Beloved

Day 3 of the 12 days of Christmas and the Feast Day of St. John the Evangelist.

The lectionary contains this passage from the First Epistle of St. John:

Beloved:
What was from the beginning,
what we have heard,
what we have seen with our eyes,
what we looked upon
and touched with our hands
concerns the Word of life —
for the life was made visible;
we have seen it and testify to it
and proclaim to you the eternal life
that was with the Father and was made visible to us—
what we have seen and heard
we proclaim now to you,
so that you too may have fellowship with us;
for our fellowship is with the Father
and with his Son, Jesus Christ.
We are writing this so that our joy may be complete.

I John 1:1-4

I love that he addresses his congregants as "beloved"and "little children":

Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. I John 4:7

My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth. I John 3:18