CLAIRE'S DAY

“If it is serving, let him serve...” (from Romans 12:7 New International Version)

I wrote a piece on the blog about Claire Grimes several months ago. Today, Claire is on my mind because she’s having hip replacement surgery. I realize with the modern H.I.P.A.A. law (that’s the “Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act”) there are all kinds of strict rules about talking about people and their medical conditions. Since Claire has been telling virtually “everybody” that she’s having hip replacement surgery today and has been passing out pamphlets explaining the operation to all sorts of folks, I think I can be confident that she wouldn’t mind me mentioning it here.

Claire is an amazing person. I’ve known her for twenty-three years and I don’t think I’ve ever seen her truly depressed. Every pastor and church would be very blessed to have a Claire in their midst! At the old First Assembly of God of Framingham, she was the epitome of a person with the “Gift of Helps” (or “serving” as the N.I.V. renders it in the above verse). On Sundays she was often the first person to arrive at the church building; and always was one of the first. Claire served at Secretary of the corporation (or “Board Secretary” as she called it) for over twenty-five years. She also acted as a volunteer secretary, typing up all sorts of papers, laying out and running the weekly bulletin, etc. Claire insisted on buying toilet paper and paper towels for the church building and to my knowledge never asked to be reimbursed for this. Claire also insisted on cleaning the entire church building by herself. As she got older, that task was getting to be more taxing on her, and we did get others to volunteer to help her with that task.

Through the years, Claire saw me at my very best, but also at my very worst. A lot of church people just can’t handle seeing their pastor at his very worst. You can lose people that way. Honestly, I lost more than a few that way! I remember one summer day ten years ago that I was cleaning up paint that somebody had spilled on our church’s back concrete steps. It was a nuisance and what I’d call a “really lousy job”. At the same time, my mother was only days from death in a hospital bed. Claire walked up to me trying to engage me in a friendly conversation.

“You think I wanna have some nice little chat right now??!!!” I angrily snapped,
“I’ve gotta clean up this mess that some jerk left and my mother’s dying in the hospital! Can’t you TELL I don’t wanna chit-chat right now??!!!” I added.

The next day I apologized to Claire with my proverbial tail between my legs. To Claire it was no big deal. She just smiled and said, “I know you’ve got a lot on your plate right now. You never have to worry about me getting upset with you. All is forgiven.” That was not the only time I “lost it” around Claire. There were probably around five total between 1987 and 2009, but each time she responded very calmly and with forgiveness.

For around a year Claire’s right leg has been bothering her, and for the past six months she’s been walking with a cane and having a very tough time getting around. After several doctor’s visits, it’s been determined that she needs today’s hip replacement. I visited Claire last week who told me she’s very tired of just sitting around and that she can’t wait to get up and start doing things again.

I wish Claire well on the surgery today, and I’m praying for her. I’m also thankful that Claire was a wonderful support to First Assembly of God of Framingham and a wonderful friend to me, personally. This world needs more Claires!