good morning and welcome today to Berkeley Divinity School at the Yale University we are spending some time here at present and we thought that we would go step by step over the next 7 mornings to St Luke's day now there is an old tradition in England and um in other parts of the world that there's a a St Luke's summer happens in the northern hemisphere at this time well St Luke's Day is next Friday but it's much more important than that to this place because St Luke is the patron saint of Berkeley Divinity School so if you like next Friday will be their patronal festival and I'm sitting in the chapel of St Luke where each morning the seminarians and those in any kind of training gather together with guests and friends who may be staying to celebrate the Eucharist or say morning prayer and it's always a wonderful thing to come back here for 20 years we've been coming at this time of year so this really feels like one of our homes in the world and the the the dean of Berkeley here uh Andrew mcgaan and his wife Felicity are are like members of our extended family and so we are very happy to be here and to welcome you into this Chapel behind me is an icon of St Luke with the candle burning before it and outside the sunshine is shining on all the lovely colors of New England and some of those we hope we can share you share with you during the week to come because we shall film outside as well now today is also and you can find this out in detail on the website of the garden congregation the Big Bird day when we go into the garden and we we um uh count the number of birds and the types of birds if we're able to and then fill them in on the form you'll find all these details on on the website of garden congregation and so then you return them and that helps with counting at this on this day each year the number of of species of birds that are seen in our garden so enjoy that go and spend an hour in the garden if it's not too bad weather with you and and just count the birds and and write them down and then fill in the form and we we shall do that here and we hope you have a a nice day doing that as well but for the moment let's turn our attention to morning prayer and also to St Luke in a moment we'll say a a short morning prayer uh from the the the traveling briefy hour by hour that I tend to use when we're we're moving around the world feter was saying it's a little bit difficult for him to do a Blog at the moment it's fine when we're traveling and describing things as we move but when we're sharing the life of a particular Community then it can seem a bit intrusive and so uh the the the blog will appear from time to time but for the moment we'll we'll say what we can about this lovely place as we go through the week and discover aspects of St Luke together I think that the best way to learn St Luke is to look at the various aspects of his character as shown in his gospel and the Acts of the Apostles I'm going to concentrate on the gospel but let me before we even begin morning prayer read the little preface of St Luke's gospel where he explains what he's trying to do now it's very very likely that Luke was a Greek he he joined uh St Paul's Ministry on one of the missionary Journeys and then became the chronicler of St Paul's activities and and wrote of course the The Acts of the Apostles but the Evangelist here begins his gospel by explaining what he wants to do and why he feels the need to write it uh it's a very short paragraph but here it is in as much as many have undertaken to compile A Narrative of the things that have been accomplished Among Us just as those who from the begin beginning were eyewitnesses and Ministers of the word have delivered them to us it seemed good to me also having followed all things closely for some time past to write an orderly account for you most excellent Theophilus that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught so he's writing to an educated friend he writes in excellent Greek and he is telling us that he has collected many materials in order to set down an orderly account we don't know where he was getting these materials he may have been um using St Mark's gospel he may have been hearing from a tradition of handed on that people had when they told the stories but at the same time he wants to set it down in an orderly way particularly for those of us and including myself who were not of the the Jewish faith and also many of the things needed more explanation and understanding it's quite clear from his gospel and the traditions of the church that Luke was not only the physician as described in the letters of St Paul so he was a Healer but he was also something I think of a musician because most of our canticles like Magnificat and N Dei come from St Luke's gospel and at the same time he'd always traditionally been seen as an artist now whether that meant with paint and brush or whether it meant an artist at drawing pictures verbally both could be true he certainly Drew wonderful pictures of Us of for us virtually and I think that we might well uh just look at some of those as we go through the week there are parables in St Luke's gospel which appear nowhere else there are facts which appear nowhere else and there is a sense of always saying you will understand this is what is happening here so he's a teacher as well so as one of the four evangelists he also wrote The Acts of the Apostles and I think about a third of the New Testament is is is written by the hand of this particular evangelist if you add the gospel to uh the Acts of the Apostles so it as begin our morning prayer and then we'll use a reading from St Luke and talk a little bit about that particular reading I'm using the morning prayer for Saturday if you have a copy of uh day by day hour by hour here we are in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit amen grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ this Canticle is called the song of the redeemed oh ruler of the universe Lord God great Deeds are they that you have done surpassing human understanding your ways are ways of righteousness and Truth oh king of all the ages who can fail to do you homage Lord and sing the Praises of your name for you only are the Holy One All Nations will draw near and fall down before you because your just and holy Works have been revealed glory to the father and to the son and to the Holy Spirit as it was in the beginning is now and will be forever [Music] amen our Psalm this morning is Psalm 42 As the deer Longs for the water Brooks so belongs my soul for you oh God my soul is a thirst for God a thirst for the Living God When shall I come to appear before the presence of God my tears have been my food day and night while all day long they say to me where now is your god I pour out my soul when I think on these things how I went with the multitude and led them into the house of God with the the voice of praise and thanksgiving among those who keep holy day why are you so full of heaviness oh my soul and why are you so disquieted within me put your trust in God for I will yet give thanks to him who is the help of my countenance and my God my soul is heavy Within Me therefore I will remember you from the land of Jordan and from the peak of Misa are among the heights of Herman one deep calls to another in the noise of your cataracts all your Rapids and floods have gone over me the Lord grants his loving kindness in the daytime in the night season his song is with me a prayer to the god of my life I will say to the god of my strength why have you forgotten me and why do I go so heavily while the enemy oppresses me while my bones are being broken my enemies mock me to my face all day long they mock me and say to me where now is your god why are you so full of heaviness oh my soul and why are you so disquieted within me put your trust in God for I will yet give thanks to him who is the help of your countenance and my my God glory to the father and to the son and to the Holy Spirit as it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be World Without End [Music] Amen so let's come to our lesson from St Luke and I've chosen this morning not to begin with the what we call Birth narratives of chapters 1 and two two of the most beautiful chapters in the whole of the New Testament I'm beginning at chapter 3 three because I think it shows us aspects of St Luke's uh character and what he's trying to do with this beautiful gospel so the beginning of chapter 3 in the 15th year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee and his brother Phillip tetrarch of the region of iur and an itis and lanius tetrarch of abalan during the high priesthood of anus and Caiaphas the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness and he went into all the region around the Jordan proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the Forgiveness of sins as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet the voice of of one crying in the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord make his paths straight every Valley shall be filled and every mountain and Hill shall be made low and the Crooked shall become straight and the rough places shall become level ways and All Flesh shall see the salvation of God John said therefore to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him you brood of vipers who warned you to flee from the wroth to come bear fruits in keeping with repentance and do not begin to say to yourselves we have Abraham as our Father for I tell you God is able to raise from these Stones children for Abraham even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown Into the Fire and the crowds asked John What then shall we do and he answered them Whoever has two tunics is to share with the one who has none and whoever has food is to do likewise Tax Collectors also came to be baptized and said to John teacher what shall we do and he said to them collect no more than you are authorized to do soldiers also asked him and we what shall we do and he said to them do not extort money from anyone by threats or by false accusation and be content with your wages as the people were in expectation and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John whether he might be the Christ John answered them all saying I baptize you with water but he who is mightier than I is coming the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire his winnowing Fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire so with many other exaltations John preached good news to the people but Herod the tetrarch who had been reproved by him for herodias his brother's wife and for all the evil things that Herod had done added this to them that he locked up John in prison now when all the people were baptized and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying the heavens were opened and the Holy Spirit descended on on him in bodily form like a dove and a voice Came From Heaven you are my beloved Son with you I am well pleased Jesus when he began his ministry was about 30 years of age some little facts that we get only from Luke and we'll find that all the way through he is interested in who was the political figure in Galilee but also those who were carrying the the arms of the state all around notice pontious pilot appears in that because we are just three years from the crucifixion at this time and Jesus will have that meeting with pilate later on in his ministry but for the moment he's come from Nazareth in Galilee and uh presents himself for baptism with John and here Luke imagines him after the baptism praying and the spirit descending like a dove upon him and the voice from Heaven saying to him you are my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased it's a beautiful passage and it's from Luke then that we get the fact as far as Luke is concerned that Jesus was about 30 years old when he began his ministry Luke is the only one who gives us any information about Jesus between the birth narratives and his coming to Jordan there's that small picture which we may read later on in the week of Jesus in the temple as a boy of 12 and it's quite clear that already he is sensing his vocation when he speaks to Mary and Joseph when they've lost him and says why why were you anxious why did you search for me did you not know that I must be in my father's house but nevertheless he went back with them to Nazareth for those what are generally called hidden years before He makes himself uh seen and be begins to teach at the beginning of his ministry which is as Luke tells us when he's about years old Luke is someone who is full of curiosity and is someone also who loves setting things down in order he was never an eyewitness to the ministry of Jesus he is relying on the stories of the eyewitnesses who still lived at that time of course and there is a long tradition that Luke had conversations with the Blessed Virgin Mary with with Jesus's mother but whether or not any of these things can be factually proved what we do have as an absolute fact is the gospel of St Luke and the Acts of the Apostles and so it's lovely as we approach St Luke's day next Friday just to have cameos day by day to help us because Luke is always wanting to to hear to build up and at the same time to point out those who've been unnoticed by others those who are very unlikely messengers of the Gospel we'll find that as we go along but at the same time he is one of the greatest of the storytellers and the colorful nature of The Parables he tells are second to none so we shall enjoy some of those as we go through the week but we'll also enjoy something of the St Luke's summer in this beautiful part of the world this New England where the leaves are turning and the sun comes up Golden in the morning and sets in deep gold in the evening it's a perfect time to be here and all the uh seminarians at the moment are having a reading week following all the celebration of what we call convocation the beginning of a part of their Academic Year which happened uh on on Thursday and uh on Wednesday and and uh we enjoyed taking part in all of that it was a privilege for me to preach to the convocation Eucharist in the evening and we we just uh through the day noticed that their events of Celebration and joined in with them the trustees and the governing body of the the college were here as well and at the same time um that the uh big transformation of this place after an enormous amount of of uh fundraising and then of taking this this whole Center apart and making it into a place which is much more able to receive many people as guests and visitors and to enjoy the gardens here and that's where we'll be counting the birds a bit later on in the day but all these things give the students time to be learning together essential for training into any sacramental Ministry because you need your friends during that time to say well well done this morning when you gave the little homy we had a superb homy from a seminarian called Jacob yesterday morning uh and uh you you you need at that time to have people Pat you on the back and say that's that's really good and at other times when you're feeling rather low you need your friends to say don't don't worry we've been through this and and so on if you try to to prepare for priesthood just just by yourself then you don't get that massive Advantage which you get and it's exhilarating to come here each morning at halfast 7 and very often there's music and a group of the students in rotation look after the worship of the week uh and there's a great deal of fun afterwards at coffee and a breakfast serve just outside we we go through all these things during the week but we couldn't have a better companion than Luke because Luke is full of should we say Humanity well I he's a doctor and so he's interested in healing but at the same time he's a person who notices and I hope that we get some of that aspect of him as we go through this week ourselves we'll continue now with our morning prayer and as we do so we think of the exceptionally TR state of the world we we pray for that area around the holy land where there is such violence at the moment where so many people are suffering and we pray desperately for those who are having to endure that and also for those who are attempting somehow to make it better just to give some kind of humanity to the situation there the same time we continue as we have for several years now to pray for the peoples of Ukraine and and for Russians caught up in in in that conflict and also for the troubled state of the climate of our world and think of all that has gone on with the the hurricane in damaging Florida with so many friends of ours down there that one hardly knows where to turn next whether it's to fires in various areas of the world or these enormous hurricans and floods which destroy property and and and lives and and creatures and so so we hold all that in our hearts and we commend all of it to God as well so at this point let's continue our prayers for this Saturday morning almighty God who after the creation of the world rested from all your works and Sanctified a day of rest for your creatures grant that we putting away all Earthly anxieties may be duly prepared for the service of your Sanctuary tomorrow and that our rest here upon us may be a preparation for the Eternal rest promised to your people in heaven through Jesus Christ Our Lord amen so as our savior taught us let us pray together Our Father who art in heaven Hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come thy will be done on Earth as it is in heaven give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation but Deliver Us from Evil for thine is the kingdom the power and the glory forever and ever amen so as we go about our daily work at this time we think of all those that we need to pray for in our own lives those who need encouragement those who need healing in the way that Luke sets out and we give thanks for those who offer that to us at this time the peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and Minds in the knowledge and love of God and of his son Jesus Christ Our Lord and the blessing of God Almighty the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit be among you and remain with you and those whom you love and Those whom you would pray for today and always amen well I hope this is going to be a very enjoyable week doing this in this this lovely place and together we can share many things but today we're concentrating on the birds in fact this is the anniversary of the the birth of of um Ralph for Williams who is best known to many for his lck ascending so um he clearly rested on the birds there and so we we go on from there and uh can think about other anniversaries on another day so God bless you this day as we say farewell for this morning