High School Musical

For my last input for the week on the subject of harmony, I wanted to share some very practical experiences that my wife and I observed last night.  Earlier in the day we had just returned from a walk and I felt the leading to watch a recorded teaching from last week’s annual Winter Bible Seminar hosted by our home church in Oklahoma.  The Associate Pastor speaking was talking about five success principles that we can learn from the Old Testament book of Joshua.  He stressed one point by declaring that we “have to keep our head in the game.”

Now, don’t ask me why, but that saying immediately made me think of a song that is sung by the captain of the basketball team in the Disney Channel Original Movie entitled “High School Musical!”  That remembrance stirred me on to watch the movie since we had it recorded on our DVR.

I realize that most people my age would probably not sit down to watch a teen musical from the Disney Channel!  But after spending my entire life working with teens and elementary age children, it just sort of comes naturally to me.  It would always surprise our students when I talked knowledgably about current teen stars, the latest releases of Disney movies and used clips from these as tools to draw interest and understanding to what we taught.  I am a firm believer in the need for leaders to build relationships with their students, especially youth in their middle and high school years.

I have also mentioned in past blogs how music and drama have always been a big portion of our ministry.  Over the years starting when I was in Junior College, I have written countless skits, plays, musicals and all church holiday programs.  I tend to enjoy every aspect of the process from conception, to set design, through the sometimes long ordeal of practices and then the actual performance.   It is hard to explain the satisfaction that one feels sitting in a darkened auditorium after the final performance, contemplating everything that went into the program, the joy of seeing the student participants smiling faces and evolving talents, and the reception of the audience to all the hard work.

With all that said, I normally do not just watch the movie, but I think about all the details, imagination, creativity, work and direction that went into each scene.  What an exciting challenge it would be to direct a crew of hundreds in choreographing just a single song!  In one scene of the “High School Musical” movie the characters are auditioning for a lead part in the celebrated “Spring Musicale.”  Our discussion of harmony comes clearly to mind at this part of the movie.

As the various students sing the chosen song, a variety of dischordal harmony comes forth.  The first two youth are totally off key, the next demonstrates absolutely no sense of musical timing.  After that, a young couple comes up and performs an improvisational dance which is obviously out of touch with the sense of this particular musicale. Next up is a wonderful young lady with a beautiful operatic voice.  And while her voice and range are phenomenal, her style is also not appropriate for this genre. The next student totally freezes up on stage.  Finally the brother and sister who have starred in every other performance during their high school years come up and puts on a song and dance number that is over the top and literally leaves everyone speechless.  A little while later the young couple in the lead roles of the movie sing the song in perfect harmony and dramatic presentation and are chosen by the drama director to star in the show.

Although the performances by the young actors in this scene are very humorous, they do demonstrate in a practical sense exactly what I have been sharing  with you all week.  In music there are right notes and there are wrong notes, and it becomes very obvious and trying on the ears to hear the wrong notes sung out.  There is also the right and the wrong style to sing or play a song.  The way in which a song is correctly performed depends upon the situation and the feeling or mood that the director wants to set.

In order for us to successfully live our daily lives in harmony with everyone and everything around us, we have to be aware of the situation and the correct mood or feeling that is or needs to be set.  That means what may work in one circumstance, may have the opposite effect in another.  Colossians 3:2 encourages us to “Keep your mind on things above, not on worldly things.”  The next verse tells us that “You have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.”  (God’s Word ©)

Since our lives are now hidden or you could say closely interwoven with Christ, it is best that we do as He would have us to do.  He is like the director of a musical.  He is not only thinking about the current scene, but sees and directs everything from the perspective of how it fits in to the purpose, feel and mood of the entire performance.  He is not only leading the actors, but is working with the entire set and crew to make the best possible presentation of each scene.  He is the one who keeps everything on track and true to the programs desired end.

That is called making sure that everything stays in harmony and continuity throughout the performance of our lives.  That is the kind of harmony that I want in my life!  I may not always know what is around the next corner or in the next scene, but Christ my director does… and it is His job to see that the script stays true to His plan and purpose.

So, keep your eyes on Him, let Him direct and then do your best to live the scenes in your life according to the plan of the Master Director!  Have a good weekend.  Stay in tune to His Word, and keep asking yourself… “What am I expecting today?”