The season of Advent has long been observed by Christians worldwide as a period of intentional preparation, a time set aside to look backward in remembrance of Christ\u2019s birth and forward in hopeful anticipation of His return. Yet, beneath the familiar rituals of lighting Advent wreaths and reading daily devotionals lies a profound spiritual reality: the requirement to wait patiently in a culture that demands instant gratification. For Robert Bortins, Chief Executive Officer of Classical Conversations, the true essence of this sacred waiting was recently brought into sharp focus not by a theological text or a structured sermon, but by a simple, unscripted question from his nine-year-old son at the family dinner table.<\/p>\n
The moment unfolded on an ordinary Sunday following church services, during the natural rhythm of family life. Like many Christian congregations, Bortins\u2019s church corporately recites a central creedal affirmation following communion: \u201cChrist has died, Christ has risen, Christ is coming again.\u201d These words are spoken so frequently they can easily slip into mere liturgy. However, shortly after leaving the sanctuary, Bortins\u2019s son turned to him with a blunt and searching inquiry: \u201cWe\u2019ve been saying this for nine years. When is He coming?\u201d<\/p>\n
Rather than offering a neat, rehearsed theological answer, Bortins found himself sitting in the uncomfortable tension of the question. In hindsight, he realized that his son\u2019s inquiry mirrors the very heart of Advent itself. It also touches upon a fundamental challenge of modern family life: how to navigate the periods when the things we earnestly hope for do not arrive on human timetables. <\/p>\n
Derived from the Latin word adventus<\/em>, meaning arrival or coming, Advent spans the four weeks leading up to Christmas. It invites believers to inhabit the exact spiritual tension experienced by the Old Testament saints who waited centuries for the promised Messiah. The theological promise is absolute, yet the fulfillment often tarries. <\/p>\n Reflecting on this condition, Bortins points to the observation of Saint Augustine, who famously wrote that human hearts remain restless until they find their rest in God. In an era defined by fast-paced communication, rapid technological advancement, and immediate answers to almost any inquiry, Advent serves as a counter-cultural training ground. It takes the inherent restlessness of the human spirit and slowly redirects it toward enduring hope, teaching believers that divine timing operates independently of human schedules and that purposeful work occurs even in the quietest hours of waiting.<\/p>\n What resonated most deeply with Bortins about his son\u2019s question was the setting in which it was asked. It did not happen within the structured environment of a Sunday school classroom, nor was it prompted by a teacher’s lesson plan. It arose organically at home, over a meal, in the unhurried space of ordinary family fellowship. <\/p>\n This dynamic echoes the instructions outlined centuries ago in Deuteronomy 6, where Moses commanded the Israelites to teach the commandments and truths of God diligently to their children. Crucially, the instruction was not tied to a formal weekly seminar or an institutional classroom; rather, it was meant to take place \u201cwhen you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.\u201d<\/p>\n According to Bortins, the spiritual and moral formation of a child was always intended to happen within the repetitive, unhurried routines of daily household life. Yet, these are precisely the moments where the most profound and difficult questions tend to surface.<\/p>\n Drawing upon classical philosophy, Bortins looks to Aristotle\u2019s concept of the household, or the oikos<\/em>, as the foundational human community. Long before an individual engages with the wider society, the household serves as the primary sphere where life is ordered toward the good. This philosophical framework sheds light on why Advent functions so naturally as a domestic season\u2014observed around family tables, illuminated by candles, and marked by a shared, deliberate wait.<\/p>\n However, modern economic and social pressures have radically reshaped the contemporary household. In an essay and broader cultural argument detailed in his book SILK: More Kids, More Wealth<\/em>, Bortins examines the structural realities of family life. SILK, an acronym standing for Single Income, Lots of Kids, addresses the economic choices families make, but its underlying thesis is fundamentally educational and theological. <\/p>\n Bortins argues that when both parents are stretched thin by full-time employment outside the home and complex institutional schedules for their children, the necessary margin for unhurried conversation simply vanishes. A child who wonders aloud about the return of Christ, the problem of human suffering, or moral boundaries requires a parent within immediate earshot\u2014someone with the time, presence, and theological depth to engage the question rather than delegate it to an institution.<\/p>\n This emphasis on the primacy of the home aligns closely with observations made by ancient philosophers. Before Aristotle refined the concept, Plato argued in his work The Laws<\/em> that the most decisive years of a child\u2019s development occur at home under the steady, daily observation of parents. Plato maintained that shaping a child\u2019s habits and affections long before formal instruction begins is the most consequential educational work possible.<\/p>\n Bortins suggests that a parent who is present enough to recognize when a child\u2019s inquiry goes beyond idle curiosity is performing vital developmental work. When his son asked about the Second Coming, the moment was entirely unplanned. Had the household structure not allowed for a parent to be reliably present in the home, that fleeting window of curiosity might have been missed, deferred, or met with a rushed response on the way to another scheduled commitment.<\/p>\n In considering the kind of cultural resilience required to sustain faith across generations, Bortins draws parallels to literature and cultural critique. He points to J.R.R. Tolkien\u2019s hobbits in The Hobbit<\/em> and The Lord of the Rings<\/em>, who ultimately proved equal to tremendous hours of trial not through grand institutional training, but through being rooted in an unhurried, local culture that valued permanent things.<\/p>\n Conversely, cultural critic C.S. Lewis warned in The Abolition of Man<\/em> against the rise of what he termed \u201cmen without chests\u201d\u2014individuals possessing intellect and appetite, yet lacking a formed moral center or the capacity for sacrificial commitments. Bortins contends that building this moral center requires the kind of patient, real-time engagement that took place across his own kitchen table: imperfect, honest, and anchored by a parent willing to remain in the room.<\/p>\n Reflecting on how he ultimately answered his son, Bortins noted that Christians have waited for nearly two millennia, a shared posture that binds generations of believers together through centuries of history. This perspective transforms waiting from a passive delay into an active practice of endurance, echoing the biblical promise of Isaiah 40:31 that those who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.<\/p>\n Addressing the broader landscape of modern education and family life, Bortins frequently references the arguments made nearly a century ago by theologian J. Gresham Machen. In his 1933 address, The Necessity of the Christian School<\/em>, Machen asserted that the most critical cultural struggles of his era\u2014and subsequent ones\u2014would be fought over the formation of children. Every external institution inevitably competes for the hours and attention that once belonged to the domestic sphere.<\/p>\n For Bortins, acknowledging these challenges does not imply a simplistic formula for perfection. Raising young children alongside his wife, April, involves daily reminders of human limitation and the frequent absence of tidy answers. Yet, the core lesson remains unchanged: the presence of a parent who is willing to stay in the room, listen carefully, and navigate hard questions alongside their children offers a form of spiritual formation that no external curriculum can replicate. As families move through the Advent season, Bortins suggests that learning to wait well together may be one of the most enduring contributions a household can offer to the next generation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The season of Advent has long been observed by Christians worldwide as a period of intentional preparation, a time set aside to look backward in remembrance of Christ\u2019s birth and forward in hopeful anticipation of His return. Yet, beneath the familiar rituals of lighting Advent wreaths and reading daily devotionals lies a profound spiritual reality: […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1204,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[474],"tags":[931,1628,475,478,1626,1629,548,477,25,615,742,476,29,1627,1625],"class_list":["post-1205","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-faith-values-in-education","tag-advent","tag-broader","tag-character-education","tag-classical-education","tag-conversation","tag-dialogue","tag-faith","tag-faith-in-school","tag-family","tag-finding","tag-modern","tag-moral-development","tag-parenting","tag-sparked","tag-waiting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/spiritualparent.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1205","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/spiritualparent.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/spiritualparent.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spiritualparent.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spiritualparent.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1205"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/spiritualparent.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1205\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spiritualparent.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1204"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/spiritualparent.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1205"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spiritualparent.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1205"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spiritualparent.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1205"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Why Faith Questions Surface at the Family Table<\/h2>\n
The Household as the First Community<\/h2>\n
Philosophical Roots of Early Formation<\/h2>\n
The Virtue of Rootedness and the Danger of Rootless Culture<\/h2>\n
Reclaiming Time and Presence<\/h2>\n