This year's Year 6 production at Scawby and Hibaldstow schools was High School Musical. They did this previously in 2019 and the children who performed then have just finished their GCSEs! With the recent change of government it seems appropriate to look at the HSM song “Start of Something New” though of course it's nothing to do with politics!
“Start of Something New” is the opening song of HSM and is the first time the two main characters, Troy and Gabriella, meet; both being called to sing this karaoke duet at a New Year's Eve party. The song sets up the premise of HSM that people will change from 'living in their own world' to 'taking a chance' and 'opening up their hearts to all the possibilities' and this change is going to come about through Troy and Gabriella's relationship.
Change is a part of life, and both advertisers and politicians want to make us discontent with our lives so that we will want the change that they're offering. But so often the change that's offered is either illusory or it doesn't solve the problems we have.
Jesus' call and invitation is also to change, to the start of something new, which he describes as being 'born again' (John 3:3). As we repent of our past sins and failures, of how we live in our own worlds not caring about others; and as we trust in him, putting him at the centre of our lives, we become, as the apostle Paul says, “a new creation...the old has gone, the new is here” (2 Corinthians 5:17). But this isn't just a call to moral reform, as we know that however hard we try to make ourselves better people, we will always fail. This is instead a call to a relationship that changes not just how we see the world but how we respond to it and behave within it, as Troy and Gabriella sing “the world looks so much brighter / with you by my side” and that is the start of something new.
As we live in a relationship with Jesus, we start to see the world as he sees it. In some ways it is much brighter because we see in the natural world God's love of variety and God's love for us as humanity in providing such a wonderful universe for us. We also see in each other the dignity that we each possess because we are made in the image and likeness of God. But we also see the darkness in the world and in ourselves, especially the darkness that comes from rejecting God and his ways, and ignoring the dignity in all humans.
It is only through a relationship with Jesus that we can truly be a new creation; without it our 'changed' lives are just window-dressing or a quick dust, and our 'something new' is really just the 'same old, same old' pretending to be different. So if you are disillusioned with your life, however outwardly or superficially 'successful' it seems, turn to Jesus who comes to bring us life in all its fulness (John 10:10) and it will be the start of something new.
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