St. John, Apostle (December 27)
Scripture Selections from the Evangelical Heritage Version®
Revised April 28, 2020

First Lesson
Genesis 1:1–5, 26–31
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 2The earth was undeveloped and empty. Darkness covered the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters. 
3God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4God saw that the light was good. He separated the light from the darkness. 5God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” There was evening and there was morning—the first day. 
26God said, “Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the sky, and over the livestock, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that crawls on the earth.” 
27God created the man in his own image. 
In the image of God he created him. 
Male and female he created them. 
28God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” 29God said, “Look, I have given you every plant that produces seed on the face of the whole earth, and every tree that bears fruit that produces seed. It will be your food. 30To every animal of the earth, and to every bird of the sky, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. 
31God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good. There was evening and there was morning—the sixth day. 

Second Lesson
1 John 1:1–2:2
That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have observed and our hands have touched regarding the Word of Life—2the life appeared, and we have seen it. We testify and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. 3We are proclaiming what we have seen and heard also to you, so that you may have fellowship with us. Our fellowship is with the Father and his Son Jesus Christ. 4We write these things to you so that our joy may be complete. 
5This is the message we heard from him and proclaim to you: God is light. In him there is no darkness at all. 6If we say we have fellowship with him but still walk in darkness, we are lying and do not put the truth into practice. 7But if we walk in the light, just as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanses us from all sin. 8If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10If we say we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar, and his Word is not in us. 
2:1My children, I write these things to you so that you will not sin. If anyone does sin, we have an Advocate before the Father: Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. 2He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the whole world. 
 
Gospel
John 21:20–25
20Peter turned and saw the disciple Jesus loved following them. This was the one who had leaned back against Jesus at the supper and asked, “Lord, who is going to betray you?” 21When Peter saw him, he asked Jesus, “Lord, what about him?” 
22“If I want him to remain until I come,” Jesus answered, “what is that to you? You follow me.” 23And so it was said among the brothers that this disciple would not die. Yet Jesus did not say that he would not die, but, “If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you?” 
24This is the disciple who is testifying about these things and who wrote these things. We know that his testimony is true. 
25Jesus also did many other things. If every one of them were written down, I suppose the world itself would not have room for the books that would be written. 

The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version® (EHV®) copyright © 2019 The Wartburg Project. All rights reserved.
www.wartburgproject.org

Lesson references taken from Christian Worship: Manual, copyright © 1993 Northwestern Publishing House.