COME AS YOU ARE

Christ Church Macomb (our first multi-site effort for the Rochester Church) launched in March of this year. I'll never forget that Sunday for it was a day to remember for many reasons.

I had been planning to spend all week (immediately following the launch day) in Cass Park with several students from Rochester College for an Urban Plunge. This is our annual urban spiritual formation retreat, one of the highlights of the year for me. Because we were coming from Cass Park, where we'd just fed almost 300 people, I decided to invite a few of my homeless friends to the opening worship gathering of Christ Church. I thought they would enjoy it . . . and I thought it would be good for the folks present at the launch.

About halfway through the time of worship, a friend tapped on my shoulder. "They need you in the men's bathroom right away."

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"They need you now."

Kara was sitting with me. Sitting next to her was one of our friends from Cass Park, Aleeya. I told both of them, "I'll be right back."

As I approached the bathroom, some of our students explained to me what had happened. One of our friends from Cass Park decided to make the most of the excellent facilities. Frank, an older man with a deep Caribbean accent almost impossible to interpret, was now standing mostly naked (work with me here) in the bathroom, in front of the sink, giving himself a make-shift bath.

Later, Ashley Harrison would report the reaction of the school janitor (CC:M meets in an elementary school) who, many of us have determined, talks exactly like Joe Pesci. "Ashley," in his high pitch tone, ". . . Ashley . . . this can't happen. He's naked."

Ashley handled the situation like a champ.

Eventually we got Frank dressed, disaster averted. The funniest part of this entire story happened a few days later when I e-mailed the leadership team of CC:M with a simple one line response: "Team: CCM's tag-line all year has been 'Come as you are' . . . I suppose Frank really believed this."

Sunday is the re-launch. I don't think Frank will be there. If he shows up, however, we'll make room. There's always room for Frank in this family.