Honest Answers

 Once when Jesus was praying alone, with only the disciples near him, he asked them, ‘Who do the crowds say that I am?’ They answered, ‘John the Baptist; but others, Elijah; and still others, that one of the ancient prophets has arisen.’ He said to them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Peter answered, ‘The Messiah of God.’
 He sternly ordered and commanded them not to tell anyone, saying, ‘The Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.’
 Then he said to them all, ‘If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will save it. What does it profit them if they gain the whole world, but lose or forfeit themselves? Those who are ashamed of me and of my words, of them the Son of Man will be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. But truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God.’  Luke 9:18-27

Honest Answers

You do not have to like the way
I walk or talk or do my job
so unless you can be honest with me
we need no walk together any further.

We are made in the image of the Divine
crafted out of star dust and red earth clay
we are made to live love out loud
being generous with family and stranger alike.

If you do not believe the way I do
you are still part of the human family
still woven from the same rags we all are
and bent by the same overwhelming storms.

Let us be then be truthful together
our warts and faults plainly visible
the marks of living and of falling
might just be the marks of being made new.