{"id":7648,"date":"2012-12-07T16:02:53","date_gmt":"2012-12-07T22:02:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tonyjones\/?p=7648"},"modified":"2015-03-13T16:48:18","modified_gmt":"2015-03-13T21:48:18","slug":"roxy-on-advent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tonyjones\/2012\/12\/07\/roxy-on-advent\/","title":{"rendered":"Roxy on Advent"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

I\u2019ve been working on an answer to Rob\u2019s question<\/a> about whether he\u2019s a Christian or not. It\u2019s a surprisingly difficult question to answer \u2014 it\u2019s personal, it affects a person, and I\u2019m struggling with it. I\u2019ve also had a trying day personally, so I have to put Rob\u2019s question aside for the rest of today.<\/p>\n

Instead, I offer you some thoughts from Roxy, with whom I traveled to Sri Lanka<\/a>. She\u2019s got some beautifully honest thoughts on not sleepwalking through Advent:<\/p>\n

\n
Roxanne Wieman<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Advent is a time of vigilance, a time of recognizing how much all of life matters, a time (as Virginia Woolf might have put it) of recognizing that \u201cbehind the cotton wool is hidden a pattern.\u201d<\/p>\n

Advent is not a time to sleep unaware.<\/p>\n

The Nature of Our Days<\/p>\n

\u201cHow are you doing?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, good. How are you?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGood, good. What\u2019s new?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, not much. Just keeping busy.\u201d<\/p>\n

The human proclivity is neutral. You can see if it even in our interactions\u2014a cultural refusal to admit to anything of purport. Busyness is the best we can come up with\u2014an acceptable (even admirable) state of being. And all the while the world goes by and life goes on under a haze of numbing productivity.<\/p>\n

\u201cLife is short. It goes fast. One day you\u2019ll wake up and be 65 and wonder where all the time went.\u201d While this may sound familiar, it isn\u2019t inevitable. Years don\u2019t have to fly by without us noticing. We don\u2019t have to be asleep to the significance of every day. Because it\u2019s there. The days do matter\u2014our actions, interactions, relationships, decisions and observations matter, and they matter a lot.<\/p>\n

\u201cBe careful, then, how you live\u2014not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil\u201d (Ephesians 5:15-16).<\/p>\n

But Christianity isn\u2019t the only place you\u2019ll find this theme. Most of the religions\u2014particularly among the mystic traditions\u2014cry out for people to wake up and be conscious. Even the shadows in Plato\u2019s cave are a call to turn and see reality as it is\u2014 not to settle for spectral imitations.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Read the rest\u00a0Awake, Awake, O Sleeper! \u00ab roxy composed<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve been working on an answer to Rob\u2019s question about whether he\u2019s a Christian or not. It\u2019s a surprisingly difficult question to answer \u2014 it\u2019s personal, it affects a person, and I\u2019m struggling with it. I\u2019ve also had a trying day personally, so I have to put Rob\u2019s question aside for the rest of today. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[50],"class_list":["post-7648","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-spirituality","tag-advent"],"yoast_head":"\nRoxy on Advent<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I've been working on an answer to Rob's question about whether he's a Christian or not. 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