Believe you me,
Ragamuffins aren’t good, they’re graced;
Everyone expects a clean Christian—
Nobody looks to the sinner...
Not that they know purity—
Acknowledging their own sin as pure;
Never smelling their own stink.
Must such an affront
Against Christ’s gospel be affirmed?
Never!—Fuck all of that!
Never mind the language!—
Idealism is willful ignorance—
None of us are pure; focus on that,
Grace is never for the worthy.
© 2026 Tristan Robert Lange. All rights reserved.
First published on tristanrobertlange.com, August 23, 2026.
Tittu
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Author:
Tristan Robert Lange (
Offline) - Published: August 23rd, 2026 06:47
- Comment from author about the poem: An acrostic Scorched Sunday poem. Part of my Scorched Strays collection. This poem draws inspiration from a ragamuffin preacher whose life and theology rejected the illusion of Christian purity. It confronts the impulse to divide the worthy from the unworthy and returns instead to the scandal at the heart of grace.
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- Users favorite of this poem: sorenbarrett, Paul Bell, Fränz Müller, Carlos Alberto BUSTILLOS
- In collections: Scorched Strays.
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Comments8
A good piece my friend, belief does not create purity and disbelief does not create unworthiness
There’s a damn raw theological punch here, especially in the refusal to separate grace from the sinner who actually needs it. “Grace is never for the worthy” is the core of the whole piece—it cuts straight through religious respectability and lands on the uncomfortable heart of the gospel.
Doh! Some of these Sundays in the UK are scorched enough for us at present, in our Summer, which wasn't a proverbial 'Two days in June and no more!'
But yes, if we were oh so perfect, we wouldn't need grace. Only Fido's perfect of course. lol. Ohh, and Popeye's spinach, Ol' Tom's socks, and Obi's sabres too. heehee.
The truth and line that hit me the hardest was the last "Grace is never for the worthy" One that is worthy needs no grace he has done it on his own. The presenting of religion in this light is raw and too real for the religious that look to magical healing and a heaven and life here after. It is not being religious that makes us pure it is humanity and charity that is the true religion. Lovely a fave
Only the stinky will escape the curse !
Yes, to those who wear the cloth, to those who get cleansed.
You can pretend all is rosy in the garden, but the jails say different.
Umm a powerful piece of a ragamuffin preacher.Well done amigo
Grace is never for the worthy
I like that.
That's where Ive been going wrong...
I guess thinking that we deserve grace kinda proves that we don't.
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