Some time ago, a beautiful welcome was spotted on a door in Coventry Cathedral, and posted on social media. It quickly spread and captured people’s attention and praise. You can read some of the backstory here, but it reflects our approach at MHCC so well we thought we’d reprint it here, verbatim.
We extend a special welcome to those who are single, married, divorced, widowed, gay, confused, filthy rich, comfortable or dirt poor.
We extend a special welcome to wailing babies and excitable toddlers.
Courtesy of Coventry Cathedral, England
We welcome you whether you can sing like Pavarotti or just growl quietly to yourself. You’re welcome here if you’re ‘just browsing’, just woken up or just got out of prison. We don’t care if you’re more Christian than the Archbishop of Canterbury, or haven’t been to church since Christmas ten years ago.
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 keep-fit mums, football dads, starving artists, tree-huggers, latte-sippers, vegetarians, junk food eaters. We welcome those who are in recovery and those who are still addicted. We welcome you if you’re having problems, are down in the dumps or don’t like organised religion. (We’re not than keen on it either.)
We offer a welcome to those who think the Earth is flat, work too hard, don’t work, can’t spell or are here because granny is visiting and wanted to come to the Cathedral.
We welcome those who are inked, pierced, both or neither. We offer a special welcome to those who could use a prayer right now, had religion shoved down their throats as kids or got lost in the city centre and wound up here by mistake. We welcome pilgrims, tourists, seekers, doubters… and YOU!
Used with permission from Coventry Cathedral.