There is an interesting side effect that comes with being a university student: not only do you learn new things, but you learn new ways to think.Every discipline that you specialize in shapes how you view the world. For example, I’m in microeconomics this semester – learning about demand and supply, efficiency, productivity, and stuff like that – and now I can’t view anything without putting on the glasses of economics and viewing the world through these lenses. We watched a youtube clip of “How it’s Made” in class and not only saw how a skateboard was made, but also how productive the assembly line was by combining technology with human labour. So maybe economics isn’t your thing, but I know my friends who are psychology majors analyse every situation through a psych-lens. Or another friend of mine who is a bio major told me that he couldn’t watch Avator without his mind racing through all the biology in it, while I saw it with a business mindset. It’s just sooo cool to be able to look at the world in a different light.
And the great thing about Redeemer is that it’s a liberal arts school, so we have the opportunity to try on different lenses from different disciplines of the core courses – biology, history, theatre, physical education, etc. – to get a taste of what the world is like when we see it through that mindset. University really opens your eyes up to the world around you.
But Redeemer takes it one step further. If you take just one class at Redeemer, you’ll hear this one buzzword: “worldview.” It’s kind of like those big goofy Dollarama sunglasses that you can put on where the lenses are bigger than your face. These glasses are so great because you can put them on overtop of any corrective-lens glasses that you may already wear and still look stylin’! But in all seriousness, Redeemer gives you a perspective of the world like these Dollarama sunglasses; Redeemer shows every class through the lens of faith. Christianity is our worldview because God made us and all of creation and everywhere we look – whether it’s business class, science, art, whatever discipline you’re studying – we can see God. It’s so great because we all get to wear these big Christian worldview glasses and be unified in the sense that we all see God everywhere, even though we also look through our respective discipline lenses. God is the one we worship and learn about, and the one you unites us all together in our communal effort to develop the world to enable others to honour Him.
God is just so cool! And because I came here, and because of how my classes are taught through this worldview, I can now see the world from this perspective. Everywhere I look on campus I can see God at work. It is in obvious things like Wednesday Chapel where we can all come together to get our Dollarstore glasses polished and worship God as a community of believers. Or in coffee house where we showcase our God-given talents and exercise our ability to make others laugh. Or even in more hidden ways, like Student Senate (as general senator position elections were held this week) where we work as one body with the like-mind of serving the student body through the love that God gives us to love our neighbour. God is everywhere; we just need to open our eyes to see it.
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