The Wrong Sort

He went out again beside the sea, and all the crowd was coming to him, and he was teaching them. And as he passed by, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him.
And as he reclined at table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners were reclining with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. And the scribes of the Pharisees, when they saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, said to his disciples, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” Mark 2:13-17

The Wrong Sort

I am part of the wrong sort
tempted and tossed fumbling
in the dark and foolishly trusting
all the wrong people.

We make mistakes and blurt
out unkind words and hurt
others are shamed and vexed
and we are broken humans.

We don't have correct manners
are shunned by society
ache for the wrong people
have no fetching up at all.

We are one family we are told
and yet the staring the whispers
tell us a different story completely
rejected we turn away in pain.

We are God's children but some
would have us find a different place
a different neighborhood separate grocery
so they don't have to see us at all.

God comes to our humble tables
in diners and on picnic blankets
in our squalor and our simplicity
we are welcomed at the holy table.