November 14-15, 2012
Wake
Call to Worship & Opening Prayer
Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations. We do not live to ourselves, and we do not die to ourselves. If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died and lived again, so that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living. (Psalm 90:1; Romans 14:7-9)
On behalf of Mrs. Lois Lym and Linda Wong and Barbara Lym Wong and their families, I welcome you here today to remember the long life of Mr. Raymond S. Lym. We celebrate his productive life and God’s mercies on him and God’s grace on all of us. You have come perhaps to seek comfort from your grief. You have come to give honor and respect to a good life praying that you too may receive such good things that come from God. You have come to offer sympathy and compassion to Mr. Lym’s family to which this family is most thankful for your thoughts and presence. We hope that you will receive as much as you have given your time and presence to be here.
We have a wonderful service planned for this evening that involves a number of the family members. Through their life experiences, they will undoubtedly present the wonderful life and faithful witness of Raymond S. Lym who was born on and returned to the Lord on November 6, 2012 having lived for 91 years.
Let us pray.
O God, your care is like that of a father who has compassion for his children and a mother who comforts her child. We cast our heavy burdens of grief on you. Be gracious with us in our anguish. Grant us the comfort of your rest. Assure us with the confidence that your faithful servant, Raymond Lym has been received into the arms of your mercy, in the blessed rest of your eternal care. May our lives hereafter bear witness to the hope that is ours in the crucified and risen Christ, who defeated death for our sake and now reigns victorious in your glory. Through his name we pray, Amen.
Angels Among Us
Psalm 8 is perhaps one of my favorite Psalms and it reminds me of Ray Lym.
God who created each of us is the one who set the glory of the heavens above us. When we see the moon and stars at night or the radiant warm sun during the day, God is the one who did that. While God’s fingers established the heavens, we wonder about our place in such majestic beauty. The Psalmist says that we are made a little lower than God or we are made as divine beings or angels. God then crowned us with glory and honor.
Ray Lym, a creation by God, a mortal yet made a little lower than God, an angel in the lives of his family. He left his mark in the hearts of his family and friends. His quiet spirit drew people together and will continue to do so as long as his memory lives on in your hearts.
The Psalmist proclaims that we have been given dominion over the works of our hands and have put all things under our feet. I see that Ray Lym worked for 42 years with the Department of Defense as a mechanic and engineer, finding answers to unsolvable questions, working hard to fix things, and always saying that he has a solution to that problem. Ray Lym lived up to God’s beautiful creation of him to have dominion over the works of his hands. He loved gadgets and kept up with technology so that he can keep on repairing and fixing the world because God created him to do that.
Just like Adam was given the responsibility to name all the beasts of the field, the birds of the air and the fish of the sea, Ray Lym was so much like Adam that he meticulously put labels on his things. He named them according to what he believed they are. He had odd and end things that come in handy whenever one needs a thingamajig making his home like that of an old-fashioned hardware store.
There’s a poem by Mike Bayer that goes like this:
We looked at the mountain,
And you saw the tree.
When we saw the tree,
You saw the robin.
When we were gazing at the robin,
You were looking at his red breast.
We admired the red color,
But then you heard his song.
We listened to the song,
But only you heard the message.
Ray Lym heard and saw things that others missed. He labeled everything so that he won’t miss them. As a child, he probably never lost his marbles and when he was at 91, he never did either. Most of all, he was able to see the beauty in the people around him. He loved his family and was a good friend to many.
I understand that Ray Lym was a quiet, thoughtful and a simple man. I believe that all of us would like to be remembered that way some day. Sometimes, we talk too much. Sometimes, we think about ourselves rather than the needs of others. Sometimes, we make life way too complicated and too busy that simplicity is simply heavenly. I plan to try out a Sees chocolate box in my glove compartment and enjoy the smell of chocolate in my car for a long, long time. That is simply beautiful.
We remember Ray Lym today as one of the angels among us to which we give thanks to God.
Let us pray.
We praise you, Creator God, for making us in your own image, for instilling in us the need to pray, no matter how dimly felt, and for enabling us to pray, even when we sometimes feel that we are unworthy of your attention and love.
We thank you for being a God of patience and forbearance, welcoming us when we have disappointed you of being crowned with honor and glory.
We thank you for being a God who trusts us and given us the responsibilities to have dominion over all the works of your hands and for all the things under our feet.
We thank you now for all who sincerely and faithfully prayed for Raymond S. Lym, whom you saw fit to call him home with you, where he is alive forevermore—beyond this world, but surrounded by our memories and our love.
Thank you, O God, for the life of your child, Raymond S. Lym, ended here, resumed with the Lord. Amen.
Announcements
If you wish to make a memorial gift, the family has requested that you can make donations to the American Cancer Society and the First Chinese Baptist Church in memory of Raymond S. Lym. More detail information can be found in your program.
When you exit, you will be given two small envelopes. The white envelope contains a piece of candy to symbolize sweetness in a bittersweet situation. The red envelope contains a coin for you to buy something on your way home to suggest that you will continue to prosper and to have a healthy life.
There will be a Funeral Service at 11:00 AM tomorrow here at Halsted when we’ll continue to remember and celebrate the life of Mr. Ray Lym. Final interment will be private. Following tomorrow’s service, there will be a Memorial Meal at the Restaurant on where the family looks forward to fellowshipping with you. See the funeral program for detail information.
Benediction
Remember, beloved brothers and sisters, God has promised to bless us and keep us in this life and in our new life with the Lord.
The same God whose face now shines on our friend, Raymond S. Lym has promised, through the Lord, to forgive us and to shelter us throughout eternity.
I charge you to find your comfort and peace in these gracious promises of a loving God.
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.
Funeral
Call to Worship & Opening Prayer
For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to throw away; a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace. (Ecc. 3:1-8) We thank God for giving us all the seasons of life and for the opportunity to come together today.
On behalf of Mrs. Lois Lym, Linda and Kent Wong and Barbara Lym and Albe Wong and their families, I welcome you here today to remember the long life of Mr. Raymond S. Lym. We celebrate his productive life and God’s mercies on him and God’s grace on all of us. You have come perhaps to seek comfort from your grief. You have come to give honor and respect to a good life praying that you too may receive such good things that come from God. You have come to offer sympathy and compassion to Mr. Lym’s family to which this family is most thankful for your thoughts and presence. In this season of harvest and thanking God for the abundance that we have in life, we hope that you will receive as much as you have given your time and presence to be here.
Today’s service involves a number of the family members. Through their life experiences, they will present the wonderful life and faithful witness of Raymond S. Lym who was born on September 11, 1921 and returned to the Lord on November 6, 2012 having lived for 91 years.
Let us pray.
Creator God, we trust you to guide us through every season of life. You carry us from death to life, from weeping to laughing, from mourning to dancing, and from silence to speaking. Inspire us to experience every season in its fullness, and to trust that nothing lasts forever—except for your eternal love. As we journey through life as Mr. Ray Lym has done, strengthen us with the assurance that we will always belong to you, whether in life or death; through your Son, Jesus the Lord. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.
Dressed to Golf
Whenever I meet someone who is a golfer, I am intrigued and impressed. Ray Lym played golf every Tuesday and Wednesday at Harding Park. After a round of golf, he and his buddies ate lunch to commiserate how they just missed a hole-in-one. But I heard that at age 70, he had a hole-in-one in the third hole. In the course of his life, he had 4 hole-in-ones!
Once a year, I pull out my hand-me-down set of clubs to play at our church’s annual gold tournament to raise funds for our summer programs. I don’t own a pair of golf shoes. I don’t even have a red vest sweater that Ray has on now. I think compared to Ray Lym, who liked Perry Mason who always wore a dark suit or James Bond who had designer clothes, I would look pretty sad. Ray Lym wore permanent press clothes so that he would always look neat and sharp whether he was on the golf course or traveling to interesting places around the world. He ironed his t-shirts and shined his shoes daily. He looked perfectly dressed in the perfect world of Ray Lym!
I am intrigued over golfers because they believe in the impossible. To hit a little white ball from hundreds of feet away sometimes in situations where one can’t even see the greens and flag and get a hole-in-one is to believe in the impossible.
In Isaiah 65, the prophet envisioned what seems to be impossible. Some day, God will create a new creation—new heavens and a new earth. The people will rejoice and there will be no more weeping or crying of distress. Children will live long lives. Old people will live out a lifetime. People will build houses and live in them. They will plant vineyards and eat the fruits. Just like in the beginning, people will enjoy the work of their hands and have many children and be blessed by the Lord.
This glorious new creation will finally see the wolf and the lamb feeding together, the lion shall eat straw like the ox and the serpent will only eat dust. On this holy mountain in this new creation, no one will hurt or destroy each other. This all sounds fantastic and impossible but it is what God promises. Since Ray Lym was a golfer, he would believe in this glorious new creation. To believe that he can have a hole-in-one means that Ray Lym believes the impossible can happen.
We live in a world that is still filled with hate, violence, distrust, and destruction. Every day, there are incidents around this planet that reminds us that we are still far from this reality that Isaiah spoke about. But God said it will happen and in Jesus Christ who is the Prince of Peace, we believe that in God’s time, it will.
Ray Lym worked in the Department of Defense all his life. He must have known about the threat of war and the hope that we should not hurt or destroy on God’s holy mountain. On this holy mountain of a new heaven and a new earth, there would be golf courses everywhere and every golfer would at least have one hole-in-one for every 18-hole one plays!
When the disciples were asking Jesus who would be able to be saved, Jesus said, “What is impossible for mortals is possible for God” (Luke 18:27). I might think that it’s impossible to have a hole-in-one, but Ray Lym believed that he could hit one and he did—4 times. We might think that it’s impossible to see a new creation when there’s peace in the world, but Isaiah prophesized that it will come. We might think that we may be too far from knowing the love of God in Christ Jesus that we can’t accept the grace and mercy that God offers. But Jesus said, “What is impossible for mortals is possible for God.”
In golf, we give each other a mulligan to take an extra stroke when one goes astray. We say that’s a ‘gimme’ meaning that we won’t even need to putt to deserve the little white ball dropping into the cup. If golf can be so merciful and gracious, God is that much more. In God, all things are possible.
We believe in faith that we are saved because God loves the world, loves all of us here today, and loves Ray Lym. We might plan to go to Harding Park every Tuesdays and Wednesdays with the hope of hitting a hole-in-one, and since it is possible in God’s sight, we discover that we just did.
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 health—and for the skill and compassion of those who care for us when our health falters and fails.
We thank you for home: for the roof over our heads and the bed where we stretch out each night to renew our strength in sleep; and for the loved ones who make that roof and that house 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 last, when all hope seems lost, except for the one shining hope set before us in your raising our Lord Jesus from death.
Thank you, O God, for the life of your child, Raymond S. Lym, ended here, resumed with the Lord. We pray all these things in Jesus Christ’s precious name. Amen.
Announcements
If you wish to make a memorial gift, the family has requested that you can make donations to the American Cancer Society and to the First Chinese Baptist Church, in memory of Mr. Raymond S. Lym. More detail information can be found in your program.
When you exit, you will be given two small envelopes. The white envelope contains a piece of candy to symbolize sweetness in a bittersweet situation. The red envelope contains a coin for you to buy something on your way home to suggest that you will continue to prosper and to have a healthy life.
Final interment will be private. Following this service, the family invites you to a Memorial Meal at the where the family looks forward to fellowshipping with you. See the funeral program for detail information.
Benediction
I challenge you now, beloved in the Lord, to face bravely the journey that our friend, Raymond S. Lym has completed, having arrived safely in God’s kingdom.
Journey on without having the fear of falling, without any pretense about the true state as a sinner in need of God’s saving grace.
Journey on, with tender memories of Raymond S. Lym and so many others who have gone before you, secure in the hope that, when your time comes, the love of God will be sufficient for you, thanks to our Lord Jesus Christ.
Now to him who is able to keep you from falling, and to make you stand without blemish in the presence of his glory with rejoicing, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, power and authority before all time and now and forever. Amen.