Sermon archive for category: Rev. Javier Almendárez-Bautista

The Rev. Javier Almendárez-Bautista reflects on Mark 10:35-45: “The way of Christ is not simply a matter of getting into an exclusive club. It is a matter of servant leadership and sacrifice, a matter of commitment in the thick of resistance.”

The Rev. Javier Almendárez-Bautista reflects on Job 1:1; 2:1-10: “Before Senator Pastore sat a soft-spoken Presbyterian minister who was convinced of the value of public programming. This man had recently premiered a children’s show with low production value… Before the Senate committee, he articulated his mission as clearly as he did in every one of his shows: ‘if we can only make it clear in public television that feelings are mentionable and manageable, we will have done a great surface for mental health.'”

We meet Jesus today in an extraordinarily human moment. Extraordinary only because of how ordinary it is; how very human Jesus seems, given our assumptions about how the son of God behaves. Today Jesus is tired….
(Mark 7:24-37)

The Rev. Javier Almendárez-Bautista considers the conflict between Jesus and the Pharisees in today’s gospel reading (Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23): “The Pharisees were actually part of a reform movement in their day and age. They were trying, like Jesus and his followers, not to burden people with the law but to bring the law into their daily life, to help the everyday person find meaning in it… Both Jesus and the Pharisees were trying to interpret the law in the light of their current situation, not demanding observance for its own sake.”

The Rev. Javier Almendárez-Bautista reflects on 1 Kings 2:10-12; 3:3-14 and the endurance of wisdom: “We are complicated people, and each day we are given choices. We require wisdom to do not just that which is convenient but that which is right. Will we seek after God’s wisdom?”