A Fresh Start
A new start in a new year.
by Claire Law
Suitable for Whole School (Sec)
Aims
To consider the significance of New Year as a fresh start and consider the Biblical teaching on fresh starts and forgiveness.
Preparation and materials
- You will need the YouTube clip ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – Letter to Caroline’ and the means to display it. This can be found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g72M0tTvjKU
Assembly
- Welcome students to the assembly and to 2026. Wish them all a Happy New Year!
- Point out that all of us are different and will have different ways of approaching a new year. For some of us it will have been ‘business as usual’ as we don’t like a big fuss. For others we might have loved staying up and having a party!
- Across the world there are many different traditions and customs around New Year’s Eve.
In Spain, it is tradition to eat 12 grapes at midnight to ward off bad luck in the coming year.
In Columbia, some people mark the New Year by carrying an empty suitcase around the block at the stroke of midnight, in the belief that this will facilitate lots of travel opportunities in the coming year.
In Brazil, it is customary to light candles and throw white flowers into water as an offering. - But why are we drawn to mark the New Year? Why is 1st January a significant date for so many people around the world?
Maybe it’s because a new year can feel like a new start. A fresh chance to start something anew. The old year has gone, and a new year begins, with the hope of new opportunities. For many people, a new year is like pushing the reset button. People often make New Year’s resolutions with the intention of making a change in their lives. They commit to being more active, or getting involved more with social activities, or reducing the amount of sugar they eat, for example. - This idea of a fresh start, a new beginning is a very attractive idea. It is an idea that we encounter in the story of ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’, originally written by F. Scott Fitzgerald. This book was made into a film in 2008, where Benjamin Button was played by Brad Pitt. The plot plays with the idea that time is running out, and the film includes an important scene addressing the idea of change and making the most of time by committing to change things we want to be different in our lives.
- Show the YouTube clip ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – Letter to Caroline’. This can be found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g72M0tTvjKU
- Invite the students to think about the following phrases from the clip and consider how they feel about these words in their own lives:
‘For what it’s worth... it’s never too late... to be whoever you want to be’.
‘You can change or stay the same’.
‘I hope you live a life you’re proud of, and if you’re not, I hope you have the courage to start all over again’.
Time for reflection
There is something very optimistic, and hopeful about the idea of having a fresh start – a chance to change and a chance to start all over again.
All of us experience times where we realise, we have made a mistake, hurt someone or done something we regret. We experience feelings of guilt and shame. Sometimes this can drag us into further into negative thinking and feelings. New Year can be a helpful reminder that, in life, we get a chance to start again. A new year can be such a chance, but in fact, each new day can be considered a chance to start again, begin afresh, an opportunity to put right the mistakes we make.
The idea of a fresh start is at the heart of Christianity. The Bible has a great deal to say about new beginnings. In the Book of Deuteronomy in the Bible, the idea of a Year of Jubilee is laid out. Every 50 years, there was to be a Year of Jubilee when slaves were freed, and debts were forgiven. People were given a fresh start. Even the land got a re-set: no crops were grown on the land to give the fields a rest and allow natural nutrients to be restored.
And the Bible is also very clear that God gives us a fresh start when we turn from the wrong that we do and turn towards God. The Bible calls this forgiveness, and the Bible is clear that, no matter what we have done, we can experience a a re-start, a fresh beginning if we turn away from our sins and ask God for forgiveness. Christians believe that Jesus’ death on the cross is a sign of the lengths that God wanted to go to in order to forgive us and provide us with a re-set button. Jesus’ death was not the end, of course. He rose from the dead too. And Christians have hope that they too will have life after death.
With all that in mind, let’s think the year ahead of us. A new year, a new beginning, a new start. Let’s reflect upon the following phrases from the clip we watched.
Invite the students to think about the following phrases from the clip and consider how they feel about these words in their own lives:
‘For what it’s worth... it’s never too late... to be whoever you want to be’.
Ask the question: Do we believe that ‘it’s never too late...to be whoever we want to be’? If so, is there anything you feel you need to change in your life today?
Pause to allow time for reflection.
‘You can change or stay the same’.
Benjamin Button says, ‘You can change or stay the same’.
What stops us from making positive changes? How can we overcome these barriers to change at the start of this new year?
Pause to allow time for reflection.
‘I hope you live a life you’re proud of, and if you’re not, I hope you have the courage to start all over again’.
In the film we hear the line, ‘I hope you have the courage to start all over again’.
Are there things that we have done wrong that we need to have the courage to admit and move away from? Sometimes we need to be able to forgive ourselves for the things we regret.
Pause to allow time for reflection.
Let’s bring our reflections on fresh starts, new beginnings and forgiveness together as we pray.
Prayer:
Dear God,
There are times when we look forward to a fresh start, a new beginning, a reset.
Sometimes we fail and mess up; and we know that we need a fresh start.
Please help us to remember that each day is a new day.
Help us to have the courage to make changes to our lives.
Please help us to see each day as a chance to make a difference and live a life we are proud of.
Thank you that we can receive forgiveness.
Thank you that you want to forgive us.
Thank you that no matter what we do, there is always chance for a re-set, a fresh start with you.
Help us to accept your forgiveness, to forgive others and also to forgive ourselves.
Amen
