Book of Common Prayer

Priorities in worship

14 Pursue love; and long for the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy. ² Someone who speaks in a tongue, you see, isn’t speaking to human beings but to God. Nobody can understand such speakers, because they speak mysteries in the spirit. ³ But the one who prophesies speaks to other people, to build them up, to strengthen them, and to console them. ⁴ The one who speaks in a tongue builds up himself or herself; but the one who prophesies builds up the church.

⁵ I would be delighted for all of you to speak in tongues, but I would be even more delighted to have you all prophesying. The one who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in a tongue, unless they also give an interpretation so that the church may be built up.

Speaking clearly in church

⁶ Well then, my brothers and sisters, if I come to you speaking in tongues, how am I going to bring you any benefit unless I speak to you either in a revelation or in a word of knowledge or in a prophecy or in teaching? ⁷ It’s the same with lifeless objects that make a sound, like a flute or a lyre. If they don’t give a distinct note, how will anyone know what tune is being blown or plucked? ⁸ Think about it: if the trumpet doesn’t make a clear sound, who will get ready to fight?

⁹ It’s the same with you. Unless your tongue gives a distinct message, how will anyone be able to tell what you’re talking about? You will be like someone speaking into thin air. ¹⁰ To be sure, there are all kinds and types of languages in the world, and none of them is meaningless. ¹¹ But if I don’t know the force of the words, I will remain a foreigner to the speaker, and the speaker will be a foreigner to me. ¹² It’s the same with you. Since you are so eager for spiritual matters, try to specialize in doing things that will build up the church.

The workers in the vineyard

20 “So you see,” Jesus continued, “the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. ² He agreed with the workers to give them a dinar a day, and sent them off to his vineyard.

³ “He went out again in the middle of the morning, and saw some others standing in the market-place with nothing to do.

⁴ “ ‘You too can go to the vineyard,’ he said, ‘and I’ll give you what’s right.’ ⁵ So off they went.

“He went out again about midday, and then in the middle of the afternoon, and did the same. ⁶ Then, with only an hour of the day left, he went out and found other people standing there.

“ ‘Why are you standing here all day with nothing to do?’ he asked them.

⁷ “ ‘Because no one has hired us,’ they replied. “ ‘Well,’ he said, ‘you too can go into the vineyard.’

⁸ “When evening came, the vineyard-owner said to his servant, ‘Call the workers and give them their pay. Start with the last, and go on to the first.’

⁹ “So the ones who had worked for one hour came, and each of them received a dinar. ¹⁰ When the first ones came, they thought they would get something more; but they, too, each received a dinar.

¹¹ “When they had been given it, they grumbled against the landowner. ¹² ‘This lot who came in last,’ they said, ‘have only worked for one hour—and they’ve been put on a level with us! And we did all the hard work, all day, and in the heat as well!’

¹³ “ ‘My friend,’ he said to one of them, ‘I’m not doing you any wrong. You agreed with me on one dinar, didn’t you? ¹⁴ Take it! It’s yours! And be on your way. I want to give this fellow who came at the end the same as you. ¹⁵ Or are you suggesting that I’m not allowed to do what I like with my own money? Or are you giving me the evil eye because I’m good?’

¹⁶ “So those at the back will be at the front, and the front ones at the back.”