Witnesses, Coats Laid at Our Feet--June 29, 2015

Merciful God, sometimes it seems your world lies under

the power of darkness, full of grievous oppression.

Millions are forced to lie down among lions

greedy to devour with weapons of war.

Sometimes we are witnesses, coats

laid at our feet, approving.

Christ have mercy!

Lectionary Readings

Ps. 57; 145; 85; 47

1 Sam. 10:17-27

Acts 7:44-8:1a

Luke 22:52-62

Selected Verses

Ps. 57:4

 I lie down among lions
          that greedily devour human prey;
their teeth are spears and arrows,
          their tongues sharp swords.

1 Sam. 10:27c-d

Now Nahash, king of the Ammonites, had been grievously oppressing the Gadites and the Reubenites. He would gouge out the right eye of each of them and would not grant Israel a deliverer. 

Acts 7:58

Then they dragged [Stephen] out of the city and began to stone him; and the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul.

Luke 22:52-53

Then Jesus said to the chief priests, the officers of the temple police, and the elders who had come for him, “Have you come out with swords and clubs as if I were a bandit?  When I was with you day after day in the temple, you did not lay hands on me.  But this is your hour, and the power of darkness!”