amen!
QUOTE=zenith15;8681376]I understand what you mean, but your words make me feel sad. These lost souls have come to God’s home to seek perhaps warmth, maybe a friendly word or a few moment’s rest. They smell bad because there is nowhere for them to clean up and wash clothes. When I used to work at a large chain bookstore, we had homeless folks come in and try to clean up in our bathrooms as best they could and we were always told to toss then out if we saw them. I cannot imagine that God would not want these people in his church, nor would he want them isolated, ignored, treated as though they were lepers. SO they smell bad–so what? Yes, it’s unpleasant–just as it must have been somewhat unpleasant to Christ when he healed lepers, people with “offensive” diseases, people possesed by demons–but he didn’t move away waving a hanky before his nose. These people, more than anyone else, need our love and compassion, our touch, our smile. Use good sense of course–if someone is behaving in an out of control manner, call the police–but bad odors and shabby clothes? What if Mother Theresa had let those things stop her?
