These are resources for a celebration of the Feast of St Luke on Sunday, October 18, 2020. The resources are gathered from a variety of sources and, while assembled mainly for The Anglican Church of St Thomas the Apostle, Kefalas, on the island of Crete in Greece, others may find them useful.
Read
The readings appointed by the Church of England in Common Worship for this feast-day are Isaiah 35.3-6, Psalm 147.1-7, 2 Timothy 4.5-17, and Luke 10.1-9. Folks in North America should note that these are different from the ones assigned in the Episcopal Church and in the Anglican Church of Canada.
Share
While many restrictions are still in place, we have stepped down to Level One in the Chania Prefecture, which means that it is possible for us to gather as church this coming Sunday. So, please join us in person, if possible, at 11:00 am on October 18 in the Tabernacle at the Anglican Church of St Thomas in Kefalas. The service will be one of Holy Communion.
If you cannot join in person you can participate on Zoom. Click this link, or enter the information at right into your Zoom app: Meeting ID: 850 4483 9927 Password: 010209. My thanks to Frances Bryant-Scott for being the Zoom host last week.
Of course, you can also throw your own service together with the materials on this page – read the readings, pray the prayers, and sing with the hymns.
Reflect
I will post my sermon on Luke soon after the service on Sunday. In the meantime, here is a sermon by the Cistercian monk and priest, Justin Sheehan.
Pray
Collect
Almighty God, you called Luke the physician,
whose praise is in the gospel,
to be an evangelist and physician of the soul:
by the grace of the Spirit
and through the wholesome medicine of the gospel,
give your Church the same love and power to heal;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Biddings
I bid your prayers for the Church:
- for Robert Innes & David Hamid, our bishops;
- for Justin Welby our archbishop, Stephen Cottrell the Archbishop of York, and the General Synod of the Church of England;
- for the churches and peoples of the Caribbean: Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, Cuba, Curaçao, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Sint Maarten, St Kitts-Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago (World Council of Churches Ecumenical Prayer Cycle);
- in the Anglican Communion, we remember the Episcopal Church and its Presiding Bishop, The Most Revd Michael Curry (Anglican Cycle of Prayer); and
- (from the Prayer Diary of the Diocese in Europe) give thanks for:
- the Lusitanian Church, Bishop Jorge Pina Cabral;
- for the Church of Denmark;
- the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Estonia;
- and in the Diocesan Office in London: for the Operations and Finance functions:
- Diocesan Secretary (COO): Andrew Caspari;
- Office Manager: Bron Panter;
- Finance: Susan Stelfox, Nick Wraight;
- Board of Finance Chair: Mike Fegan; and
- for the financial needs of the Diocese (and give thanks for God’s provision).
I bid your prayers for the leaders of the nations; especially
- Katerini Sakellaropoulou, President of Greece, and
- Kyriakos Mitsotakis the Prime Minister of Greece;
- Elizabeth, Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and her other realms, and also in her role as Governor of the Church of England;
- and Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister of her British government;
- In the European Union,
- Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission;
- Charles Michel, President of the European Council; and
- Josep Borrell, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs & Security Policy;
- For negotiations around Brexit;
- the peoples of Belarus as they continue to demonstrate for democracy;
- for peace between Azerbaijan and Armenia;
- for the peoples of the United States as they enter the last three weeks before their elections;
- for advocates of Indigenous rights and the adoption and implementation of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples;
- prisoners and captives, especially the over one million Uigers being held in detention in China;
- for a lessening of tensions between Turkey and Greece; and
- for peace in Yemen, Libya, Afghanistan, Syria, and between Palestinians and Israelis.
I bid your prayers for the sick and suffering and all who minister to their needs;
- remembering the over 8.4 million active cases of the novel coronavirus, and mourning with the families of the over 1 million who have died in the pandemic;
- and also remembering those ill with other diseases, and those whose operations have been postponed;
- the over 79.5 million refugees and nearly 4 million stateless person, remembering especially the crucial situation of Greece.
Intercession: A Litany of Healing
God the Father, your will for all people is health and salvation.
All We praise and bless you, Lord.
God the Son, you came that we might have life,
and might have it more abundantly.
All We praise and bless you, Lord.
God the Holy Spirit, you make our bodies the temple of your presence.
All We praise and bless you, Lord.
Holy Trinity, one God, in you we live and move and have our being.
All We praise and bless you, Lord.
Lord, grant your healing grace to all who are sick, injured or disabled,
that they may be made whole.
All Hear us, Lord of life.
Grant to all who are lonely, anxious or depressed
a knowledge of your will and an awareness of your presence.
All Hear us, Lord of life.
Grant to all who minister to those who are suffering
wisdom and skill, sympathy and patience.
All Hear us, Lord of life.
Mend broken relationships, and restore to those in distress
soundness of mind and serenity of spirit.
All Hear us, Lord of life.
Sustain and support those who seek your guidance
and lift up all who are brought low by the trials of this life.
All Hear us, Lord of life.
Grant to the dying peace and a holy death,
and uphold by the grace and consolation of your Holy Spirit those who are bereaved.
All Hear us, Lord of life.
Restore to wholeness whatever is broken by human sin,
in our lives, in our nation, and in the world.
All Hear us, Lord of life.
You are the Lord who does mighty wonders.
All You have declared your power among the peoples.
With you, Lord, is the well of life
All and in your light do we see light.
Hear us, Lord of life:
All heal us, and make us whole.
Let us pray. A period of silence follows.
O Lord our God, accept the fervent prayers of your people;
in the multitude of your mercies
look with compassion upon us and all who turn to you for help;
for you are gracious, O lover of souls,
and to you we give glory, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
now and for ever.
All Amen.
The Island Parson 