Page 18 - Providence Christian College - Fall 2018

A well-ordered soul, continued from Previous PAge
we have a new heart, one that is NOT hollow but filled with the love and grace of Christ, that we will have a new desire to live gratefully to our Creator. Out of gratitude that God rescued us from our self-centeredness, we will want to live for him—we will want to obey him, not because we have to obey him, but because we know it is the only way to flourishing, the only way to an ordered soul, the only way to true freedom.
As we come together as Christians, our hearts renewed, in part, by the love and healing of Christ’s grace, we will willing submit to guidelines, to a code, a covenant, that will continue to shape us and our life together.
The idea of covenants, so central to our reformed understanding of the Scriptures, have been at the center of our relationship with God since the start of time. Over the centuries, this idea of covenant made its way into covenants between Christians both in the church and in the society.
From the medieval Magna Carter to the Mayflower Compact, to the 1641 Body of Liberties in Massachusetts Bay Colony to the U.S. Constitution, this idea of covenants has shaped our public life together. We are a people held together by Godly covenants that protect individual liberty and support communal benevolence.
With the Providence Promise, we join a long, august tradition of writing covenants for individual and communal flourishing.
As you sit now, gaze over at the Providence Promise: It is this covenant, this code, rooted
in the Scriptures, and spelled out in our handbook, which is now summarized in our new Providence Promise.
If you look at the five promises, they make clear that renewal starts with right worship— getting our hearts and minds right. The transforming of the mind as Paul says.
But then look at the other four—live dutifully, love thy neighbor, academic integrity, and honoring providence—
In each of these, we see that once a person and community has right worship—that is, we present our entire bodies as living sacrifices to God as our spiritual worship—we live differently—we live ethically and morally, we live for others, we exhibit character and virtue, we support the community and we learn self-control.
As you enter this experiment in community, we have an amazing opportunity to heal the schism in our own souls, which will be part of our spiritual worship to God, but it will begin the process of ordering our community and then our republic.
So first years, when you come forward this evening, this is not a hollow tradition; this is an act of covenant or Code renewal. It is one of the most significant things you can do. When you sign this important document, you are joining the names of the rest of the community, and you are participating in something magnificent, beautiful, and God glorying. May you embrace this moment!
Christo Omnia Nova! Amen.
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