Photo: amazon.com
Agent 86, Maxwell Smart versus his nemesis Conrad Siegfried. Good vs Evil. Counter-intelligence agency, Control vs international organization of evil, Kaos (even their spelling was evil). This is the stuff that made up most of my meagre TV watching ration as a boy. The program was called Get Smart, and on Friday nights we watched the bumbling, inept agents of Control save the planet from the evil schemes of Kaos. It was a completely silly Mel Brooks production, with Agent 86 being a combination of James Bond and Inspector Clouseau. Despite the fact that if I saw an episode now I might say, “Missed by that much,” the silliness of the program does not change the fact that the battle between ORDER (Control) and CHAOS describes the human condition today. This, however, is a real battle, not a parody, and it certainly is not entertaining. We see that battle in the chaos of wars, crime, hunger, environmental degradation, death. . . We experience it daily in broken relationships, addictions, inequality, hatred, selfishness, . . .
Edmonton Christian Schools to its very core believes that God’s story is a story of order. At the beginning of God’s story we see God create by calling order out of chaos. As the story continues, chaos returns in the form of sin. Once again, though it cost Him dearly, God calls forth order through his own Son’s selfless, painful death on the cross.
March devotional focus is on the Order-Discover through-line.
And here we are, Edmonton Christian Schools, at this time in history, where the war between Chaos and Order has been won through Christ. But the battle goes on. It is our deep hope that our students will be Order-Discoverers. As they study mathematical functions, scientific processes, political structures, movement skills, playing nicely on the playground, the colour wheel, . . . .we hope they will see the created ORDER and in doing so, will glimpse the Creator. More than that, we hope that when they, in their studies and in their lives come face to face with the chaos of war and refugees and hatred and economic disparity and self-centredness . . . they will confront them in Christ’s name and will once again discover that our creator God is a God of order and that in Christ, chaos can never reign.
That’s God’s story, and learning to live in that story is what Edmonton Christian Schools is all about. That is what it really means to get smart!
