Sermon archive for category: Rev. Javier Almendárez-Bautista

On the First Sunday in Lent (2021), the Rev. Javier Almendárez-Bautista reflects on the brief description of Jesus’s baptism and temptation in the Gospel of Mark (Mark 1:9-15).

The Rev. Javier Almendárez-Bautista discusses Paul’s surprising claim in 1 Corinthians 9:16-23 that he became all things to all people: “The Apostle Paul invites us into a new world. He invites us to become full-fledged citizens of no man’s land, that place that calls all our allegiances into question so that we might truly learn the ways and customs of another. And in this world that offers us impossible and inflexible choices about who we consider a worthwhile ally or a potential adversary, about who is worth our time and who isn’t, what would it look like for you choose otherwise? To become the kind of person willing to love those you weren’t supposed to love?”

The Rev. Javier Almendárez-Bautista celebrates the Feast of the Baptism of our Lord and reflects on resilience and healing in the face of American violence.

On Christmas Eve, the Rev. Javier Almendárez-Bautista preaches at St. Paul’s outdoor drive-in service: “It wasn’t suppose to happen this way. The year 2020, of course, but also the gospel reading for today, the birth of Jesus Christ” (Luke 2:1-20).

On the Second Sunday of Advent, the Rev. Javier Almendárez-Bautista reflects on the strange opening of Jesus’s story in Mark 1:1-8, which begins in the wilderness and asks us if we are willing to follow a wandering Messiah: “the way of Jesus winds its way through the wilderness road, far from the places you know and love.”