June 10, 2017, 12:30 PM
McAvoy, O’Hara & Evergreen, San Francisco
Call to Worship & Opening Prayer
God is gracious. He heals the brokenhearted, and binds up their wounds. Great is our Lord, and abundant in power; his understanding is beyond measure. Jesus said, “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” (Psalm 147: 1c, 3, 5: Matthew 11:28, 29; 5:4)
On behalf of Daniel Yee and Mrs. Mae Shang Mar and their families, I welcome you here today to remember the life of Sandra Mae Mar (Yee). We celebrate her productive life and God’s mercies on her 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 Sandra Mae Mar (Yee’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 celebrative service planned for today that involves a number of the family members. Through their life experiences, they will undoubtedly present the wonderful life and faithful witness of Sandra Mae Mar (Yee) who was born on May 7, 1949 and returned to the Lord on June 2, 2017.
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, Sandra Mae Mar (Yee) 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.
Scripture Lessons
Psalm 23 (The Lord is My Shepherd)
1 John 4:7-21 (God is Love)
Biography in both English and Chinese Alice Tam
Words of Remembrance
Brother Michael Mar
Nephew Michael
Nephew Thomas
Open Sharing
Taking Notice
We know that to survive in this world, one needs to take notice of one’s surroundings. We look to the left and then to the right before crossing the street. In England, it’s first looking to the right and then to the left and always “minding the gap.” We take notice of who is in the room in order to greet and acknowledge who is present or you would have no friends. We take notice of friendly and familiar situations when we feel safe. And we take notice especially when it’s dark outside and we wonder who and what might be around that corner. As human beings, we are created to take notice of the world around us to not only to survive, but to also enjoy.
The Christian writer Annie Dillard once wrote, “We are here to witness the creation and to abet it. We are here to notice each thing so each thing gets noticed. Together we notice not only each mountain shadow and each stone on the beach but, especially, we notice the beautiful faces and complex natures of each other. We are here to bring to consciousness the beauty and power that are around us and to praise the people who are here with us. We witness our generation and our times. We watch the weather. Otherwise, creation would be playing to an empty house.”
The life of Sandra Mae Mar (Yee) is that she took notice of her husband, her stepdaughters, her family and her friends. Kind, respectful, caring for others led everyone liking her. When Sandra noticed them, they noticed her.
There’s a story about woman who was healed by Jesus when she reached out in the pressing crowds and touched the fringe of Jesus’ robe. This woman who was suffering for 12 years and no physician was able to help her noticed Jesus in the crowds and Jesus said, “Someone touched me; for I noticed that power had gone out from me.” When the woman saw that she could not remain hidden in the crowds, she came out trembling and falling down before Jesus, she declared in the presence of all the people why she had touched him, and how she had been immediately healed. Jesus then said to this woman, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace.” (Luke 8:43-48) Noticing Jesus and Jesus noticing her brought healing and good news to this woman and her family.
Sandra Mae Mar (Yee) spent her life noticing the people and the world around her and as the result; she brought wholeness and good news to others. As a cosmetologist, she noticed how each person is unique and beautiful in God’s sight. As a bookkeeper, she spent many years perusing over numbers and figures—attention to details so that our checks won’t bounce again.
When she first met Daniel through her friend and coworker Daniel Lee at Bank of Canton, she noticed his loneliness. Daniel said, “After I met Sandra, my life changed completely—I wasn’t lonely anymore.” And when she noticed that Daniel was taking too much time to proposed, she asked him one Christmas what he was going to get her for Christmas. And Daniel responded, “How about an engagement ring?” They got married after 2 years of meeting each other.
To be good as Sandra was in sewing, knitting, and crocheting, she noticed the fine details of the number of stitches and loops to create a beautiful piece of clothing. To be good as Sandra was in playing puzzles, playing games on her iPad and even taking an auto mechanic class learning about the different parts of an engine, she noticed the many different parts that would be necessary in the making of the whole. And we all know that since friendship and maintaining strong relationships cannot be taken for granted, Sandra took notice of her family, relatives, friends and coworkers and this is the reason why all of you are here. She noticed you by cooking good food for you to enjoy and she and Daniel welcomed you to their sweet home to extend their warm hospitality and to that end, you now notice her on this day.
Jesus told his disciples not to worry because God always provides. You don’t need to worry about what to eat or what to wear because life is more than those things. Look at the birds in the air, God notices and cares for them. Look at the lilies in the fields, for they neither toil nor spin because God even clothes the grass of the field. And if God who made each one of us notices the birds and the lilies, imagine how much more God notices each one of you. (Luke 12:22-34)
Some people in their lifetime may accomplish great things on this earth. These are the ones who make the news. But for most of us, we were not asked to do great things that would have made us famous or a familiar household name. Most of us are mainly made to take notice of the people and the world around us. And in so doing, we end up doing the wonderful work of God himself. In the end, our Creator God noticed Sandra Mae Mar (Yee) and welcomed her into his eternal kingdom.
In closing, I would like to share a prayer by an unknown author. It goes like this:
We trust that beyond absence
there is a presence.
That beyond the pain
there can be healing.
That beyond the brokenness
there can be wholeness.
That beyond the anger
there may be peace.
That beyond the hurting
there may be forgiveness.
That beyond silence
there may be a word.
That beyond the word
there may be understanding.
That through understanding
there is love.
As family and friends gathering together today to remember Sandra Mae Mar (Yee) in our hearts and lives from this point on, remember that she noticed each one of you and in her remembrance, she would want you to notice one another so that there would be healing, wholeness, peace, forgiveness, understanding and love.
Let us pray.
Eternal and loving God, Giver of Life, we thank you for all the stages of our lives, from birth to death and beyond death.
We praise you for the freshness, the innocence, the wide-eyed curiosity of childhood.
We thank you for the wildly, exciting trials of adolescence, for youthful dreams.
We praise you for all the right choices we made in early maturity and beg your forgiveness for making so many wrong ones.
We thank you for the satisfaction of our later maturity: for teaching us, sometimes painfully, how to give more and to expect less in return.
And we praise you for as many sunset years as you may have in store for us: for fragments of wisdom, for children and grandchildren, and for the courage to face our mortality strengthened by the promise of a more perfect life, thanks to the love and willing sacrifice of your blessed Son.
Thank you, O God, for the life of your child, Sandra Mae Mar (Yee) who was always in-season on earth but is now in-season for eternity, ended here, resumed with the Lord. Amen.
Announcements
If you wish to make a gift in memory of Sandra Mae Mar (Yee), the family has requested that you can make donations to the First Chinese Baptist Church, 1 Waverly Place, San Francisco, 94108.
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.
After you have come forward to pay your last respects, there will be a Committal Service at Woodlawn Memorial Park in Colma. Following our visit at Woodlawn, there will be a Memorial Luncheon at the Fung Wong Restaurant on 427 Gellert Avenue in Daly City where the family looks forward to fellowshipping with you. There is detail information available in the back of the room.
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, Sandra Mae Mar (Yee), 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.
Committal Service
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)
Do not be afraid: I am the first and the last, and the living one. I was dead and see, I am alive forever and ever. (Rev. 1:17-18)
And from John, “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)
In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, crucified and risen, we commend to God’s merciful care our sister, Sandra Mae Mar (Yee); and we commit her body to this resting place: earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust.
“Blessed are the dead who…die in the Lord…They will rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them.” (Revelations 14:13)
Let us pray.
God our Maker, you made our sister, Sandra Mae Mar (Yee), in your own image; you set her feet on a sojourner adventure; you watched over her along the way. As you lovingly received and welcomed her to the ranks of the redeemed, we pray that you would continue to guide our sojourner steps so that, at the appointed time, we might join Sandra Mae Mar (Yee) in the communion of saints—forgiven, transformed, and fit for our new life with the Lord, in whose name we pray. Amen.
Benediction
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with all of you. Amen. Go in peace.