Sermons by Rev. Javier Almendárez-Bautista
Table Manners of Hope and Mercy
Luke 14:1, 7-14
George Washington, one of the founding fathers and the first president of the United States, transcribed a little book as a school exercise sometime before he was 16 years old. It is entitled Rules of Civility & Decent Behavior in Company and Conversation … The gospel today sounds a little like Washington’s rules. It reads like a lesson in table manners… but there’s something more at stake here.
Every day can be a pilgrimage
Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16; Luke 12:32-40
About a week ago, I met up with a group from St. Paul’s, right in front of this church, and we hopped onto a 15-passenger van and headed down to Newton Grove. We visited the Episcopal Farmworker Ministry…
The Hope of Glory
Colossians 1:15-28; Luke 10:38-42
I moved to a new home a few weeks ago … I know that I’m settling into a new place to call home when I put up a picture frame on the wall … and I have this icon … It’s this beautiful picture of Jesus standing there in colorful robes at the moment of creation …. It’s a beautiful vision of the created order in its right place, of things redeemed, reconciled, living in harmony … I’ve been looking at other icons of sorts this past week — images in the news — and these images tempt me to say, “so much for mystic visions of a redeemed world…”
Everyday Heroes
2 Kings 2:1-2, 6-14; Luke 9:51-62
I’ve been thinking about superheroes lately. I think it helped over the last week that I got to spend some time with about 150 kids who came to our Vacation Bible School to learn about the heroes and the villains in the scriptures…