Saturday, May 4, 2002, 2:00 PM
Call to Worship
The prophet Isaiah said, “Seek the Lord while he may be found,
call upon him while he is near;
let the wicked forsake their way,
and the unrighteous their thoughts;
let them return to the Lord,
that he may have mercy on them,
and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.” (Isaiah 55:6-7)
We welcome you here this afternoon to share in the celebration of Mr. Harry Sin Jow Chew who completed his life on earth on April 25, 2002 to be home with God. On behalf of the Chew Family, Philip and Paul and their families, we are grateful for your presence and respect for Mr. Chew and pray that this time that we have together will bring hope and encouragement to your life. I am Rev. Don Ng and along with Rev. Kin Mak of the First Chinese Baptist Church in San Francisco will lead today’s service. As Harry Chew pursued the importance of learning in his life, may we also pursue and seek the Lord while he may be found.
Let us pray. We seek you, O God, because you have sought us. We find you, because you want to be found, because you are always near. In this hour of remembrance and quiet thoughts, we need the comfort offer to us by the prophet Isaiah and by all the other human authors of your divine Word. We need to be reminded that, whenever we return to you, you will have mercy on us. Father God of all of us, prodigal sons and daughters, help us to rejoice in the mercy you have shown to Mr. Harry Chew and to grow in thankfulness for your mercies to us. In the name of him to whom we owe it all. Amen.
Scripture Reading Pastor Mak
Psalm 121
Ephesians 3:14-21
Hymn Sandalwood Hills and Mountains of Gold
Reading Biography Pastor Mak English & Chinese
Words of Remembrance: Paul Chew
Karen Chew
Message—Setting One’s Sight Higher
Growing up in today’s generation, we often think that we have been the ones to revolutionize the world. We have seen astronauts land on the moon. We see the advent of the computer, cell phones, and the world wide web connecting far distance lands together. But when we consider the courage and faith of our forefathers and foremothers
who emigrated from China to America in order to begin a new life in a foreign land, we discover that these are truly adventurers who set their sight on higher goals. Their hopes and dreams would rival any of the innovations that we see today. And thanks be to God, their goals and dreams became true.
Mr. Harry Chew like many of his compatriots sojourned as a young man in 1926. He was 19 years old. As expected, he worked long and hard to make a living—as a janitor, later as a ship fitter during World War II, a waiter on a steamboat, Chinese laundryman, grocery delivery man, and finally a house keeper. When Mr. Chew successfully accomplished these tasks in life to make a living and provide for his family, he had honorably fulfilled his responsibilities of a good and honest man. But for Mr. Chew, there was even more goals to achieve in life.
Harry Chew’s life of hardship turned into a life of learning and artistry too. In Colossians 3:1-4, Paul wrote,
“So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above,
where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on the things
that are above, not on the things that are on earth, for you have died, and your
new life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life is revealed,
then you also will be revealed with him in glory.”
Mr. Chew set his mind on the higher things of life. He didn’t resign to the reality of only going to work but he took time to attend Francisco Junior High School. And while he was working in the laundry, he attended Palo Alto High School and graduated with his diploma in 1935 when he was 28 years old. He attended Night School at the First Chinese Baptist Church. Harry Chew set an example for us that when it comes to learning and education, we are never too old to set our minds to it.
One of Mr. Chew’s crusades was to make sure his two sons went to college. He wanted them to set their minds even on higher goals than the ones he set for himself. He believed that with a good education, you would have a good paying job. I can see that both Philip and Paul and their families have listened to their father well.
Paul told me that his father was always buying dictionaries. He had big ones and small ones. There are English ones and Chinese ones. There were encyclopedias too. I wouldn’t be surprise if Mr. Chew read the dictionary like the way we read our morning paper. He was always ready to learn new things.
Mr. Chew was also an artist. He wrote beautiful calligraphy that graced his village town hall in China with his scroll banners. His love for life and his mind set on the things that are above led him to compose award-winning poems that were published in a Canadian Chinese newspaper.
Whenever we think about life we tend to quickly focus on its hardships. Harry Chew turned his life of hardship into a life of learning and artistry. This is the essence of Mr. Chew. The Colossians Scripture tells us about such things. Setting one’s sight higher than one’s environment of this earth calls forth new ways of being. Mr. Chew’s sight was on the importance of education and his pursuit of artistry.
Setting our sights on Christ, the resurrected one, calls us to give thanks for Mr. Chew and his life and an assurance that he is with Christ in glory. The faithfulness of Mr. Harry Chew of being a good father who set his mind on things that are above reminds us that when Christ is in your life then you will also be revealed with him in God’s glory.
When I thought about how much Harry Chew was committed to the importance of education and his gift of beautiful calligraphy, I remembered the passage from Deuteronomy 6:4-9,
“Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. You shall love your
God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. Keep
these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. Recite them to your
children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away,
when you lie down and when you rise. Bind them as a sign on your hand,
fix them as an emblem on your forehead, and write them on the doorposts
of your house and on your gates.”
As we remember the contributions that Mr. Harry Chew made in this life; perhaps Mr. Chew is composing poems today in his beautiful calligraphy and hanging them in heaven in his new life today.
Let us pray.
Creator and Provider God, at this time of all times, we thank you for the precious gift of life. We thank you for the life of Harry Chew who faithfully gave of himself in order to provide for his family. We thank you for health—and for the skill and compassion of those who care for us when our health falters and fails. We thank you for our homes; for the roof over our heads and the bed where we stretch out to renew our strength in sleep; and for the loved ones who make that roof and that bed and all the rest into a true home.
And we thank you for hope: hope for the pursuit of the next goal when one goal has been reached; hope for recovery and a fresh start when a goal has eluded us; hope at the last, when all hope seems lost, except for the one shining hope set before us in your raising our Lord Jesus from death. Amen.
Hymn God of Our Fathers
Announcements
On behalf of the Chew Family, we thank you again for your presence and spirit here today. Following the service, there will be a Committal Service at the Olivet Memorial Park at 1601 Hillside Boulevard in Colma. You are also invited to attend the Memorial Dinner at the Great Eastern Restaurant at 649 Jackson Street in San Francisco Chinatown.
This concludes our service for today.
Benediction
The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace. Amen.
Committal Service
God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. (John 3:16)
Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. (John 11:25-26)
In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, crucified and risen, we commend to God’s merciful care our brother, Harry Sin Jow Chew; and we commit his body to this resting place, earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust.
Let us pray.
God, our Maker, you made our brother, Harry Chew, in your own image; you set his feet on our sojourner experience; you watched over him along the way. As you lovingly received and welcomed him to the ranks of the redeemed, we pray that you would continue to guide our sojourners’ steps so that at the appointed time, we might join Harry Chew in the communion of the saints—forgiven, transformed, and fit for our new life with the Lord, in whose name we pray. Amen.
Benediction
Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and through grace gave us eternal comfort and good hope, comfort your hearts and strengthen them in every good work and word. Amen. (2 Thessalonians 2:16-17)