Talk 4 | Harmony (or is it?)
Harmony Day is celebrated on the 21st of March and was instituted by the Howard-led Government in order to celebrate in multicultural Australia that “Everyone Belongs”. This day is a noble ideal that seeks to remind us of our shared humanity, the celebration of diversity and sense of belonging for everyone. Wearing orange has become the outward symbol of unity.
Harmony Week is dedicated to the celebration of events in schools, workplaces and communities that recognise our multi‑racial culture, and it is our national attempt at unity, putting all our different beliefs, preferences, perspectives, interests, rights and cultural practices together in ‘the one’. For, in our post‑truth era, we are living in a fragmented culture because, for the first time in the history of western civilisation, there is no broad consensus on the nature of human life and how it should be lived, and hence, there is no coherence that binds individuals together.
Many of our schools celebrate Harmony Day to demonstrate our unity and diversity, helping all students to have a sense of belonging to their school and nation. But what do we actually mean in our celebration? How do we as Christian teachers make sense of that which is particular and how all things hold together in their diversity? At the moment diversity, ‘the many’ trumps the’ one’-unity.
Our culture has been likened to a carnival with a never‑ending array of sideshows. “This carnival offers only the clamour of multifarious sideshow hawkers calling out for our momentary attention.” [1] This pluralistic culture does not seek our commitment in any ultimate sense, but only wants to fulfil our desires before we move to the next thing. With an acceptance of the socially constructed nature of reality, Harmony Day and what it stands for is a genuine attempt to put everyone’s beliefs, preferences, viewpoints, rights, interests and practices together in ‘the one’. We can believe whatever we choose, and all are to be seen as equally valid. The Creator has been reduced to one of a crowd, this “once commanding symbol of unity has become one more fragment in the abstract mosaic of diversity.” [2] Harmony then becomes reduced to the lowest common denominator, that of tolerance, where no conflict should exist, but each person is left in their own isolated world, many times not relating to those they disagree with. And Christians are marginalised from the public square, where we are experiencing a ‘cold war’.
When I taught 3-Unit Economics, we studied the ‘Cold War’ that existed between the USA and the Soviet Union after WW2. There was no direct military action, but conflict was real and was fed through economic decisions, political actions and propaganda. There is no doubt, as we have observed, that in our present cultural war, political, educational and media influences have sought to destroy the Judeo‑Christian foundation of western nations. We are now seen as part of the problem rather than part of the solution. But as author Stephen McAlpine notes, “the next generation of God’s people will likely experience a ‘hot war’ that seeks to completely suffocate any compelling public Christian witness.” [3] Currently the Federal Government is touting amendments to the Religious Discrimination that will prevent faith-based schools from employing people of the same faith, striking at the very heart of their mission.
Our vision for education is leading our students on a journey to shalom. In this wartime, we need to establish and nurture a counter‑formational school community that clearly articulates our deep purpose, and embeds its message in our curriculum, relationships and community practices that demonstrate a transformative vision of human life. Harmony in music is the composite product of individual musicians coming together to form a cohesive whole. In an orchestra, the violinist plays one note, the flutist a different one, followed by a trombonist who plays a different note. But when their individual parts are heard together, harmony is created. But harmony only occurs because it is scripted by a Composer. In its most beautiful form, it produces a symphony. Like true harmony, unity in diversity requires a Script and a centre that holds all things together. In Christ, we have this centre. He is “the Way, the Truth and the Life”, (John 14: 6) and in Him “all things hold together.” (Colossians 1: 17). Through His Gospel work, He provides redemption and restoration for the whole creation. Therefore, the Kingdom of God is both exclusive and inclusive. Exclusive in that the only way to be included is to come through Christ. It is inclusive in that ‘all’ may come to Christ no matter who they are. So, we are called to something greater.
As Christians, we have a message of deep hope and rich relationship in Christ, and knowing His love for us personally compels us to love our neighbour. We must help our students to grasp what it means that Jesus is the Truth, which means teaching them the Scriptures because what they put their faith in does matter whilst embodying the reality of Christ. As teachers together in our school, we are to model to our students the sacrificial love of Jesus and the humility that characterises servanthood. All students need to know that they belong to our school community regardless of where they stand in relationship to the Kingdom of God.
We are to train our students to see unity in diversity in relationships and the curriculum. This involves considering how we help students to appreciate their own God‑given gifts, but in the context of sacrifice, using their gifts to bless others. In our class, as we celebrate diversity through appreciating each other’s cultural practices (such as dress, food, language …), we do so in the understanding that whatever we do is to bring glory to God. All cultures must be viewed through the lens of Scripture. God in His common grace gives good gifts (James 1: 17). We are called neither to simply affirm or reject aspects of culture. We are called to “cherish culture as an area under God’s grace…but we are called to remember…that…human culture was shown on…Good Friday to be in…rebellion against the grace of God.”[4] There is good and bad in every culture and there are developments that are in line with the purpose of God revealed through Christ for all human beings or out of line with His plan in the Scriptures. Hence to evaluate any culture, the values and priorities of God’s Kingdom must be the standard for clearly all cultures are not morally equivalent. We are training our students to be both counter‑cultural but also agents of Christ’s Kingship and thus, culturally renewing.
Curriculum courses and pedagogies need to be shaped by ‘diversity in unity’, wisdom and hope‑filled imagination. How do we, through our teaching and learning, help our students to explore the validity of different beliefs, viewpoints and practices? In class activities and discussions do we help our students to express disagreement honestly with another person while at the same time treating them with respect? Do we trace the wonder of the diversity in the interconnectedness of God’s created order?
The wonder of a grace‑filled community is that we have unity in Christ, whose truth and love provides our spiritual and cultural foundation. We can celebrate diversity in the lives of our school families and in all areas of God’s most magnificent creation. Only in Christ, can we all play our part in harmony to produce a beautiful symphony in accordance with God’s script.
“The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts, and though all its parts are many, they form one body.” (1 Corinthians 13: 2)
Grace and Peace
The Excellence Centre Team
[1] J Richard Middleton & Brian J Walsh, Truth is Stranger than it used to Be – Biblical Faith in a Post‑Modern Age, (Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 1995), 42
[2] Os Guinness, The Gravedigger File – Secret Papers on the Subversion of the Modern Church, (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1983). 98
[3] Stephen McAlpine, Futureproof, 128
[4] Lesslie Newbigin, The Gospel in a Pluralist Society, (Washington: Wm. B. Erdmanns Publishing Co, 1989), 197