Who dares to cavort with sinners and
 who dares to cast
Out demons with methods not approved
 by those who fast?

They come from right, from left, and squeeze out
  true disciples.
They judge even their own, deeming them
 wayward angels.

*

And yet we must keep on, choose to serve
 and rise above
Petty particularity, law
 devoid of love.

For who is the woman at the well
 but my mother,
the hungry man with the withered hand
 but my brother?

*

In the name of love and family,
 you exclude her.
In the name of religion and rule,
 you don’t bother.

With your need to protect your interests,
 you ignore them.
With your desire to be better than,
 you turn, shun them.

*

What you can’t understand, you label,
 push to the rim.
Stretched beyond the truth you know, you crawl
 out on a limb,

Then saw away, closer and closer,
 for your comfort.
You distance self from God, become the
 devil’s cohort.

*

Unknowingly and unwittingly,
 you condemn one
Who walks with Spirit, who heals in the
 name of God’s Son.

Blind, you cannot see need of those who
 cry out in pain.
Deaf and afraid, you don’t care to hear
 the hurt, insane.