Recent Sermons by Rev. Mark J.T. Caggiano
October 15, 2023 Exodus 32:1-14; Matthew 22:1-14 When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered around Aaron, and said to him, “Come, make gods for us, who shall go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become…
October 8, 2023 Isaiah 5:1-7; Matthew 21:33-46 “Have you never read in the scriptures: ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord’s doing, and it is amazing in our eyes’” Jesus was confronting the leaders of the Temple. He was doing so through this very pointed story about the master and his tenants. Who are the…
October 1, 2023 Ezekiel 18:1-4, 25-32; Matthew 21:23-32 O house of Israel, are my ways unfair? Is it not your ways that are unfair? Ezekiel is sharing the visions that he had from God. And one of the complaints of God against the people was about their idolatrous ways. They allowed other gods to be worshipped on the high places. They perhaps…
September 24, 2023 Jonah 3:10-4:11; Matthew 20:1-16 [G]od said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the bush?” And he said, “Yes, angry enough to die.” There are many ways of understanding Jonah. As a prophet. As a man chosen by God. As someone who has gone through a great ordeal. But when we hear him complain about…
September 17, 2023 Exodus 15:1b-11, 20-21; Matthew 18:21-35 Then the prophet Miriam, Aaron’s sister, took a tambourine in her hand; and all the women went out after her with tambourines and with dancing. And Miriam sang to them: “Sing to the LORD, for he has triumphed gloriously; horse and rider he has thrown into the sea.” That last line is considered the…
September 10, 2023 Exodus 12:1-14; Matthew 18:15-20 This day shall be a day of remembrance for you. You shall celebrate it as a festival to the LORD; throughout your generations you shall observe it as a perpetual ordinance. This passage from Exodus may sound familiar. It is the description of the Passover, both an event in the history of the Hebrew people,…
June 11, 2023 Hosea 5:15-6:6; Matthew 9:9-13 For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings. In the Book of Hosea, we are hearing something new. New in the scheme of the Bible because obviously this was written long ago. Steadfast love not sacrifices. The knowledge of God not burnt offerings. God does not want…
June 4, 2023 Genesis 1:1-5; Matthew 28:16-20 In the beginning there was darkness. In the beginning there was a formless void. In the beginning there was chaos. And then, that changed. Light came into being. Light which was good, light which broke open the darkness. Imagine the very beginning. Prior to that moment, there was no beginning, at least no beginning in…
Acts 1:6-14; John 17:1-11 [W]hy do you stand looking up toward heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven. Jesus had been lifted up into heaven and then a cloud took him out of sight. Two men in white appeared and told the disciples that…
May 7, 2023 Acts 7:55-60; John 14:1-7 Then they dragged him out of the city and began to stone him; and the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul. I have had a few people ask about our post-Easter roster of scripture readings. In general, the comments are about why we are spending so much time…