All are Welcome

In multiple sermons I've preached on the importance of All are Welcome.  I've tied it into gospel readings, Old Testament readings, New Testament readings and the Baptismal Covenant.  I've tied it to evangelism and hospitality.

It was also the main focus of my Annual Meeting Address -- putting forth the claim that we need to live into the ethos our sign proclaims (All are Welcome) and putting forth the challenge of honestly examining whether or not this congregation is willing to take that radical step.

And then I read this today:

The Episcopal Church has been clear about our expectation that every member of the LGBT community is entitled to the same respect and dignity as any other member of the human family.  Our advocacy for oppressed minorities has been vocal and sustained.  The current attempts to criminalize LGBT persons and their supporters are the latest in a series, each stage of which has been condemned by this Church, as well as many other religious communities and nations.  Our advocacy work continues to build support for the full human rights and dignity of all persons, irrespective of gender, race, national origin, creed, sexual orientation, physical and mental ability or inability.  To do less is effectively to repudiate our membership in the human community.  No one of God’s children is worth less or more than another; none is to be discriminated against because of the way in which she or he has been created.  Our common task is to build a society of justice for all, without which there will never be peace on earth. Episcopalians claim that our part in God’s mission is to love God fully, and to love our neighbors as ourselves.  That means all our neighbors.

The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori
Presiding Bishop and Primate
The Episcopal Church

Yep . . . All means all, y'all.