June 2, 2024 Mark 2:23-3:6 “The sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for the sabbath; so the Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath.” Keeping the sabbath day holy is a commandment, you might have heard. And for that reason, it is worth considering what is meant by this expectation. What is the sabbath? And what does it…

PENTECOST, by Rev. Dr. Mark J.T. Caggiano, May 19. 2024 Acts 2:1-21 And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. The disciples are yet again being tested by unexpected events. Before it was the return of Jesus to them for a time after the crucifixion…

May 12, 2024 Acts 1:15-17, 21-26 Then they prayed and said, “Lord, you know everyone’s heart. Show us which one of these two you have chosen to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place.” The disciples of Jesus were trying to determine who would replace Judas Iscariot as one of…

May 5, 2024 John 15:9-17 As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. Abide is an unusual word. I cannot say that I hear it terribly often in casual conversation. In…

April 28, 2024 John 15:1-8 I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower. He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit. I am not much of a gardener. So, when Jesus slips into agricultural metaphors, I have to look them up. I searched the…

April 14, 2024 Luke 24:36b-48 Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. Witnesses of these things. Years ago, back in law school, I…

April 7, 2024 John 20:19-31 But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” You run out for a few errands and this is what happens. You miss out on all the news. And Thomas, being of a more skeptical frame of…

March 31, 2024 Mark 16:1-8 So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.   Amazed is an interesting word. In English it means to be overwhelmed with surprise or sudden wonder. It is abrupt, immediate, unexpected. It is paired here with terror, which may seem…

March 24, 2024 Mark 11:1-11 Then they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it; and he sat on it. Many people spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut in the fields. People took off their cloaks and laid them down along the road. They plucked branches from any handy tree.…

March 3, 2024 Exodus 20:1-17 This morning, I will begin with a bit of history. On October 7, 1801, the Danbury Baptist Association in Connecticut sent a letter to then President Thomas Jefferson. Baptists in early America had been the subject of religious difficulties and frequent persecution. Other religious groups were more integrated into society and were often directly supported by the…