St Luke the Evangelist

Planning

Context

18 October is St Luke's Day. Luke is often celebrated as a physician but here we are remembering him as a writer of the Gospel which bears his name, and of the Acts of the Apostles.

Reading

Acts 10.44–48

Hymns and songs

Tell out my Soul
The Spirit lives to set us free
Filled with the Spirit power with one accord
He gave me eyes so I could see
Hang on, stand still
A favourite hymn about saints or the Early Church

Resources

For the Respond to the Word activity you may either make a model or a collage.

Model: Make a model of a boat filled with people. You might make the people out of dolly pegs, pipe cleaners or anything else appropriate, dressed in fabric and made to stand up by pressing them into wedges of some kind of modelling medium. Faces can be drawn with felt pens.

You will need someone to supervise the construction of the boat out of whatever medium they choose, according to availability: a big cardboard box would be just fine.

Collage: You will need: fabric, card, paper and other odds and ends, scissors, glue and a means to spread it.

You could help people to research the clothing of the various characters by providing some background. Books about life in Bible times and illustrated children's Bibles will be helpful. e.g.

• The Illustrated Family Bible, Claude-Bernard Costecalde & Peter Dennis, Dorling Kindersley (2008), ISBN: 978-1405329613
• The Children's Illustrated Bible, Selina Hastings, Dorling Kindersley (2005), ISBN: 978-1405308281

There are also helpful websites: e.g. Bible picture gallery and Bible walks

Gather

An opening dialogue

Luke     I am Luke. I am writing for you, for Theophilus, a name which means 'lover of God'. Luke 1.3
All     We who love God thank you for your work.
Luke     I write of Jesus, the Son of the Most High. Luke 1.32
All     We who love God thank you for your work.
Luke     I write of the Holy Spirit, who fills the Church with power. Acts 2
All     We who love God thank you for your work.
Luke     Mary conceived Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit. Luke 1.35
All     Her holy child is the Son of God. Luke 1.35
Luke     The Holy Spirit descended on Jesus at his Baptism.
All     And a voice came from heaven, 'You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.' Luke 3.22
Luke     The Spirit of the Lord brings good news to the poor. Luke 4.18
All     He scatters the proud and brings down the powerful. Luke 1.51-2
Luke     The Holy Spirit filled 120 men and women on the Day of Pentecost. Acts 1.15 & 2.1
All     Now God pours out his Spirit on all flesh. Acts 2.17
Luke     Let us magnify the Lord and rejoice in God our Saviour. Luke 1.46-7
All     Let us praise the Lord.

Hymn     Tell out my soul

Opening words and explanation
Today is St Luke's Day and today we remember him as a writer. Luke's is the only Gospel with a part two. He doesn't name his second book, but it has become known as The Acts of the Apostles. He added this book because he places a great importance on the work of the Holy Spirit. His second book describes the work of the Holy Spirit in establishing the Christian Church.

The Holy Spirit is present in the birth stories of Jesus and John the Baptist, at the Baptism of Jesus, in the lives of all who met on the Day of Pentecost, and in the witness of characters we encounter in Acts: Stephen, Paul, Barnabas and many others. When Peter acknowledges that Gentiles have received the Holy Spirit (Acts 10.44-47), the Christian mission is extended to the whole world.

Whilst we have four Gospels, each giving a personal view of Jesus, there is only one work which documents the move from a faith just for Jews to a growing world religion. Luke writes for Gentiles, and in both his Gospel and the Acts he assures us that Jesus' message is for the whole world.

A prayer of confession
Jesus calls us to repentance saying 'Woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.' Luke 6.24
Lord, have mercy.
Jesus says 'Woe to you who are full now, for you will be hungry.'
Lord, have mercy.
Jesus says 'Woe to you who are laughing now, for you will mourn and weep.'
Lord, have mercy.

Jesus says 'Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is what their ancestors did to the false prophets.'
Lord, have mercy.

Jesus says 'Love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Luke 6.35–7
Lord, have mercy.

May the Lord Jesus, who even on the cross forgave his torturers, grant us his forgiveness.
Amen.

Song     The Spirit lives to set us free

Word & Response

Open the Word

Reading     Acts 10.44–48
Luke describes how the mission to the Gentiles began, through the work of the Holy Spirit.
While Peter was still speaking, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who heard the word. The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astounded that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles, for they heard them speaking in tongues and extolling God. Then Peter said, 'Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?' So he ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.

Hymn     Filled with the Spirit power with one accord

Explore the Word
An interview with Luke
This interview opens up some of the important details that we know about Luke's writing. You will need two characters: they might introduce themselves. You could give the interviewer a name and that person could then introduce Luke as, say, a writer, traveller and doctor.

Introduction
Luke doesn't tell us much about himself, and it would be valuable to know more about him. Let's imagine that we get the chance to interview him, and ask him about the books he has given us.

Interviewer
Tell me, Luke, you have written more of the New Testament than anyone else. Did you plan things that way?

Luke
Well, Paul had written quite a lot, but actually, between you and me, he doesn't tell a very good story. We get one little bit about the Last Supper, but nothing else about the life of Jesus, yet this is what everyone was talking about all the time.

Interviewer
But other people had written gospels. Did we need another?

Luke
It wasn't just gospels. All kinds of stories were around. I wanted to write down everything that seemed reliable. You know they missed some things. No one else tells the story of the Prodigal Son, and I think that is one of the most touching stories Jesus ever told. It really speaks to the errant child inside all of us, and I love that.

Interviewer
And you're sure these unique things really happened?

Luke
Oh yes. I asked people who knew. They really wanted to have their memories recorded, like that old couple who went to Emmaus with the risen Lord on the day Jesus rose. They would never forget that.

Interviewer
You said 'Couple'. Is that right?

Luke
Yes, it was a man and wife. Everyone assumes there were no women around, but actually there were always women following Jesus. I did mention women, didn't I?

Interviewer
Yes, lots of them. But why didn't anyone else?

Luke
Well, strict Jews didn't like to be seen talking to women. They thought it gave them a bad reputation. So they tended to get written out of the story. But Jesus didn't take any notice of that. He talked to them, touched them, healed them. And don't you like that story in John's gospel about the woman at the well of Samaria? I wish I'd heard that. Asking a five times married woman for a drink of water. Strict Jews would have been scandalised. Paul, before his conversion, would have had a fit.

Interviewer
I'm glad you mentioned Paul. You wrote more about him than about Peter, or John, or James, the leader of the Church in Jerusalem. Why was that, and why tell the story of his conversion three times over? Wasn't once enough?

Luke
Well, I suppose I did get a bit carried away. But it shows how religious people can just miss the whole point of their religion, doesn't it? They keep their little rules and, to use your language, they miss the elephant in the room. They don't actually listen to God, they think they know it all.

Interviewer
But don't rules matter? Jesus said he didn't come to destroy the law.

Luke
Yes, but they crucified Jesus because they didn't like the way he kept the law. And you have to admit, Christians have gone on persecuting people as soon as they got the power to do it. I'm glad I wrote about what Paul was like before his conversion, because that kind of persecution by religious people still goes on. You've had religious wars, crusades and real hatred for other Christians. And do you know why?

Interviewer
Tell me. What do you think the reason is?

Luke
Letting the men be in charge. That's the trouble. Their egos are too big and when they run out of arguments they resort to brute force. I could see that. I wasn't in charge, I was just a doctor who could write. It was all right in the start. Most of the leaders were married men, and in Greek society men had to listen to their wives. Peter's wife kept him on the straight and narrow; well, her and the mother-in-law.

Interviewer
You're kidding.

Luke
No, I'm not. After Jesus cured his mother-in-law, Peter thought he couldn't go wrong. Of course, he never liked to admit it, but then, that's what men are like.

Interviewer
So the women you mentioned were important, then?

Luke
Don't sound so surprised. It was the women who really understood what it was about. God looked with favour on his lowly servant. He scatters the proud, brings down the powerful – that's the men. Caesar, the High Priest, the Sanhedrin, Pontius Pilate, the legates, the tribunes the centurions and the whole lot down to the ordinary foot soldiers. Men always have to put the boot in.

Interviewer
Come on, be reasonable.

Luke
I AM reasonable. That's why you get the story of the Prodigal Son. Two stupid men, not just one, and both of them utterly pig headed. The 'I'll do it my way' brigade who won't listen to anyone and certainly haven't time to listen to God.

Interviewer
Men aren't all like that.

Luke
No, of course. There was old Simeon, and Stephen and Philip and all sorts of really humble decent men, like the centurion Cornelius, and Ananias and Simon the Tanner. But you have to admit that even at the Last Supper they had to have a stupid quarrel about who was the greatest – that's men for you.

Interviewer
But they were the leaders of the Church.

Luke
Ah, not quite. I must just tell you this before I have to go. Read very carefully the way I wrote it. Sometimes they did things properly, and sometimes they made a real mess or went completely wrong, like boasting about not denying Jesus and then going out and doing precisely that. Whenever they got it right, I said they allowed themselves to be guided by the Holy Spirit – John the Baptist's father, Mary, Simeon, the disciples, and Jesus himself. It was the Holy Spirit who managed to get through to Paul and everyone else. Yes, when we listen to God, and let ourselves be guided, we can all, men and women, do something beautiful for God.

Interviewer
Thanks. I'll remember that. I'm sorry you can't stay longer.

Luke
Ah, I'm glad you listened at last. Goodbye, and God bless you.

Interviewer
Thanks again. Goodbye.

Song     He gave me eyes so I could see

Respond to the Word
Luke tells the story of travelling on a boat with Paul, and being shipwrecked (Acts 27) but everyone was saved. Make a model or collage of the boat and fill it with all kinds of people who might have been there. Sometimes a ship is used as an emblem of the Church, because it saves all the people inside.

You will need: craft materials for making a boat and the people (or something to represent the boat), picture books about Bible history and life in Bible times to provide ideas for appropriate dress and boat design (see Planning).

If you can, make people to represent those who might have been present at the shipwreck. There are clues throughout the book of Acts:

• a Roman centurion and his soldiers: a centurion called Cornelius was one of the first Christians (Acts 10);
• Paul, and other Jews, in distinctive clothes with fringes on their robes, and the women with covered heads: Acts 6.1 mentions the widows in the Church, both Jews and Gentiles;
• Gentiles, like Luke, wearing Greek costumes, and women with uncovered hair;
• sailors;
• Africans: Philip brings an Ethiopian to faith in Jesus (Acts 8.26-40).

Song     Hang on, stand still

Prayers

Use the boat you have made as a focus for prayer and invite different members of the congregation to pray in their own words for the different groups of people represented:

• military leaders, especially those in places of conflict or recent peace;
• evangelists and all who seek to share the faith of the Church;
• the people of the Holy Lands, Jews, Palestinians and Arabs;
• those who are widowed;
• the peoples and nations of Europe;
• sailors and all who depend on the sea for their livelihood;
• the peoples of Africa.

The following response may be used:
God of our ancestors,
hear our prayer.

Great God, creator of all human kind,
you made us in our great diversity
as members of the human race;
give us a spirit of adventure
and open hearts and minds
to share all that is good,
that we may revel in our differences
and marvel at one another's
customs and traditions.
We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ,
who walked the earth
and loved your children.
Amen.

Our final prayer reminds us of the Day of Pentecost, the birthday of the Church, which is described for us only by Luke.

Lord our God, who on the Day of Pentecost
filled your people with the fire of your love
and the wind of your breath,
give us, we pray, those same gifts of love, of courage and of boldness
that the whole world may hear the good news of Jesus Christ your Son.
Amen.

Final hymn     Sing your favourite hymn about the Early Church or about saints.

Sending out

Go from this place in anticipation and joy.
Be like Luke,
share the faith,
speak to all,
seek companions
and let your praise always be
for Jesus Christ your Saviour and mine.
Amen.