From a sermon on Mark 13:24-37

"Is that what this is? Are churches around the world, on this First Sunday of Advent, with just 21-shopping days until Christmas, going through a routine that we go through every Advent, reminding us of the faint possibility of turbulence . . . but apart from that, sit back in your pew, relax with your Bible, and enjoy the hymns?

       Except, that it doesn't work. Not on the Jesus plane . . . or on the human plane. There's something more going on with this text and in us.

       I heard someone talk about Advent as the long night, and our text speaks of nocturnal practices, the way you live through that long night.

       But what is this long night?"