buying lots of things, people who live in tiny houses must find ways to borrow, hire or share things with others. To live well in a tiny house, resourcefulness is needed, but many people find that the benefits of living simply outweigh the challenges.
- Show Slide 6.
The roots of the tiny-house movement can be traced back to the nineteenth-century American philosopher, Henry David Thoreau.
Thoreau found that living a simple lifestyle, close to nature, helped him to feel a sense of contentment. He lived in a small cabin by a lake, where he wrote books and poetry. We can see a reconstruction of the simple interior of Thoreau’s cabin in the picture on the right of the slide. Famously, Thoreau said, ‘I make myself rich by making my wants few.’
Nowadays, National Simplicity Day is celebrated on Thoreau’s birthday, 12 July. People around the world use this day to promote the values of living simply. It’s over 200 years since Thoreau’s birth, but many people today also see the value of living simply, both in terms of helping our planet and in bringing serenity to our lives.
Time for reflection
Living simply can mean different things to different people. So, what might it mean for us?
The Bible tells us that Jesus invited his 12 disciples, whom he chose to share the good news of God’s love with others, to live simply by having fewer possessions. Jesus wanted them to travel light. Let’s hear how Mark’s Gospel describes Jesus’ invitation.
Read, or ask a student to read, from Mark 6.7-9.
‘Calling the 12 to him, he began to send them out two by two . . . These were his instructions: “Take nothing for the journey except a staff – no bread, no bag, no money in your belts. Wear sandals, but not an extra shirt.”’
As challenging as this must have been for the disciples, by accepting this invitation, they now had the opportunity to connect with others and trust in the generosity of people they met along the way.
There was another occasion when Jesus spoke about living simply to crowds of people who had gathered to hear his message. In Matthew’s Gospel, we hear how Jesus encouraged a simple focus on God’s kingdom over gathering lots of possessions.
Read, or ask a student to read, from Matthew 6.25-27 and 33-34.
‘Therefore, I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? . . . But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.’
In other words, Jesus encourages people to keep things simple by focusing on God’s kingdom. He urges them to trust in God rather than busy themselves with accumulating possessions and their associated worries.
For us, living simply may involve us committing to consuming or buying less, finding ways to reuse and recycle things, or sharing things with others. What might this look like for us?
Pause to allow time for thought.
Living simply can also involve simplifying what we do with our time: living each day at a slower pace. It could take the form of an occasional screen-free break, or a daily period of quiet time. It could involve saying no to others’ requests so that we can concentrate on fewer things. What might this look like for us?
Pause to allow time for thought.
Living simply can involve us being clear about the focus of our life too. Doing so can help us to feel less distracted, and simplify where or how we should give our attention. The disciples’ focus was on following Jesus. What might the focus of our life be; what matters most to us?
Pause to allow time for thought.
As we move into a time of prayer, let’s take a few moments to gather our thoughts and consider what living simply might look like for us.
Pause to allow time for thought.
We’ve taken time to think about ways in which we can live simply. For some people in the world, living in small homes and living simply is not a choice. Many of us here do have a choice about how we spend our money, and our time.
Prayer
Dear Lord,
We pray that we take time today to consider what living simply might mean for us.
Help us to consider what benefits we might gain from living simply - and what choices we can make to move towards this.
Help us to be clearer about what matters to us and how we can simplify our lives to live without worry.
Please help us to find hope in the simple trust of your love for us.
Amen.
