good morning and welcome to morning prayer on this Thursday the 17th of October one day before St Luke's day and our penultimate day of thinking of passages very special to Luke during our morning prayer pleas is shooting into the Sun so that you get a chance to see something of the beautiful colors of New England where the trees turn into lovely Golds and reds and yellows and at the same time around us it's a sunny day quite chilly but I'm sitting in adarand chair um an adarand chair from the designed in the adarand mountains which are very solid chairs to sit in in this kind of landscape we're sitting in pastur land and Woodland which is preserved by the university and over on my left here just a few Fields away is the Yale farm so there are bees kept there and there are lots of bees going amongst the Clover here which is a good sight and sign as they harvest their Autumn honey so let's begin to say our prayers you may hear the sound of Carpenters working on the new accommodation block which is way behind Fletcher and we then the whole Divinity School is is across in in that direction Beyond me so let's begin morning prayer in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit amen all we like sheep have gone astray we have turned everyone to his own way and the lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all our Canticle this morning is the third song of Isaiah arise Shine for your light has come and the glory of the Lord has dawned upon you for behold Darkness covers the land deep Gloom enshrouds the peoples but over you the Lord will rise and His glory will appear upon you Nations will stream to your light and Kings to the brightness of your Dawning your Gates will always be open by day or night they will never be shut they will call you the city of the Lord the Zion of the Holy One of Israel violence will no more be heard in your land ruin or destru C within your borders you will call your walls salvation and all your portals praise the sun will no more be your light by day by night you will not need the brightness of the Moon 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 amen our Psalm is Psalm 8 oh Lord our governor how exalted is your name in all the world out of the mouths of infants and children your majesty is praised above the heavens you have set up a stronghold against your adversaries to quell the enemy and the Avenger when I consider your Heavens the work of your fingers the moon and the stars you have set in their courses what is man that you should be mindful of him the son of man that you should seek him out you have made him but a little lower than the Angels you Adorn him with Glory and Honor you give him Mastery over the works of your hands and put all things under his feet all sheep and oxen even the wild beasts of the field the birds of the air and the fish of the sea and whatsoever walks in the paths of the sea oh Lord our governor how exalted is your name in all the world so let's turn now then to our sections from St Luke's gospel this morning which are particular to Luke and we turn today to the crucifixion itself we haven't time to do all of those passages that have little special things from St Luke they are though just sentences thrown in here and there for he uses so much of the material which Matthew and Mark also uh use but here is Luke occasionally putting in a little insight of his own one of them is the definite nature in which pilot the Roman govern govern says this man is clearly Innocent but he cannot Prevail amongst the crowds but on the other hand we go to the denial of even knowing Jesus by St Peter and there's a very special sentence in there so it is worth reading this passage before we turn to the crucifixion itself then they see SE Jesus and led him away bringing him into the high priest's house and Peter was following at a distance and when they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat down together Peter sat down among them then a servant girl seeing him as he sat in the light and looking closely at him said this man also was with him but he denied it and said woman I I do not know him and a little later someone else saw him and said you also are one of them but Peter said man I am not and after an interval of about an hour still another insisted saying certainly this man also was with him for he too is a galileon but Peter said man I do not know what you are talking about and immediately while he was still speaking the crowed and the Lord turned and looked at Peter and Peter remembered the saying of the Lord how he had said to him before the crows today you will deny me three times and he went out and wept bitterly and the sent which is particularly Luke and the Lord turned and looked at Peter it was that look in St Luke's gospel that destroyed him and caused him to burst into tears at his own failure as though the eyes of Jesus looking at him caused him to remember everything that is so typical of Luke it was a human Gest on Jesus's part to turn and look at Peter he may not even have been knowing what was being said at the time he may have looked just to see where Peter was but the look was enough Peter was completely taken apart and burst into tears and wept bitterly so let's come to the crucifixion itself and see what we have which is special as far as Luke is concerned in this I'm beginning at verse 26 of chapter 23 and as they LED Jesus away They seized one Simon of serini who was coming in from the country and laid on him the cross to carry it behind Jesus and there followed him a great multitude of the people and of women who were mourning and lamenting for him but turning to them Jesus said Daughters of Jerusalem do not weep for me but weep for yourselves and for your children for behold the days are coming when they will say blessed are the baren and the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed then they will begin to say to the mountains fall on us and to the hills cover us for if they do these things when the wood is green what will happen when it is dry two others who were criminals were LED away to be put to death with him and when they came to the place that is called the skull they were crucified they there they crucified him and the criminals were one on his right and one on his left and Jesus said father forgive them for they know not what they do and they cast lots to divide his garments and the people stood by watching but the rulers scoffed at him saying he saved others let him save himself if he is the Christ of God his Chosen One the soldiers also mocked him coming up and offering him sour wine and saying if you are the king of the Jews save yourself there was also an inscription over him this is the king of the Jews one of the criminals who were hanged railed at him saying are you not the Christ save yourself and us but the other rebuked him saying do you not fear God since you are under the same sentence of condemnation and we indeed justly for we are receiving the due reward of our Deeds but this man has done nothing wrong and he said Jesus Remember me when you come into your kingdom and he said to him truly I say to you to day you will be with me in Paradise it was now about the sixth hour and there was Darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour while the Sun's light failed and the curtain of the temple was torn in two then Jesus calling out with a loud voice said father into your hands I commit my spirit and having said this he breathed his last now when the Centurion saw what had taken place he praised God saying certainly this man was innocent and all the crowds that had assembled for this spectacle when they saw what had taken place returned home beating their breasts and all his acquaintances and the women who had followed him From Galilee stood at a distance watching these things well that's the Lucan narrative and there is so much there that we almost take for granted as part of the crucifixion narrative which is really only Luke first and foremost the women who are following and the women who stand by watching as the vicine was saying to us the other day two days ago when she joined us this consciousness of Luke of the women who follow in the importance of the women to Jesus's Ministry it's there all the time as it goes on through but as they put the cross on the floor and begin to hammer the nails into his hands in Luke Jesus says father forgive them for they know not what they do it's an extraordinary blessing on all those who have taken part in all of this but he's talking about the men who are hammering the nails probably ordinary Carpenters like the ones who are working and you can hear their hammering of the nails on the building behind us must have been a sound that was Jesus himself was used to as a carpenter but here he's not silent he utters words of forgiveness but they're not the only ones of forgiveness from the cross which are particular to Luke for this story of the two thieves one of them asking to be remembered when Jesus comes to his kingdom and Jesus saying truly I tell you today you will be with me in Paradise that comes one of the seven last words of the Cross but it is only Luke so first father forgive them for they know not what they do then second truly I tell you today you will be with me in paradise and then lastly as the sunlight fails and the veil of the temple is rent in the midst Jesus Cries Out with a loud voice not in St Luke my God my God why have you forsaken me but father into your hands I commit my spirit it's a restful statement and another of the seven last words from the cross three of those coming from sin Luke's gospel as a special emphasis it gives a different perspective to the crucifixion as to does the centurion's sentence when he sees how Jesus dies the Centurion says truly this man was innocent in others the Centurion will say truly this man is the Son of God but this is quite different truly this man is innocent and all the way through to his friend Theophilus to whom uh Luke is right teaching this gospel another Gentile uh Luke is Keen to prove that this is no criminal this is someone who was totally innocent before the law but gave himself up so that others might be saved it's lovely to have looked through all these words of St Luke special words that different emphasis and it causes us once again to realize how very important it is to treat the evangelists absolutely separately each of them connecting obviously at certain points but seeing how they tell the stories differently because it says something about their own faith and we've learned quite a lot about Luke as a person as we've gone through about his compassion about his noticing of people on the outskirts about his noticing of the ones who are doing particular things which may not seem important but become important and here at the end the sense of the Savior giving forgiveness as his arms are outstretched and His Hands nailed to the cross father forgive them and to the thief today you will be with me in Paradise it's never too late for repentance as the thief asks to be remembered it's an Act of Faith and Jesus responds with his arms outstretched physically he can move them no more but his tongue utters those words of blessing and then words of committal in s John it's the Greek word tetesi it is completed in St Luke father into your hands I commend my spirit so thanks be to God for Luke on this morning we shall be back with him again tomorrow as we see how he deals with Resurrection which again is very different from the way the others do so let's now say our prayers but first the gospel sentence which in our office book comes after the cacal is from the letter of Titus sorry that's wrong the letter to Titus from St Paul for the grace of God has appeared bringing salvation to all training us to renounce impiety and worldly passions and in the present age to live lives that are self-controlled upright and godly so as we say our prayers we think of all those that we know need them we think of the Holy Land in its state of War at present and all the peoples of those lands around we think of those who are attempting to bring help and sucker to so many who have lost their homes in Wars not just there but in Ukraine and and Russia and of course we think of those affected by natural disasters powerful storms which have wrecked their own homes and perhaps destroyed years of building and causing them to think whether it's wise for them anymore to live near seash Shores after hurricans have come up and destroyed everything we place our selves beside them and pray for them give thanks for those who are comforting them and we pray for any people whom we know need our prayers in any kind of sickness or sorrow distress or anxiety remember our friends and loved ones so we pray as our savior taught us 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 collect for Thursday morning heavenly father in you we live and move and have our being we humbly pray you so to guide and govern Us by your holy spirit that in all the cares and occupations of our life we may not forget you but may remember that we are ever walking in your sight through Jesus Christ Our Lord amen so may the god of Hope fill us with all joy and peace in believing through the power of the Holy Spirit and the blessing of God Almighty the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit be upon you upon those whom you love and Those whom you would pray for now and always amen well this has been a lovely place to sit and I've been watching which you won't have seen all kinds of things going on a little um tiny children school has come out with their teachers and had some activities on the lawn Beyond they're probably Children of the staff and Community here but there is a a little Primary School nearby as well and you can hear the sound of children playing very often which is a lovely thing also there are birds around and you can hear them singing in the trees on this lovely there's not a cloud in the sky it's just an AIA blue morning and the trees in the sunshine are giving us the the the last of their beauty before winter comes but at the moment um it's set fair for a very fine day so I hope that you will have uh something of an enjoyable day wherever you are in the world and take our blessing away with you we'll see you again tomorrow