St Luke the Evangelist 		October 18
According to information given us by Paul in his letters, Luke was a Gentile, a physician, a dear friend of Paul (Colossians 4:14), and at one point apparently Paul’s only companion in prison (2 Timothy 4:10,11). The New Testament tells us no more about Luke directly, but since the time of the Muratorian Canon (c.180) tradition has recognised Luke as the author of the anonymous third Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles. Since parts of Acts (16:10-18; 20:5-15; 27:27-28:16) purport to be narrated by an unidentified travelling companion of Paul, this tradition may come from an intelligent deduction from the references to Luke in the epistles combined with the account in Acts. The general location of these “we” passages may also suggest that Luke came from Macedonia, but another tradition associates him with Antioch in Syria. The narrated sections are stylistically homogeneous with the rest of Acts, tending to confirm that the author was himself the companion of Paul. But questions arise when the theological standpoint of Luke-Acts is compared with that of the Pauline letters. The author seems to know nothing of some of the key elements in Pauline theology. The cross is understood as part of the whole exemplary career of Jesus, rather than as the means of salvation from the power of sin. The struggle over the Law, which preoccupied Paul in his letters, is completely absent from his speeches in Acts.
The two-volume narrative of Luke-Acts takes as its major emphasis the story of the transition of the gospel from the home of the Jewish religion, Jerusalem, to Rome, the heart of the imperial world. It is a gospel for all: for the poor, for foreigners, for women, for all who might have thought their disadvantage denied them salvation. Jesus is the first Christian, his example followed by the heroes of the early church. His example and theirs are recorded for us to follow in our world. 
What happened to Luke after the death of Paul in Rome is not known, though according to one tradition he wrote his Gospel and Acts in Greece and died at the age of 84 in Boeotia in Greece.
For Liturgical Use
Luke was a physician, beloved by Paul, and a Gentile, and once, it seems, his only companion in prison. Since the end of the second century, tradition has recognised him as the author of the anonymous third Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles. Luke-Acts is the story of the gospel’s transition from Jerusalem to Rome, from the source of our religious heritage to the heart of the imperial world; it is a gospel for all, especially the disadvantaged. Jesus and his followers are presented as examples for the lives of all believers.
Sentence, Prayers and Readings as in A New Zealand Prayer Book - He Karakia Mihinare o Aotearoa, page 666-667