Hynes Sight - Winter Edition (2022)

In one of his lesser-known works, The Magician’s Nephew, the story of how Narnia was created is told.  The lion Aslan, in an account very similar to Genesis 1, speaks all the beauty of Narnia into existence.  The children who are there, this time Digory and Polly are their names, marvel at its sights and sounds and express love and admiration for Aslan the creator.  “Hail Aslan” they say.  “We are awake. We love. We think. We speak. We know,” is how they respond.  However, with them is their uncle, who is evil.  As Narnia is created, he despises the beauty and even wishes he had his gun so that he could shoot the lion.  In fact, the only part of Narnia he sees as worth anything are the lampposts, as they are made of iron that he could steal and sell for profit in his world. 

This is a picture of the world C.S. Lewis lived in, and is true of ours as well.  One worldview is awake, thinking, loving, speaking the truth, and knowing God, while the other is asleep, dumb, hating, lying, despising all the goodness that God can bring and looking for nothing but personal gain and profit.  It is a vivid and real separation between the two, and we see it each and every day as we navigate our way through creation as Christians.

Westside Christian upholds a biblical worldview, and this defines everything we do.  As we start a new semester in the coming weeks, I feel it is a good reminder to ponder the resiliency of being a Christian in this world.  One who paradoxically stands fearlessly for Christ of their own volition, but who also knows they are 100% reliant on God’s strength to get them through their life, their days, and sometimes, just the next minute.  This truth and this worldview are what we teach our students and there is no doubt why you have chosen to place them here.  As we start our new semester, and the new year, let's always remember where we stand.  As Aslan tells the children, “for what you see and hear depends a good deal on where you are standing; it also depends on what sort of person you are.”  C.S. Lewis knew this well, and I am blessed to be serving in a place that knows it too.

Happy New Year!

JOHN HYNES

Head of School