The Feast

Philippians 4:8 “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” 

GIGO – Garbage in, garbage out. This was my mother’s concise way of reminding my sister and me that the things upon which we feasted our minds and hearts would influence the things that came out in our words and actions. Certainly, our culture regularly sets before us a steady diet of the crass, vulgar, profane, ugly, and untrue. There is nothing new under the sun. This has, to some degree, always been the case; but, I believe children today find themselves less equipped to do battle with the onslaught because schools, in particular, have drifted away from an emphasis on the true, the good, and the beautiful. Instead, for the most part, they emphasize results-driven academic programs that promote the mastery of the individual subjects taught without an eye to the truths that span the curricula and bind them together. Well and good; academic mastery is a laudable goal. However, without the heart and marrow provided by ideals, the shell of education is bare. Children cannot use academic mastery to confront falsehood and distortion in the culture to which they belong. 

Classical education is different. An integration of the Greek philosophical concepts of truth, goodness, and beauty (the transcendentals) with the academic disciplines, guides students to look for these elements in all that they study. Classical Christian education has the advantage here, because for the Christian, truth, goodness, and beauty are more than philosophical principles; they form part of the scriptural command God gives through the apostle Paul concerning Christian thought. We are told in Philippians to fill our minds with the true, the honorable, the just, the pure, the lovely, the commendable, the excellent, and the praiseworthy. Rather than narrowing the academic study of the classical Christian student, this command opens up the possibility of absorbing the best of all that is put before him to see God’s truth at work across the centuries in everything from theology to history, literature to art, music and language to logic and rhetoric. It begins at the youngest level – grammar – in which children fill their minds with the very things the epistle commands. Their heads become treasure troves of good things. As they age and begin to exercise logic, these good thoughts guide them in spotting fallacy and identifying truth. Come rhetoric years, their exposure to beautiful and insightful writing aids them in crafting arguments in defense of all that is of value and against that which is false and empty. 

I’ve had the pleasure this year of seeing these principles poignantly illustrated in my own family during our daily commutes home. These can be rough. I have four children ranging in age from 11 to 7 months, and our last haul of the day is from my youngest daughter’s daycare to our house. By this time of day, everyone is tired and raw from a long day of work and play. The van is noisy – sometimes fun, but often argumentative and rife with sibling rivalry. They seek to outdo one another in conversation, and this year in particular – in song. At the same time, a new building project on the route home finally put up its sign – an Adult X store complete with display window. Frustrated at finding that a feast of naughty things was now set daily before my children’s eyes, I grumbled inwardly at having to change my drive home and worried about how to answer any questions my children might pose over what they saw. It was then that I began to pay attention to the newest singing competition taking place in the back seats.  At the tops of their lungs, my two middle children were singing “All Praise to Thee My God this Night,” a song they were learning for the fall fundraising dinner. My oldest was at the same time learning all the words to Martin Luther’s great hymn, “A Mighty Fortress is Our God.” I realized that their minds were turned to the excellent things that were daily before them at school and at home and not to the ugliness of the new store. Of course, this does not mean that they never notice the sin around or in them. Arguing over which child sings best is a good example of fallibility! Nonetheless, I was reminded that long after the singing competitions were over, the wonderful words racing through their minds would remain. So would the poems and the scripture and the great works of literature and history. Watered with prayer and the Lord’s blessing, these seeds will grow and mature, yielding a harvest of children better equipped to face all that our fallen world will throw at them. 

Thanksgiving is upon us – a time of feasting and gathering in. God promises His people that in the end, He will “make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees…” (Isaiah 25:6). I am grateful that we as parents and teachers have an opportunity to mirror God’s ultimate work in providing our children a feast of fat things for the mind and heart, preparing them for service in His kingdom and His world. May it be to His glory.