Book of Common Prayer

4 I am a prisoner who belongs to the Lord. I beg you, live the way people should live who have been called by God.

² Do not be proud at all. Be very humble. Love one another and be patient with each other.

³ The Spirit has made you all one. Try to stay like that. May you be at peace with one another.

⁴ There is one body of Christ and one Spirit. When God called you, there was one hope before you in your calling.

⁵ There is one Lord, one way to believe, and one baptism.

⁶ There is one God and Father of us all. He is over all. He works through all. And he is living in us all.

⁷ But each one of us has received a blessing, whatever amount Christ has given to each one.

⁸ So then, the holy writings say, `When Christ went up to heaven he took those he had won with him. And he gave gifts to men.'

⁹ Now, what does `he went up' mean? Does it not mean that he also came down to the earth below?

¹⁰ The one who came down is the same one who went up higher than all the heavens. He did this so that he would be everywhere.

¹¹ The gifts he gave are these: some are to be apostles; some prophets; some evangelists; some pastors and teachers.

¹² These gifts are to make God's people better able to do their work for him and to make the body of Christ become stronger.

¹³ The gifts are given so that we will all believe the one way and all know the Son of God. They are given so that we will be really grown-up Christians, like Christ himself.

¹⁴ The body of Christ must grow so that we will no longer be like children. We are like children when we are pushed this way and that way. We change our minds every time people bring a different teaching. Some teachers teach the lies of men and fool people so that they believe wrong things.

¹⁵ We must say what is true and say it with love. In that way we will grow up in all things to be like Christ, who is the head of this body.

¹⁶ The whole body is joined and held together by every joint that it has. It is from Christ that the whole body grows as each different part does its work. It grows so that it becomes stronger in love.

6 Then Jesus crossed over the sea of Galilee. (Another name for this sea was Tiberias.)

² Many people followed him because they saw the big works he had done in healing the sick people.

³ Jesus went up on a hill and sat down with his disciples.

⁴ The time for the Passover Feast of the Jews was near.

⁵ When Jesus looked up, he saw many people coming to him. He said to Philip, `Where shall we buy food for these people to eat?'

⁶ Jesus knew what he himself would do, but he said this to see what Philip would do.

⁷ Philip answered him, `It would take nearly a year's wages to buy enough food for them, even if each one gets only a little.'

⁸ One of Jesus' disciples, Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, talked to Jesus.

⁹ He said, `A boy here has five loaves of bread and two small fish. But what can that little bit of food do for so many people?'

¹⁰ Jesus said, `Tell the people to sit down.' Much grass was there. The number of men who sat down was about five thousand.

¹¹ Then Jesus took the bread and thanked God for it. He gave it to the disciples and they divided it among those who were sitting. He did the same thing with the fish. The people had all they wanted.

¹² When they had eaten enough, he said to his disciples, `Gather up all the pieces that are left so that nothing will be lost.'

¹³ They gathered all the pieces of the five loaves. Twelve baskets full were left over after all the people had eaten enough.

¹⁴ When those men saw the big work that Jesus did, they said, `Truly, this is the Prophet that is to come into the world.'