At the dawn of a new century (1799), it seemed fitting that Beethoven composed his first symphony that was recognised as changing the concept of the symphony genre. This symphonic master created a musical score regarded as a masterpiece and was praised for its originality and its beauty and brilliance in design and performance.

A symphony is an elaborate composition for a full orchestra notated in a musical score. Orchestral musicians play from their part which contains the notated music for their own instrument. The Conductor serves as the messenger for the composer. It is their responsibility to understand the music and direct the musicians so they can transmit a unified performance of the score. Put simply, the Conductor keeps the musicians in time and together through a language of gestures that can sculpt the music line, tease out the nuances and re-imagine an old piece anew.

Our loving Creator has written the score that plays out in creation, in history and in community. In the Old Testament, the Hebrews believed that God made a good world. What Adam messed up, YAHWEH would sort out through Abraham. The themes of creation, judgement, and the hope of salvation play out through the intricate connections between Genesis and Malachi. The hope is that all creation will flourish “You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace, the mountains and the hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.” (Isaiah 55:2) “Knowing requires listening to the eloquence of this creation as it sings its praise or groans its painful cries to the Creator.” [1]

Like the music in the symphony, the Scriptures reach their crescendo in the revelation of God among us. As we read, ponder, study, and believe the Gospels, we find the entire score in focus before us in the inviting presence of Jesus. Only in the light of the person and Gospel work of the Messiah does our story make sense. Death, the ultimate tyrant, has been defeated and the resurrection has sent shockwaves through the cosmos. Hope has come rushing in as the new creation is ushered in. Jesus is the King, a ruler who brings rescue, renewal, and reconciliation. The whole creation has been re-awakened and is being put right. The ancient hope that the glory of God will fill the whole earth is coming true and our students are invited to be responsible players in this recreation project under the direction of the Holy Spirit, just as each individual musician plays his piece of the score in sync with the others under the direction of the Conductor. The Composer’s score is now implemented by the whole orchestra. Because Christ is making all things new, one day the whole creation, the new heavens and new earth, will be flooded with the Triune God’s presence. The central vision of creation history will be finally realised – as humans live in perfect communion with God and one another for eternity.

The Bible story engenders hope because it not only engages with events facing our students in the world today but with the long scale of cosmic history. “… hope is the new world a-coming, because this world is the next world a-building.” [2]

The ultimate goal of all Christian belief is that we live for the glory of God. So, the end is where we start, for we begin a journey by first deciding on a destination, otherwise like Alice in Wonderland, if we don’t know where we are going, any road will take us there. “In my end is my beginning”, said TS Elliot [3]. Now is the time to help our students walk in the tension of living in a broken world while embracing the hope that their lives are part of God’s great purpose. Our school acts as a signpost and a foretaste of life lived in the Kingdom of God.

“Nobody can change stories unless an alternative story is made richly available with great artistry, love and boldness.” [4]

We need to share stories of God’s people who in times of great need, embodied faith, hope and love that brought new life in Christ to communities amid pain and suffering and ask the deep questions about their desires to be what they were made for. This recognises that being faithful to the truth can be difficult and can make life even messier.

We will seek to develop in our students a love for and dependence on God and relationships of interdependence with others. Students need to see that their greatest need is God’s grace. Therefore, we will enter with our students into the exploration of what it means to be human in a culture where language is detached from meaning, truth is detached from reality and thinking is shaped by their desires and appetites. Teachers will help students to experience the presence of God in the curriculum as they trace the wonder and wisdom of His design in creation.

Locating students in God’s story is about knowing and embracing the Biblical story that reveals truth about the Fall and the Redemption and Restoration of Creation, through Christ. This will involve a wholistic view of reality – the history of ideas and their impact on civilization, philosophical beliefs that create culture, different world views, literature that feeds the imagination and engages with truth and in Science and Mathematics that reflect God’s creative design. We are to structure life-orientating teaching and learning both within and beyond the class that will engage their heads, hearts and hands in learning and lead to service that reflects love of neighbour.

Like Pilgrim’s companion Hopeful, who was with him when he fell into despair in the depths of Doubting Castle, we will remind our students who their God is and what He has promised. For our story is one of kept promises. May we tell our ancient story in ways that will captivate the imaginations and hearts of our students that together we can enter the plot of the story and carry it forward. “The story I had heard a thousand times turned out to be the story I had never heard at all.”[5]

“But in keeping with the promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and earth, the home of righteousness.” 2 Peter :13.

 

Grace and Peace
The TEC Team

 

 

 

[1] Brian Walsh, Education in Precarious Times: Postmodernity and a Christian Worldview, (The Christian Teacher’s Journal, 2002) 8.1, 10.

[2] Os Guinness, Unspeakable: Facing Up to the Challenge of Evil, (California: Harper Collins, 2006), 152.

[3] Thomas Stearns Elliot, The Complete Poems and Plays, (New York: Harcourt, Brace & Co, 1952), 129.

[4] Walter Brueggemann, The Prophetic Imagination, (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2111), 35.

[5] P Kingsnorth, The Cross & the Machine, https://www.firstthings.com/article/2021/06/the-cross-and-the-machine