The Feast of St Luke - Crediton Parish Church

The Introit - Sung by the choir

 

Sing we merrily unto God our strength:

make a cheerful noise unto the God of Jacob.

 

Take the psalm, bring hither the tabret:

the merry harp with the lute.

 

Blow up the trumpet in the new-moon:

even in the time appointed, and upon our solemn feast day.

 

Psalm 81: 1-3

Andrew Millington, b. 1952

 

Introduction - Rev Jeremy Rawlings

 

Good morning and welcome to Crediton Parish Church - or to give it its full, historic dedication, The Collegiate Church of the Holy Cross and the Mother of Him who hung thereon.

 

Crediton is a small market town nestled in mid-Devon and Christian worship has been offered on this very ground for over a thousand years. It is the birthplace of St Boniface, born here around the year 675, who famously carried the Christian faith to the Netherlands and Germany.

 

Crediton has a long and vibrant choral tradition, and the Church Choir lead our praises today. We begin our service with the hymn that recognises God’s faithfulness, ‘Praise, my soul, the King of heaven’.

 

HYMN:

Praise, my soul, the King of heaven,

to his feet thy tribute bring;

ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven,

who like me his praise should sing?

Praise him, praise him,

praise the everlasting King.

 

Praise him for his grace and favour

to our fathers in distress;

praise him still the same for ever,

slow to chide and swift to bless:

Praise him, praise him,

glorious in his faithfulness.

 

Father-like he tends and spares us,

well our feeble frame he knows;

in his hands he gently bears us,

rescues us from all our foes:

Praise him, praise him,

widely as his mercy flows.

 

Angels, help us to adore him;

ye behold him face to face;

sun and moon bow down before him,

dwellers all in time and space:

Praise him, praise him,

praise with us the God of grace.

 

Henry Francis Lyte from Psalm 103

John Goss, 1800-1880

Prayer - Revd Antonia Tregenza

 

Blessed are you, Lord our God,

creator and redeemer of all;

to you be glory and praise for ever.

 

From the waters of chaos you drew forth the world

and in your great love fashioned us in your image.

 

Now, through the deep waters of death,

you have brought your people to new birth

by raising your Son to life in triumph.

 

May Christ your light ever dawn in our hearts

as we offer you our sacrifice of thanks and praise.

 

Blessed be God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

All                Blessed be God for ever.

 

Welcome - Revd Jeremy Rawlings

Today, we gather to celebrate the feast of St Luke and all of God’s creation.

 

Nestled in the rolling Devon hills, the historic market town of Crediton is home to around eight and a half thousand people. Here, the rhythm of life remains deeply connected to the land, driven by the timeless promise of a bountiful harvest.

 

But Crediton’s roots run far deeper than its fertile soil. In the early tenth century, it was chosen as the first cathedral site for Devon and Cornwall. Though the bishop’s seat moved to Exeter in 1050, the town’s spiritual heart never faded.

 

Today, the majestic fifteenth-century Church of the Holy Cross stands as a rare treasure. Unlike most in the Church of England, it belongs entirely to the community, held in trust by twelve local Governors. It is a living sanctuary where the ancient choral traditions of its collegiate past still thrive, carried forward by a vibrant choir of forty voices singing out across the Devon countryside.

 

Psalm 65 - Sung by the choir

Thou, O God, art praised in Sion:

and unto thee shall the vow be performed in Jerusalem.

Thou that hearest the prayer:

unto thee shall all flesh come.

 

My misdeeds prevail against me:

O be thou merciful unto our sins.

Blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and receivest unto thee:

he shall dwell in thy court, and shall be satisfied with the pleasures of thy house, even of thy holy temple.

 

Thou shalt shew us wonderful things in thy righteousness, O God of our salvation:

thou that art the hope of all the ends of the earth, and of them that remain in the broad sea.

Who in his strength setteth fast the mountains:

and is girded about with power.

 

Who stilleth the raging of the sea:

and the noise of his waves, and the madness of the people.

They also that dwell in the uttermost parts of the earth shall be afraid at thy tokens:

thou that makest the outgoings of the morning and evening to praise thee.

 

Thou visitest the earth, and blessest it:

thou makest it very plenteous.

The river of God is full of water:

thou preparest their corn, for so thou providest for the earth.

 

Thou waterest her furrows, thou sendest rain into the little valleys thereof:

thou makest it soft with the drops of rain, and blessest the increase of it.

Thou crownest the year with thy goodness:

and thy clouds drop fatness.

 

They shall drop upon the dwellings of the wilderness:

and the little hills shall rejoice on every side.

The folds shall be full of sheep:

the valleys also shall stand so thick with corn, that they shall laugh and sing.

 

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son:

and to the Holy Ghost;

as it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be:

world without end. Amen.

 

Revd Antonia Tregenza

Our first reading is taken from the Acts of the Apostles.  It reminds us of our connection to the land here in our parish.  It’s read for us this morning by one of our Choristers, Finnlay.

 

Finnlay

The God who made the world and everything in it, he who is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by human hands, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mortals life and breath and all things. From one ancestor he made all nations to inhabit the whole earth, and he allotted the times of their existence and the boundaries of the places where they would live, so that they would search for God and perhaps feel for him and find him - though indeed he is not far from each one of us. For “In him we live and move and have our being”; as even some of your own poets have said, “For we too are his offspring.”

 

                    This is the word of the Lord.

All                Thanks be to God.

 

Jubilate Deo - Sung by the Choir

 

O be joyful in the Lord, all ye lands:

serve the Lord with gladness,

and come before his presence with a song.

 

Be ye sure that the Lord he is God:

it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves;

we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

 

O go your way into his gates with thanksgiving,

and into his courts with praise:

be thankful unto him and speak good of his Name.

 

For the Lord is gracious, his mercy is everlasting:

and his truth endureth from generation to generation.

 

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son:

and to the Holy Ghost;

as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be:

world without end. Amen.

 

from Psalm 100

Philip Stopford, b. 1977

 

The Gospel - Revd Antonia Tregenza

 

                     Alleluia, alleluia!

I am the way, the truth, and the life, says the Lord.

No one comes to the Father except through me.

John 14. 6

All                Alleluia!

 

                    The Lord be with you.

All                And also with you.

 

                    Hear the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ,

according to Luke.

All                Glory to you, O Lord.

 

Revd Antonia Tregenza

The gospel is read for us this morning by chorister, Moon.

 

Moon

After this the Lord appointed seventy others and sent them on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go. He said to them, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest. Go on your way. See, I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves. Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals; and greet no one on the road. Whatever house you enter, first say, “Peace to this house!” And if anyone is there who shares in peace, your peace will rest on that person; but if not, it will return to you. Remain in the same house, eating and drinking whatever they provide, for the labourer deserves to be paid. Do not move about from house to house. Whenever you enter a town and its people welcome you, eat what is set before you; cure the sick who are there, and say to them, “The kingdom of God has come near to you.”

 

Moon:                     This is the Gospel of the Lord.

All                Praise to you, O Christ.

 

 

The Reflection - Rev Antonia Tregenza

St Luke is mentioned in the letter to the Colossians as a healer, he has long been revered across the centuries as the ‘beloved physician.’  As we mark his feast day the Revd Prebendary Sue Rose shares why his teachings resonate with her.

 

The Revd Prebendary Sue Rose

So how do you prepare when you have to go away. Do you carefully chose a range of clothes to suit every eventuality (which in this country could be many and various) or do you throw everything in at the last minute? Either way you’re not going to meet Jesus’s criteria as reported by Luke in our reading today.

 

Jesus’s instructions to the disciples are very clear; they are to cure the sick, proclaim the Kingdom but take nothing, absolutely nothing, with them. That would be quite a challenge for most of us. It would mean making ourselves vulnerable, dependent – perhaps even (dare one say it?) becoming a burden to others! And that goes against all our expectations; we are always being encouraged to be independent, to manage our own stuff. So, it can come as a shock when something comes along that trips us up and changes our perspective.

 

This last year has done exactly that for me, having been diagnosed with Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma last July. Since then I have had months of chemo, a stem cell transplant followed by many sessions of radiotherapy. It left me exhausted, so much so that at times walking across a room or following a conversation was challenging in the extreme. Medically I was entirely dependent on the care, knowledge and skill of the haematology team at the Royal Devon & Exeter hospital; emotionally I relied on my husband, wider family and friends and spiritually, especially when I struggled to put words together, I needed services like this one.

 

It has been a salutary experience to go from being a normally competent individual to needing to rely on others for almost everything. I’ve been deeply touched by the extraordinary network of prayer support as well as the practical help; cakes, lifts, flowers and cards – and for the way it was extended to my husband. They might not realise it but all those individuals, whilst perhaps not saying it, nonetheless demonstrated that the Kingdom of God is indeed near. They helped me to know throughout my treatment that God was with me and enabled a deep sense of peace.

 

I am profoundly grateful that my blood cancer was treatable – I still remember the genuine joy on my consultant’s face when the diagnosis came and his delight in telling me this was the best of the possible outcomes as this could be cured – it’s an odd situation to be given such bad, good news! But I am very conscious that it being treatable makes me one of the lucky ones.

 

The drugs and procedures available to our medical professionals would, I’m sure, leave Luke the physician, the friend and companion of St Paul, open-mouthed in astonishment – it leaves me that way too. The drugs used to first poison and then resurrect my body cured my disease; the prayers of friends and strangers healed and sustained my soul. I am confident that St Luke whose feast day we celebrate today would have approved of both.

 

The Anthem – Sung by the choir

 

In the presence of God and in Jesus Christ,

preach the Word, evangelise.

My journey’s ended. I kept the faith.

 

Only Luke is with me, only Luke, just Luke.

 

The Lord stood, He stood at my side and gave me strength.

 

I was delivered from the lion’s mouth

to proclaim the message to the Gentiles

that they might hear the message.

 

The Lord will rescue me from ev’ry evil,

and bring me safely to His heavenly kingdom.

For ever and evermore to Him be glory,

to Him be the glory, for ever and evermore.

Amen.

 

Adapted from 2 Timothy 4: 4-18

Graham Keitch, b. 19?

 

The Collect - Revd Jeremy Rawlings

 

                    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 our Lord,

who is alive and reigns with you,

in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and for ever.

All                Amen.

Homily - Revd Prebendary Matthew Tregenza

 

In our reading from St Luke’s Gospel, Jesus is sending his followers out on a mission. Instead of strong words of encouragement, he gives them instructions and advice to help them cope with the hardships and failures he expects them to encounter.

 

‘See, I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves’; are hardly words to fire up his followers with zeal and purpose.

 

If it were us, we might well be discouraged. We certainly might feel reticent about being sent out. But if we think about it for a moment, Jesus is being deeply realistic in preparing his followers for what they might face. Rather than allowing them to be taken by surprise by hardships, Jesus is open, and he is honest about what lies ahead. He is, in fact, preparing them well. They now know exactly what they might be up against. He teaches them how to handle the rejection they are likely to face. Rejection is never easy, and yet Jesus takes the time to offer his followers practical advice as to how to cope with it.

 

Yet, he also tells his followers what to do, including curing the sick—in other words, to heal.

 

Healing includes the restoring of relationships and the mending of broken friendships. It means the healing of relationships between nations, especially when we think about the conflicts taking place across our world right now. Crucially, we also need healing of our relationship with the natural world.

 

It is interesting that Jesus uses the language of a plentiful harvest and of sending labourers into that harvest. This is, of course, a metaphor that the first hearers of Luke’s Gospel would have related to easily. The world is the harvest, and Christ longs to gather humanity into the barn, which is the kingdom of God. He sends his followers to prepare the way, just as he sends us today.

 

He invites us to travel light.

 

What is it that we really need? What is it that we can do without? In travelling light, Jesus invites us to trust him—to trust deeply in God’s providence.

 

This summer has seen record high temperatures and several heatwaves in the UK. Perhaps the full effect on the agricultural harvest is not yet fully known. There is no doubt that we are in a climate crisis, and that is a call to us to reflect on the world God has given us, and on our responsibility to be wise stewards of creation.

 

Maybe we are being called to travel light. We need to look honestly at what we don’t really need. In doing so, we will rely less on the planet’s resources.

 

Yet, the sending out of the seventy is a call to mission. When we look at the world, it is easy to forget that there are enough resources for every person.  The mission that God calls us to is a generosity of spirit. Through sustainable resource sharing, poverty, the lack of access to life’s necessities like food, water, medical care, and education—could be eliminated.

 

This interconnectedness of humanity, resources, and creation is a foundational truth of our faith. As the words in our reading from the Acts of the Apostles remind us: ‘From one ancestor God made all nations to inhabit the whole earth, and he allotted the times of their existence and the boundaries of the places where they would live, so that they would search for God and perhaps feel for him and find him—though indeed he is not far from each one of us.’

 

The mission to which Christ calls us is to feel for him and to find him. We find him in creation; we find him in the poor and marginalised, and we find him in each other. St Luke, the writer of Acts, is right when he reminds us that God is not far from each one of us. After all, did Jesus not tell the seventy to ‘proclaim that the kingdom of God is near’?

 

May we always remember that God is closer to us than we are to ourselves. Amen

 

Hymn:

I heard the voice of Jesus say,

‘Come unto me and rest;

lay down, thou weary one,

lay down thy head upon my breast’:

I came to Jesus as I was,

weary and worn and sad;

I found in him a resting-place,

and he has made me glad.

 

I heard the voice of Jesus say,

‘Behold, I freely give

the living water, thirsty one;

stoop down and drink and live’:

I came to Jesus, and I drank

of that life-giving stream;

my thirst was quenched, my soul revived,

and now I live in him.

 

I heard the voice of Jesus say,

‘I am this dark world’s light;

look unto me, thy morn shall rise,

and all thy day be bright’:

I looked to Jesus, and I found

in him my star, my sun;

and in that light of life I’ll walk

till travelling days are done.

Hoartius Bonar, English Folksong, 1893

harmonised by Ralph Vaughan Williams, 1872-1958

The Prayers - Revd Antonia Tregenza

 

                    Loving and Creator God,

we praise you for the beauty of your creation.

 

We come before you

acknowledging our shared brokenness –

the wounds we carry within ourselves

and the strain we have placed upon your earth.

 

In your Son, Jesus Christ,

you offer us wholeness, peace,

and the restoration of all things.

 

We pray today that you would pour out

your Spirit upon us.

 

Heal our hearts, our minds, and our bodies.

 

Remove all that divides us from your love

and from one another.

 

Teach us to walk in your ways

that we may be agents of healing and light

in your world.

 

Renew the face of the earth, we pray.

 

Give us the wisdom to cherish and protect this world

as a sacred gift,

tending it gently as Christ tends to us.

 

May we find our true completeness in Christ,

so that our lives, our communities,

and all of creation may be gathered together

as one in Him.

 

All                Amen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Revd Jeremy Rawlings

 

We thank you for joining us at Holy Cross this morning, and as we conclude, may we travel light on our life’s journey, and may we seek to encourage healing wherever we go.

 

Our final hymn speaks powerfully of God’s goodness to us and his love for us, ‘Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of creation’.

 

HYMN:

Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of creation;

O my soul, praise him, for he is thy health and salvation:

all ye who hear,

now to his temple draw near,

joining in glad adoration.

 

Praise to the Lord, who o’er all things so wondrously reigneth,

sheildeth thee gently from harm, or when fainting sustaineth:

hast thou not seen

how thy heart’s wishes have been

granted in what he ordaineth.

 

Praise to the Lord, who doth prosper thy work and defend thee;

surely his goodness and mercy shall daily attend thee:

ponder anew

all the Almighty can do,

if to the end he befriend thee.

 

Praise to the Lord! O let all that is in me adore him!

All that hath life and breath, come now with praises before him!

Let the Amen

sound from his people again:

gladly for aye we adore him!

 

Joachim Neander

German 17th-century melody,

harmonised for the Chorale Book for England, 1863

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Blessing - Revd Antonia Tregenza

 

Merciful Lord,

you inspired Your servant, St. Luke the Evangelist and Physician

to spread the Good News of the

love and healing power of Your Son.

We pray that we may always reflect Christ

in the way in which we choose to live our lives.

May we always see the beauty of Your creation

in all whom we encounter.

May we deepen our understanding of the Gospel

and like St. Luke, become Your faithful disciples.

Amen

 

The Organ Voluntary – Peaen by Herbert Howells