The Scriptural Deacon

This is Part 6 of our “Bible Basics 101” series and we have come to the first genealogy of the Bible. People often just skip over these seemingly boring passages for what may come next. But, if one does this with this text, then he will miss a vital clue about how the story of the Scriptures and God’s plan for rescue actually work. Remember in the first eleven Chapters of Genesis we are learning the full effects that sin and death have had upon God’s good creation through the Fall. Meaning that for us the fully understand the cure that is coming, we must first know the problems that are being dealt with. And it is here in this genealogy that we find proof or confirmation of the biggest problem that God will handle when he steps inside his own world. The genealogy begins: “This is the book of the generations of Adam . When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. 2  Male and female he created them, and he blessed them and named them Man when they were crea...

For the last two Sundays the family and I have done something unusual after church, we have gone out to lunch. Normally we either head home or go over to Joanne's parents house. But these two weeks we flipped tradition and went the extra mile by eating out. On both of these occasions something unexpected happened. The shocking part for me is that it involves someone making a nice comment about us as a family. Now if you have ever dined out with five kids, ages 8 or below, you will surely understand why this was so unexpected. The first event happened when we stoped in at Bruegger's Bagels. After all of the chaos of trying to order, pay for the food, getting everyone seated and feed. As I was cleaning off the table/floor, Joanne was taking some of the kids to the bathroom, oh does she hate public bathrooms, and yes we all know why. A young man who worked at the restaurant came up to me and said, "I think its great that you all have a large family." Looking rather sho...

I have ofter wondered what Peter, James, and John, expected to find when they climbed the high mountain with Jesus. Did they think this was going to be just another one of Jesus' private prayer times or something more? Had they any idea that they were about to stand in the middle of God's Holy Fire? The very Fire of transfiguration and transformation. I think there was growing tension between the twelve disciples at this time in Jesus ministry. Again and again, he is telling and showing them that the pathway to glory travels directly through the heart of the Cross. As our Lord tells them six days before he makes this journey up the mountain , "If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it." (Matt 16:24-25) But, what are the disciples doing half the time, they are  quarreling   and  fighting about who is the greatest of them. ...

On this, the occasion of my forty-first birthday, I thank God for the years that he has blessed me with. I thank him for the awesome gift of his only begotten Son. I thank him for the gift of his Church and the Scriptures that I love so much. I thank him for his Kingdom that is present around us at all times. I thank him for the gift of his divine and life-giving Love. I thank him for my wife, who is my companion and helpmate in this journey. The one who by the Holy Spirit’s power, found the key and unlocked my heart. I thank him for the gift of our five children, who continue to form me into the person I am today and hope to become tomorrow. I thank him for the gift of family and the many learning challenges that comes from it. I thank him for the gift of my mother, who has shown me by example, love, compassion, and hard work all my days. I thank him for the gift of brothers, who have always been present when needed most. I thank him for the gift of in-laws, who have welcomed me into...

Like most parents, my wife and I get the kids in bed first, then we have sometime before our bed time to catch our breath, read, and rest for a bit. But, what always seems to happen during this time? We hear those familiar footsteps. Then those familiar words, “Papa, my tummy hurts.” Or, “Mama, my back hurts.” What is it about bedtime that makes children’s ailments come to the surface so clearly? The entire day they have been fine, but all of the sudden, their world is collapsing all around them and the pain is unbearable.   Elizabeth (8) our oldest is the worst for this. Almost every night, around 10-20 minutes after everyone has gone to bed, something is wrong with her. Fever, itchy, or bits, something is never right! One part of this is just delaying her bedtime and that she is a worrier at times. But, another side is that kids seem to think that we as parents can fix any problem or sickness at a moment’s notice. Not matter what it is, or how long the issue has been go...

So after a much to long absence, I hope to be back with regular blog posts. This is the down side to my life in the swimming pool business. From April to about the middle of July my daily life is pretty much just chaos. Early mornings and late nights. Thankfully things get a bit more normal after July 4th. More on all of this in a later post. Here is my homily that I gave this weekend at the Roman Catholic Church here in Rocky Mount.   2018 Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Jer 23:1-6, Eph 2:13-18, Mk 6:30-34 The Bible is full of agricultural symbolism. We hear much about vines, vineyards, vinedresser, wheat, flocks, sheep, soils, trees, and many others like these. The main reason is that people saw these things every day and most people could easily understand the connection the scripture is making. Today Jesus himself uses one of these images and probable on of the most famous, that of a shepherd and his sheep. We are told in our Gospel, “As Jesus landed he saw a ...

To fully understand the effect the Fall had upon Man and creation itself, we have to deepen our knowledge into how God original intended his image to function in the world. For us to do this we must return to the very famous words from Genesis Chapter One. There God says,  “Let us make man in our  image , after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.” So God created man in his own  image , in the  image  of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.” (1:26-28) Since this passage is so full, we will only unpack what we really need for our current purpose here....