Apostles By-the-Sea Anglican Church Apostles By-the-Sea

Godly Love of Self and Neighbor - Fr. David Trautman
On this Third Sunday of Epiphany, we are delighted to welcome Fr. David Trautman as our guest preacher this morning. Fr. David graduated from FSU with a double Major in Philosophy and Religious Studies. He then earned a Master’s degree in Religions of Western Antiquity with a focus on New Testament studies. He completed his seminary training with his wife, Megan, at Trinity School for Ministry in Ambridge, PA, receiving his Masters in Sacred Theology in May of 2012. Megan graduated with her Masters in Divinity in May of 2013. While in seminary, he worked as the Director of Communications for the Anglican Diocese of Pittsburgh and Press Officer for Archbishop Robert Duncan. Upon graduation, he accepted a position at Church of the Ascension in Pittsburgh as Associate Rector. After three years in this position, he was called as the Rector of Trinity Anglican Church in Thomasville, GA. In 2019, he was appointed as the Dean of the Central Deanery in the Gulf Atlantic Diocese. He has led mission trips to the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Uganda, Ethiopia, and Rwanda. They have three young children: Amanda (8 years old), Daniel (5 years old), and Luke (3 years old).
In our readings for this Sunday, we continue to receive epiphanies about our Lord Jesus and his desire for us. Today, he reminds us that loving God and loving others as ourselves are our highest callings in this life. In fact, that’s how he himself lived! But we are only able to love others as ourselves because we have been loved. As St. John reminds us in his first epistle: “We love because he first loved us.” 1 John 4:19
 
Psalm 139:1-18  Domine Probasti
1 You have searched me, Lord, * and you know me.
2 You know when I sit and when I rise; *
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
3 You discern my going out and my lying down; *
you are familiar with all my ways.
4 Before a word is on my tongue * you, Lord, know it completely.
5 You hem me in behind and before, * and you lay your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, * too lofty for me to attain.
7 Where can I go from your Spirit? * Where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn, * if I settle on the far side of the sea,
10 Even there your hand will guide me, *
your right hand will hold me fast.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me *
and the light become night around me,”
12 Even the darkness is not dark to you; *
the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.
13 For you created my inmost being; *
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; *
your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, *
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed body; *
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
17 How precious to me are your thoughts, God! *
How vast is the sum of them!
18 Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand *
when I awake, I am still with you.
 
Mark 12:28–34
28 One of the scribes came near and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, he asked him, “Which commandment is the first of all?” 29 Jesus answered, “The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; 30 you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” 32 Then the scribe said to him, “You are right, Teacher; you have truly said that ‘he is one, and besides him there is no other’; 33 and ‘to love him with all the heart, and with all t

Glory to God in the Highest by David Haas - Live at Apostles By-the-Sea in Rosemary Beach, Florida

The Faithfulness of Ruth, of Boaz, of God
Fr. John Wallace October 27, 2019
 
Today we’re going to look at the Book of Ruth. At its core it’s a beautiful story of redemption. And in it we encounter Amazing Faithfulness! The Faithfulness of Ruth. The Faithfulness of Boaz. And the Faithfulness of God.
The book of Ruth takes place at a dark time in Israel’s history. It’s near the end of the time of the Judges. A time marked by lawlessness, by war, and by famine. A time in which the people allowed their hearts to wander far from God. In fact, the last few chapters of the Book of Judges end with this refrain: “In those days there was no king in Israel; all the people did what was right in their own eyes.” It was a time that needed hope! That needed people of faith to do the right thing! It was a time that needed God.
Ruth in a way is like an Abraham figure. In Genesis 15 it was Abraham’s faith in God - his belief - his trust - that was counted as righteousness. If you remember, Abraham was called out of the Land of Ur - to leave his home and his family and his land - to follow God and begin a new age of faithfulness to him. And Ruth is also called out of her own land - the land of Moab. And she leaves her home and her family and through an act of faith begins a new chapter for the people of Israel.
But why was this story recorded about a Moabite widow? What makes her story so special? Why are we talking about her faithfulness 2,500 years later? We find out in the last chapter of the Book that Ruth was the Mother of Obed - who was the father of Jesse - who was the father of David - who became Israel’s greatest king.
And the Gospel of Matthew starts like this - “This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham.” And Matthew lists Ruth as one of Jesus’s ancestors. Which means Ruth the Moabite - is the great, great, great - (29 greats) grandmother of Jesus.
OK - So let’s look at Ruth’s Faithfulness. Then Boaz’s faithfulness. And finally - God’s faithfulness.
First - Ruth’s faithfulness.
The story starts with hardship. It’s a time of famine in Bethlehem. So Naomi (who will become Ruth’s mother-in-law) moves with her family to Moab - a sworn enemy of Israel - to try to make a life there.
When they get there, Naomi’s husband, Elimelech, dies. Then her sons get married to some Moabite women. One marries a woman named Orpah, and the other marries Ruth. But then her sons also die - leaving Naomi widowed - without a husband and without her sons - in a foreign land.
When she hears that God has blessed her homeland with rain and a harvest - she decides to return to Bethlehem. Better to be a widow in your hometown than to be a widow in the land of your enemy! And she tells her daughters-in-law to stay in Moab, return to their father’s houses where they will be cared for - and find husbands for themselves among their own people.
But Ruth refuses to leave Naomi and speaks some of the most beautiful and faithful words in all of Scripture. She says: Don’t tell me to leave you! 16 … Where you go, I will go; where you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God.
Isn’t that beautiful?! That’s Ruth’s faithfulness. She wants to remain with Naomi. She wants to serve Naomi’s God. No matter what it costs! She’s going to leave everything she has known, her family, her homeland, her everything - to make Naomi’s people her own people. And Naomi’s God - her God. And you know what? God can use that kind of faithfulness! And he does!
And so Ruth comes with Naomi to Bethlehem. And when they get there, Ruth tells Naomi - “let me go into the fields to glean - so we can have food.”
Back then, in Israel there was a law about gleaning. It was the law that landowners couldn’t harvest everything from their land. They had to leave gleanings for the poor. It was how the poor were cared for at the time. They could go in after the harvesters and co

1 On one occasion when Jesus was going to the house of a leader of the Pharisees to eat a meal on the sabbath, they were watching him closely. 2 Just then, in front of him, there was a man who had dropsy. 3 And Jesus asked the lawyers and Pharisees, “Is it lawful to cure people on the sabbath, or not?” 4 But they were silent. So Jesus took him and healed him, and sent him away. 5 Then he said to them, “If one of you has a child or an ox that has fallen into a well, will you not immediately pull it out on a sabbath day?” 6 And they could not reply to this. 7 When he noticed how the guests chose the places of honor, he told them a parable. 8 “When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not sit down at the place of honor, in case someone more distinguished than you has been invited by your host; 9 and the host who invited both of you may come and say to you, ‘Give this person your place,’ and then in disgrace you would start to take the lowest place. 10 But when you are invited, go and sit down at the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher’; then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at the table with you. 11 For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” 12 He said also to the one who had invited him, “When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid. 13 But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. 14 And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

Luke 13:10-17
 
10 Now Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath. 11 And just then there appeared a
woman with a spirit that had crippled her for eighteen years. She was bent over and was quite unable
to stand up straight. 12 When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, “Woman, you are set free
from your ailment.” 13 When he laid his hands on her, immediately she stood up straight and began
praising God. 14 But the leader of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had cured on the sabbath,
kept saying to the crowd, “There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days
and be cured, and not on the sabbath day.” 15 But the Lord answered him and said, “You hypocrites!
Does not each of you on the sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger, and lead it away to
give it water? 16 And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen
long years, be set free from this bondage on the sabbath day?” 17 When he said this, all his opponents
were put to shame; and the entire crowd was rejoicing at all the wonderful things that he was doing.

Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18
1 The word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, “Do not be afraid, Abram, I am your shield; your
reward shall be very great.” 2 But Abram said, “O Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue
childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3 And Abram said, “You have given me no
offspring, and so a slave born in my house is to be my heir.” 4 But the word of the Lord came to him,
“This man shall not be your heir; no one but your very own issue shall be your heir.” 5 He brought
him outside and said, “Look toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” Then
he said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” 6 And he believed the Lord; and the Lord reckoned
it to him as righteousness. 7 Then he said to him, “I am the Lord who brought you from Ur of the
Chaldeans, to give you this land to possess.” 8 But he said, “O Lord God, how am I to know that I
shall possess it?” 9 He said to him, “Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a
ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” 10 He brought him all these and cut them in
two, laying each half over against the other; but he did not cut the birds in two. 11 And when birds
of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away. 12 As the sun was going down, a deep
sleep fell upon Abram, and a deep and terrifying darkness descended upon him. 17 When the sun had
gone down and it was dark, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. 18 On
that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your descendants I give this land, from
the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates.”
 
Luke 13:31-35
31 Some Pharisees came up to Jesus and said to him, “Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill
you.” 32 And he said to them, “Go and tell that fox, ‘Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures
today and tomorrow, and the third day I finish my course. 33 Nevertheless I must go on my way
today and tomorrow and the day following; for it cannot be that a prophet should perish away from
Jerusalem.’ 34 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, killing the prophets and stoning those who are sent to you!
How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings,
and you would not! 35 Behold, your house is forsaken. And I tell you, you will not see me until you
say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!’”