LUCY

“and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, charity.
For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (2 Peter 1:7-8)

Not long ago I posted an entry on the blog about a very special elderly woman named Claire. This post is about another very special elderly woman named Lucy. I am not going to use her last name here. Lucy is a very humble woman. I’m sure she’d be embarrassed to have me mentioning her on the blog. Lucy’s a Quaker.

One of the benefits I had in attending the meetings and activities of the Framingham Interfaith Clergy Association is that I met a lot of people from many and varied backgrounds. Did I AGREE with all of them? Certainly not! But I learned much from most of them. My first pastor in the Assemblies of God, the Rev. Lloyd Westover, taught that nearly everyone you meet in life has something to teach you. I’ve found that Pastor Westover was right about that.

I don’t know Lucy’s exact age, but I’d guess she’s at least 85. At “F.I.C.A.” (what we called the clergy association) one issue that frequently came up is whether our name was the best since some religious groups do NOT have clergy. Did you know, for instance, that the Christian Science religion has no clergy? That’s also true of the Quakers (officially known as the Society of Friends). Each of those groups sent a lay representative to F.I.C.A. I believe it was somewhere around 1997 or 1998 that Lucy began attending F.I.C.A. as the representative of the Framingham Friends Meeting. Lucy has to be one of the sweetest, gentlest, and kindest people I have ever met. She did serve as F.I.C.A. Secretary for several years. Lucy’s no longer a “regular” at F.I.C.A. The Quakers have sent a couple of other representatives over the past few years. But Lucy’s a fixture at any local special services.

This afternoon I received an unexpected letter in the mail from Lucy. It was a copy of the program for the Community Good Friday Service held at Edwards Congregational Church. Lucy had enclosed a handwritten note saying she thought I might like to see it and that she had missed me being at the Good Friday Service. I must say, THAT note was very special. I was “blown away” that she’d even think of sending me a program and a note saying I was missed. I’ve also been impressed through the years that from time to time Lucy would ask me how my wife Mary Ann was doing in her job at Marian High School or how my daughter Amy was doing out in Missouri in her nursing career. She wasn’t just being polite- you could tell she really MEANT those questions.

Cultures of the past revered their elderly. Unfortunately, our culture tends to treat people over age 75 like little children and pretty much shove them in the back room. We can learn so much from older people like Claire whom I recently wrote about, and like Lucy. Claire is a towering example of unselfish service and sacrifice, and Lucy is a beautiful example of true kindness and thoughtfulness.

Our society makes a lot of extroverted loudmouths. Yes, Morton Downey, Jr. may be deceased, but there are plenty of extroverted loudmouths of his ilk all over the place. I admit that I tend to want to be noticed and I want to be paid attention to. Have I ever acted like an extroverted loudmouth just to try to get noticed, recognized, and respected?

Yes, I have. I’m not proud of that.

I think God is calling me and a lot of other people to be like Lucy...to do the right thing...to be kind and considerate...though most will never show us any appreciation for our kindness and consideration.

May we choose the calling and lifestyle that Our Heavenly Father has ordained for us.