St. Luke's Day - Carry out your ministry fully

Lord, may the words of my mouth and the mediation of all our hearts be acceptable to you, our strength and our redeemer - Amen

Today we celebrate our patron saint - St. Luke the evangelist

The date was the 18th for those keeping track, but this Sunday is the closest to that

For those that have been part of the parish of St. Luke for more then a year - you will recognize that we read the same readings each year at this time

I imagine that preaching on this day often falls on the curate - allowing a new take on familiar words of scripture

I am sure that you would have heard sermons that focus on a couple of main themes that the scripture brings out about Luke, who was known as a Physician

Our passage from the Book of Sirach tells us that we are to honour physicians for their service - that the Lord created them and their gift of healing comes from the Most high

Even the medicines that are used, are all part of God creation, and the sensible will not despise them.

There is a message of honouring what God has created

God’s gifts….

God’s creation… …. ….

There is an opportunity in the Gospel - written by Luke - to speak about Jesus’ time in his hometown of Nazareth

Where Jesus read the scroll of the prophet Isaiah, and in two verses he reads that

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor.
proclaim release to the captives
recovery of sight to the blind,
let the oppressed go free,
proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

Powerful message - a mission statement if you like

the work of the coming messiah

I am sure that you have heard sermons that focus on the social justice aspect of Jesus’ ministry

That Jesus is bringing in a new way of life

That Jesus, himself IS the manifestation, the incarnation of the year of jubilee

- year of the Lord’s favor

But for my chance at St. Luke’s day I want to focus on something different

I want to look at part of the message of 2nd Timothy and at St. Luke himself

We know that Luke was the writer of the Gospel, thus making him an evangelist

And the writer of the Acts of the Apostles

Making him the largest contributor to the New Testament

Mores pages in these two books of the Bible then all of St. Paul’s letters

But we really don’t know that much about Luke

And might I suggest … that is exactly as it should be

In my studies this week I have come to the opinion that St. Luke is an ideal model of Christian minister and ideal for us here, in Burlington, in this church named after him

Ideal - because of what he represents

What we know about St. Luke from scripture, that he was one of St. Paul’s companions

From Philemon verse 24, we have a list: “Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, sends greetings to you, 24 and so do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke, my fellow workers.”

From Colosians 4:14 we are told of “Luke, the beloved physician”

And from our reading today of 2nd Timothy 4: Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica; Crescens has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia……

“Only Luke is with me.”

From the book of Acts of the Apostles, a narrative - highly historical book - which Luke wrote, we are told of the journeys of Paul

The story is written in the third person, as an historian recording facts, however there are three sections where this changes,

It starts in Acts 16, in verses 8-9 we hear of Paul's company as we have always before

"So, passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas. During the night Paul had a vision: there stood a man of Macedonia pleading with him and saying, 'Come over to Macedonia and help us.' "

Then suddenly in 16:10 "they" becomes "we":

"When he had seen the vision, we immediately tried to cross over to Macedonia, being convinced that God had called us to proclaim the good news to them."

This change and the repeatedly use the word "we" in describing the Pauline missions in three sections of the Acts, indicating that he was personally there at those times.

After this, other then a few references to Gentile fellow workers which is vaguely identified as being Luke. We have nothing

There are conflicting traditional views of where Luke lived after Paul’s death

- conflicting views on how old he lived

- and whether he was martyred or not

Ultimately this is not important

You see - Luke’s legacy - is not himself

- BUT who he served and the message that he delievered

Luke is known as a physcian - yes - but most significantly as an evangelist

As a writer of Good News …that God loves us so much that he came as one of us

To live

and teach

and commission us - sending us out empowered, equipped to share God’s blessed message

To die the most painful death for us - for our sins

and then to defeat death

and show us what in this life is truly deadly

- what is of this world

- and what is of God’s eternal kingdom

St. Luke brought US and all eternity - that message

And He wrote empowered by the Holy Spirit about how that message transformed the lives of those that were convinced of the gospel by faith

He also, wrote about people in which Faith didn’t not take hold of their lives

We know a little from scripture about Luke
We have a great deal from the pen of St. Luke - the life and times and people that knew the Lord Jesus Christ….And His message

When John the Baptist was questioned about Jesus he said

“He must increase, but I must decrease.”

And this is precisely the witness we have from St. Luke

Luke’s message was not about himself but about Jesus

Last week we heard from Canon Michael Patterson, the director of evangelism in the diocese

His message was that we are to live out our baptismal responsibility in being an evangelist

Most of us not in the stereotypical way of standing on a soap box in the city center calling out for all to hear

…But where God placed you

With the gifts that God gave you

If you are a businessperson - in how you conduct yourself

If a teacher on how you teach

A scientist - on your comitment to the truth

A doctor - the way you treat people and use your knowledge in the gift of healing

In any .. and all roles - being a witness to the Good news that Jesus is Lord and has transformed your heart

Using ‘your-share-of-gifts’ - to the Glory of God

As Francis of Assiss says - always be proclaiming the gospel, if necessary use words

St Luke, in whom we celebrate today, did this

Once converted he used his artistic ability with words and his attention to details to tell the tale

- to become an evangelist

Reading Luke's gospel gives a good idea of his character as one who loved the poor,

who wanted the door to God's kingdom opened to all,

who respected women,

and who saw hope in God's mercy for everyone.

Forgiveness and God's mercy to sinners is also of first importance to Luke.

Only in Luke do we hear the story of the Prodigal Son welcomed back by the overjoyed father.

Only in Luke do we hear the story of the forgiven woman disrupting the feast by washing Jesus' feet with her tears.

Throughout Luke's gospel, Jesus takes the side of the sinner who wants to return to God's mercy.

And in Luke’s Gospel we have the message of faith as a journey - with the theme expressed in Jesus’s stages of life journeying towards Jerusalem

St. Paul instructs us in the passage from 2nd Timothy read today

always be sober, or - control yourself at all times

endure suffering,

do the work of an evangelist,

carry out your ministry fully

Brothers and Sisters in Christ - wherever God has planted you - whatever gifts, skills or opportunities God has put in your grasp

do the work of an evangelist, …as our patron saint - Luke did

carry out your ministry fully

fight the good fight… finish the race… keep the faith …

and longing for the Lord’s appearing - there is in-reserve already - a crown of righteousness - which the Lord the righteous judge will give to you

Brothers and Sisters in Christ be inspired by our patron saint Luke …

Carry out your ministry fully - Amen