I got an email from my church "back home." See excerpt below. I've always felt that the church had this sort of philosophy, but it was nice to see it in writing. When I was young and naive, I thought that all churches had an outlook like this. I was very surprised to learn that some churches teach that God hates certain groups of people or used the pulpit for political purposes.
We welcome you to Our Savior Lutheran Church. We extend a special welcome to those who are single, married, divorced, gay, filthy rich, dirt poor, black, brown or white. We extend a special welcome to those who are crying newborns, squirming children, and frazzled moms and dads. We welcome you if you can sing like Andrea Bocelli or like some of us, who can't carry a note in a bucket. You're welcome here if you're "just browsing", just woke up or just got out of jail. We don't care if you're more Lutheran than Martin Luther, or haven't been in church since little Joey's Baptism. We extend a special welcome to those who are over 60 but not grown up yet, and to teenagers who are growing up too fast. We welcome starving artists, tree-huggers, latte-sippers, vegetarians and junk-food eaters. We welcome those who are in recovery or still addicted. We welcome you if you're having problems or you're down in the the dumps or if you don't like "organized religion", we've been there too. We offer a special welcome to those who are left-wing, right-wing, or middle of the road. If you are only here because you are visiting grandma and she wanted you to go to church with her, we welcome you. We welcome those who are inked, pierced or both. We welcome those in flip flops or three piece suits. We offer a special welcome to those who could use a prayer right now. We welcome vacationers, snow-birds, year-rounders, seekers, doubters....and you! We welcome you to Our Savior Lutheran Church, because we are a place of saints and sinners of all kinds who are here by the grace of God.
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