God’s Children, Not Slaves--Feb. 1, 2021

Holy God, we pray for victims of oppression, 

battered and assailed like a tottering fence,

made to bow down and be walked upon.

 

You are a stronghold for the oppressed; 

are they like dogs under the table,

doomed to search for crumbs?

 

God, make the tormentors aware:

their victims are not slaves, 

they are your children.

 

Lectionary Readings

Ps. 62; 145; 73; 9

Isa. 51:17-23

Gal. 4:1-11

Mark 7:24-37

 

Selected Verses 

Ps. 9:9

The LORD is a stronghold for the oppressed,
          a stronghold in times of trouble.

 

Ps. 62:3

How long will you assail a person,
          will you batter your victim, all of you,
          as you would a leaning wall, a tottering fence?

 

Isa. 51:23

And I will put it into the hand of your tormentors, who have said to you,
          “Bow down, that we may walk on you”;
and you have made your back like the ground
          and like the street for them to walk on.

 

Gal. 4:7

So you are no longer a slave but a child, and if a child then also an heir, through God.

 

Mark 7:28-29

But [the Gentile woman] answered [Jesus], “Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.”  Then he said to her, “For saying that, you may go — the demon has left your daughter.”