Collect: ALMIGHTY God, who didst inspire thy servant Saint Luke the Physician, to set forth in the Gospel the love and healing power of thy Son; Manifest in thy Church the like power and love, to the healing of our bodies and our souls; through the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

LUKE, EVANGELIST AND NARRATOR

A Greek from Antioch (once pagan slave?),

"Beloved physician" to Apostle Paul,

Luke followed Paul up to his martyr’s grave,

Inspiring and informing Luke’s own call

To write his Gospel and his book of Acts.

His longest and oft-quoted Gospel shows

A just regard for women’s roles in facts

About our Savior’s life, e’en His repose

With feet awash in errant woman’s tears.

In Acts Luke gives us priceless history

Of those whose faith persisted despite fears

To spread to us God’s gift, Christianity.

In both his lengthy books, Luke’s prime motif:

God’s love for us through Christ demands belief!

Collect: GRANT, we beseech thee, O God, that after the example of thy servant James the Just, brother of our Lord, thy Church may give itself continually to prayer and to the reconciliation of all who are at variance and enmity; through the same our Lord Jesus Christ, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, on e God, now and for ever. Amen.

JAMES THE JUST, BISHOP AND MARTYR

Not known as a disciple ‘til Christ rose,

This James, His "brother," quickly took the helm

To steer Christ’s infant Church where e’er it goes

In bringing to the world God’s saving realm.

Close friend of the Apostles, guiding them

As leader of their early Christian band,

When chosen Bishop of Jerusalem

James well presided with a righteous hand.

Paul sought out his approval more than once

As "pillar" of the Church to be conferred.

In his epistle, James all us confronts:

Be more than hearers; doers of the Word!

By Pharisees thrown from the Temple’s crest,

Then stoned and clubbed, James went to martyr’s rest.

Collect: O ALMIGHTY God, who hast built thy Church upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the head corner-stone; Grant us so to be joined together in unity of spirit by their doctrine, that we may be made an holy temple acceptable unto thee; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

SIMON THE ZEALOUS

Obscurest of apostles, Simon’s zeal

Was said to be projected for our Lord

in unseen faithful tending to the weal

Of heathens he converted to His Word.

Frustrated patriot, lore says he threw

Himself into a missionary thrust

That took our hope in Jesus Christ anew

As far as Egypt. Turning back, he must

Have met Apostle Jude with whom he teamed

To preach the Way in Persia. There, ‘tis said,

They angered local priests who promptly schemed

To see that these apostles soon were dead.

The scholars differ on how Simon died.

Some maintain sawed to death, some crucified

JUDE, APOSTLE AND EPISTLER

Jude spent much time in living down his name

Because it was by faithful oft confused

With that of traitor Judas, and for shame,

Since Jude, ‘tis said, was by our Lord well used.

A kin of Jesus, Jude by Him was sent

To heal the ailments of a Turkish king

Who, well again, was grateful and content

For Jude to urge his subjects and thus bring

Them also to salvation. Jude composed

A canonized epistle, his endeavor

To warn of false corruption, which he closed:

"Our Lord, before all time and now and ever."

Jude’s martyrdom was lengthy in its throes;

They tied him to a cross and shot arrows.

Collect: O ALMIGHTY God, who hast knit together thine elect in one communion and fellowship, in the mystical body of thy Son Christ our Lord; Grant us grace so to follow thy blessed Saints in all virtuous and godly living, that we may come to those unspeakable joys which thou hast prepared for those who unfeignedly love thee; through the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

ALL SAINTS’ DAY

This Celtic New Year’s Day that we made ours

To celebrate the memory of our saints

Inspires us to recall their saintly hours

And live our lives more Godly without taints.

Our martyrs’ noble deaths we first observed

With solemn feast day early on, and then

Communion of our lives with saints who served,

Both known to us and lost beyond our ken.

This major feast time and baptismal day

We share our loving thoughts with saints who passed

From mortal toils to God’s gracious array

Of blessed joys in Heaven at the last.

For such a dearer presence with our Christ

Most willingly their lives they sacrificed.

Collect: O MOST merciful Father, who hast blessed the labours of the husbandman in the returns of the fruits of the earth; We give thee humble and hearty thanks for this thy bounty; beseeching thee to continue thy loving-kindness to us, that our land may still yield her increase, to thy glory and our comfort; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Collect: ALMIGHTY God, who didst give such grace unto thy holy Apostle Saint Andrew, that he readily obeyed the calling of thy Son Jesus Christ, and followed him without delay; Grant unto us all, that we, being called by thy holy Word, may forthwith give up ourselves obediently to fulfill thy holy commandments; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

ANDREW, APOSTLE & FIRST MISSIONARY

Well-traveled messenger for Christ, he brought

Wild men and Greeks to Him, but yet another

For whom he is most known as having sought;

He first fetched Simon Peter, his own brother.

Tradition tells how Andrew preached Christ’s word

The lengths of Asia Minor and Dead Sea;

Was later hailed by Scots, so deeply stirred,

Their patron saint and they from England free.

In Greece, 'tis said, he brought a governor’s wife

To Christ, defied her mate’s condemning words

And asked, as cross on which to lose his life,

An X-shaped one as lesser than our Lord’s.

Saint Andrew’s cross, on which his life was mown,

Is blazoned still on flags o’er Scotland flown.

THANKSGIVING DAY

Autumnal harvest festivals are lore

That far predates our Pilgrims, but theirs wrought

True Christian thanks for such lifesaving store

Of yields from crops and game by natives taught.

Their harvest meal with native tutors shared

As bounty from that hardship year, their way

Of showing gratitude for their lives spared,

Is honored as our first Thanksgiving Day.

Such thankfulness is central to our faith.

We thank God for His grace, by Son redeemed,

So blest that we can shed our sins’ dark wraith;

So grateful to be by His love esteemed.

To offer God our thanks without delaying

Shows humbleness most basic to our praying.

THOMAS, SKEPTICAL APOSTLE

A Galilean Jew, Thomas was known

For questioning what e’er he held in doubt.

When risen Christ to him His wounds had shown,

A humbled Thomas hailed Him with a shout,

"My Lord and My God!" Thus the first was he

Of followers to laud Christ’s sovereign state.

Much legend tells how Thomas proved to be

To India’s throngs Christ’s foremost advocate.

Their "Christians of St. Thomas" still attest

Some seven Churches founded by their seer,

Converting thousands to our Lord confessed

‘Til slain in prayer by Brahmin soldier’s spear.

For Indians saved so widespread is his fame

Two postage stamps there issued bear his name.

Collect: ALMIGHTY and everliving God, who, for the greater confirmation of the faith, didst suffer thy holy Apostle Thomas to be doubtful in thy Son's resurrection; Grant us so perfectly, and without all doubt, to believe in thy Son Jesus Christ, that our faith in thy sight may never be reproved. Hear us, O Lord, through the same Jesus Christ, to whom, with thee and the Holy Ghost, be all honour and glory, now and for evermore. Amen.