Book of Common Prayer

2 Does Christ speak to you? Does love call to you? Do you have a part in the Holy Spirit? Do you have any love and care for others?

² Then make me very, very happy. Live in happiness with one another. Have the same love for each other. Think the same way. Agree together about things. All have one purpose in mind.

³ Do not try to prove you are better than others. Do not be proud of yourselves, but be humble. Think of other people as being better than yourselves.

⁴ Each one of you should not think only about himself, but about other people also.

⁵ Think the same way Jesus Christ thought.

⁶ He was in every way like God. Yet he did not think that being equal to God was something he must hold on to.

⁷ He gave this up and became a servant. He was born a baby.

⁸ And when he was a man, he was humble. He was even willing to die, yes, to die on a cross.

⁹ That is why God has made him very great. God has given him a name above every name.

¹⁰ Everyone in heaven, everyone on earth, and everyone under the earth will kneel before the name of Jesus.

¹¹ Everyone will admit that Jesus Christ is Lord. They will praise God the Father for this.

2 Jesus was born in the town of Bethlehem, in the country of Judea. Herod was the king. After Jesus was born, wise men came from the east to Jerusalem.

² They asked, `Where is the child who has been born to be King of the Jews? We saw his star rising and we have come to worship him.'

³ When King Herod heard this, he was very troubled. All the people in Jerusalem were troubled also.

⁴ He called all the chief priests and the scribes of the Jews for a meeting. He asked them, `Where is the Christ to be born?'

⁵ They told him, `In Bethlehem in Judea. That is what the prophet, the man of God long ago, wrote:

⁶ "Bethlehem in the country of Judah, you are not the least among the leaders in Judah. A leader will come from you who will rule over my people Israel." '

⁷ Then Herod called the wise men to talk with them secretly. He found out from them what time they saw the star.

⁸ He sent them to Bethlehem. He said, `Go and ask everywhere until you find the child. When you have found him, come and tell me, so that I myself may go and worship him.'

⁹ After they heard what the king said, they went away. And the star, which they had seen rising, went in front of them. It stopped above the place where the child was.

¹⁰ When they saw the star, they were very glad.

¹¹ They went into the house, and there they saw the child and Mary his mother. They kneeled down and worshipped him. Then they opened their bags and gave him gifts. These gifts were gold, and frankincense and myrrh.

¹² In a dream they were told not to go back to Herod. So they went home by a different road.