Recent Sermons by Rev. Mark J.T. Caggiano
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…
April 30, 2023 Acts 2:42-47; John 10:1-10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. That is the goal. That is the purpose. To have life and to have it abundantly. Now that we have gotten that out of the way, what exactly does it mean? You may have…
April 23, 2023 Acts 2:14a, 36-41; Luke 24:13-35 Therefore let the entire house of Israel know with certainty that God has made him both Lord and Messiah, this Jesus whom you crucified. Peter is speaking to a crowd soon after the great moment of Pentecost, when fire descended from the heavens and the disciples were able to converse in many languages. Peter…
April 16, 2023 Acts 2:14a, 22-32; John 20:19-31 But [Thomas] said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.” Thomas is the apostle known for his disbelief, “Doubting Thomas” being a common reference for him. How did…
April 2, 2023 Isaiah 50:4-9a; Matthew 21:1-11 The crowds that went ahead of him and that followed were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven!” Hosanna, which means “pray, save us.” We pray to God and ask that we might be saved. That we might…
March 19, 2023 1 Samuel 16:7-13, John 9:1-7 As he walked along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Who sinned? The man, who was born blind? Or his parents, whose sin was to be passed along to their son? Jesus rejects that line of…