The Feast Day of Saint Luke - Reflection by Canon Leslie

This Sunday the cathedral celebrates the Feast of St Luke the Evangelist. Unlike the other two synoptic Gospels (Matthew and Mark), Luke’s Gospel does not stop with the empty tomb or with the days immediately after the resurrection. Luke’s Gospel occupies not one book, but two. We know the second book as the Acts of the Apostles. For Luke the Ascension of Jesus acts as the hinge that holds the two books together. The distinctive message of Luke’s Gospel is that the good news about Jesus brings salvation to Jews and to Gentiles. The theme is set out clearly at the beginning of Luke’s Gospel in the Nunc Dimittis, the Song of Simeon when the infant Jesus is greeted.
To be a light to lighten the Gentiles:
and to be the glory of thy people Israel.
The theme is concluded in the Acts of the Apostles when Paul brings the Gospel to Rome at the centre of the known world.
 
This week the Gospel reading is Luke’s account of Jesus sending out the seventy to proclaim that the Reign of God has come near. For Luke the number seventy carried symbolic power as representing one messenger for each of the seventy nations of the world. To prepare for this Sunday’s service I invited those of you who want to do something beforehand to focus on the image of messengers. In today’s picture from The Lord is Here! Teddy Horsley and his young friends have settled down to explore the messages about the Reign of God.
 
Next week the image to help us prepare for participation in the Sunday service, whether offline in the cathedral or online at home, is feeling loved. The Gospel reading concerns Jesus’ summary of the law:
You shall love the Lord your God
You shall love your neighbour as yourself.
You can find out more about that theme here https://www.prayerforliverpool.org/prayer-resources.html. We would really appreciate you letting us know how you are using these materials. Please send us your ideas and photos of the things you may create; email them to [email protected].
 
If  you’d like to learn more about Teddy Horsley and his writings, visit his website: https://teddyhorsley.org/, or his page on the website of St. Mary’s Centre: http://www.st-marys-centre.org.uk/resources/TeddyHorsley.html.
 
We warmly invite you to join us in worship online here: 

Teddy Horsley sends his Sunday greetings to all.

Canon Leslie
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