The Funeral of Peter M. Pang
July 21, 2007, 2:00 PM
Call to Worship
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 147:1,3,5; Matthew 11:28, 29; 5:4)
I welcome you today on behalf of the family of Peter M. Pang, born on April 5, 1948, who worked faithfully all his life carrying heavy burdens and now resting with God when he returned to the Lord on July 14, 2007. The Pang Family is deeply grateful for your show of support and your fervent prayers as they grieve the loss of their loved one unexpectedly. His parents, Lawrence On and Ngon Ling Pang, three brothers and one sister along with their respective families survive Peter Pang. It is their sincere wish that by your presence here today that your own life and family will be filled with blessings and abundance according to God’s plans.
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. We pray that you deal graciously with us in our anguish. Grant us the comfort of your rest. Assure us with the confidence that your faithful servant, Peter M. Pang 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.
Reading of the Biography Family Member
Reading of Scriptures
Words of Remembrance
Paley Pang (Brother)
Alan Louie (Cousin)
Open Sharing
Message—The Meaning of Life
What is the meaning of life? Martin Marty, the distinguished church historian at the University of Chicago once said, “Love. To love and be loved.” That is the meaning of life. The Bible tells us: “Everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love.” (1 John 4:7-8)
Peter Pang understood the meaning of life. He knew and practiced the importance of love. Although he was not a member of a church, he enjoyed hearing Scriptures and knew God through love—through the concern and help he had with his co-workers and his commitment to making sure his customers found what they needed in the supermarket. He loved his parents, his siblings and their families and behind that long hair, beard and rugged exterior look, Peter was kind and loved his family and everyone he knew. In the end, this is not a bad way to know God, for the Bible tells us, “God is love.” We can give thanks that the God who created Peter and put him in this world to live and to love, has now been received into his eternal kingdom.
God made Peter a part of his good creation by being a provider of food for others. At an early age, he was probably too short to pick apples in the orchard but just the right size to pick strawberries and blueberries found low to the ground. What better way to start a day but to have fresh berries in your cold cereal—Peter was a part of God’s wonderful creation. He enjoyed cooking and sharing his favorite recipes by bringing his covered dishes to family gatherings. But his greatest testimony of being a provider of food for others is his life-long work at Albertson’s and more recently Save Mart. The canned goods, fresh produce, meats and fish, the breads and snacks don’t just appear for us to select off the shelves. People like Peter placed them there. Peter worked the nightshift unloading and unpacking all the food that we like to eat. He performed well on his job and lifted the heavy burdens so that we may have food and nourishment for life. What better way to show God’s love but to provide food for others. Jesus did that when the crowds of people were hungry and he transformed 2 fish and 5 loaves of bread to be able to feed five thousand! I wonder how many thousands of people have been fed because Peter took the time to put the food on the shelves!
I understand that Peter was a large person, bigger than other kids his age and was able to hold his own. I suspect that when it came to food, he ate his share. With good food inside him, he was so sweet and delicious that even mosquitoes can’t stop from taking a bite of him! He provided food for others and in some peculiar way, provided food for even the mosquitoes that are God’s creation too!
Peter probably didn’t have a religious vocabulary, but he certainly had religious impulses. He knew that he was put in this world for a purpose, and he was not afraid to act on his convictions. He tried his hand on starting business ventures so that he can live out what God’s intentions were for his life. He and his brothers assisted their father in their family properties and know in his heart to “Honor one’s father and mother” in love.
Peter also had an appreciation for the cycles of life, knowing that, “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 mourn, and a time to dance.” Peter enjoyed times of laughing and with his loud thundering voice; his family knew he was in the room. He enjoyed times of embracing when he played sports and board games together. When the cycle of life was fishing or hunting season, he enjoyed times in the great outdoors even when the only prize that he got was his dog Stoney bringing his duck decoys back. But Peter also knew that there had to be times of weeping, keeping silence, and refrain from embracing. He took dying plants home from the supermarket to revive them when no shopper wants them so that they can add beauty in this world. And when he had a major occupational accident that caused him to have chronic health conditions, he accepted this situation and continued to lift heavy burdens. In this way, Peter was in step with the rhythm of God’s creation, a pattern he accepted with his eyes wide open, without sentimentality or wishful thinking.
We give thanks today that our Lord created Peter and gave him the ability to live a life of love and honesty. We can also be grateful that God was with Peter as he walked through the valley of the shadow of death, and that God gave him protection, comfort and peace. Although his outside nature suffered chronic ill health, his inner nature was being renewed every day, and at the end he discovered real serenity. In his last days, we believe in faith that he is with God and found peace; he turned his eyes to the unseen things that are eternal.
The God who creates us and gives us earthly life is not finished with us at the moment of death. “If the earthly tent we live in is destroyed,” wrote Paul to the Corinthians, “we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” God loves us so much that he does not want our existence to end with the death of our bodies; no, he wants our lives to continue in his everlasting kingdom, that place where there is neither physical suffering nor crying, pain nor dying. “See, I am making all things new” (Rev. 21:5) says the God of all creation. The Lord is working to bring us all to a better place, where we can be closer to him, and to one another, free from anything that can hurt or divide us.
We gather today to celebrate the goodness of Peter Pang because he knew the meaning of life—to love and to be loved. We give thanks for his love and spirit; to forgive him for his shortcomings; to say goodbye and to remember. But at the same time, we celebrate the even greater goodness of our Lord God, and we thank him for his love, seen so clearly in Jesus Christ; for his Holy Spirit, which gives us strength and hope; for his gift of forgiveness and the promise of everlasting life.
The meaning of life is love, a meaning we can make our own as we remember Peter Pang, and as we serve our loving Lord to the best of our abilities for the many years that we have to live.
Let us pray. We thank you, God, that the meaning of life is love. We praise you for being at the heart of this great truth, and for giving all who love a chance to know you. Your child Peter Pang knew and practiced the importance of love, and we are thankful that he came to know you through his loving actions, his passion to make sure there is food on the supermarket shelves to feed the world, and his appreciation for the cycles of your creation. You gave him the ability to live a life of love and mercy, and you renewed his inner nature as his outer nature was fading.
Grant us now your peace as we mourn his death, as we forgive his shortcomings, and as we celebrate his love and spirit. As grateful as we are for his goodness, we are even more thankful for yours, O God. You are the one who gives life meaning and who offers us the gift of everlasting life. We thank you that nothing in all creation can separate us from your love in Christ Jesus our Lord. It is in his name that we pray. Amen.
Announcements
Final interment will be on August 1, 2007 following cremation. The meaning of life—“to love and to be loved”–can be made evident in the world by you if you choose to make a donation to your favorite charity in memory of Peter Pang. The Pang Family thanks you for your gifts and flowers to remember the life of their loved one.
After you have paid your last respects, the Pang Family invites you to a Memorial Meal at the Pacific Restaurant located at 250 9th Street in Daly City, 3:30-5:30 PM. Directions can be found in the back of the chapel.
Benediction
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)
God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)
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, Peter M. Pang, has promised, through our 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.
Now may 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
August 1, 2007, Cypress Lawn, 11:00 AM
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)
The Psalmist said, “The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time on and forevermore.” (121:7-8)
Letting Go
As family members and friends, we have gathered here today to mark a final resting place for our beloved Peter M. Pang. For the past ten days, you have been in mourning and anticipating this day to say your final goodbyes. Today, you are able to let go of your sadness in order to know joy once again, to let go of your grief in order to welcome every new day, and to let go of troubling questions knowing in our faith in God, even the mystery of life and death has been solved by the life, death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.
We are to hold each other and to let each other go. These two teachings of our Christian faith are not as contradictory as they sound. Holding is what makes possible letting go and letting go, in its turn, makes possible holding on. We are to hold each other and let each other go. One movement makes possible the other.
We might say that Peter Pang knew about holding on and letting go. As a child, he held the berries he picked and let them go so others can eat. He held a broom to cleanup the rental units and let go of the broom when new tenants moved in. He held his favorite dishes and let them go to be eaten by you his appreciative family. He held the many cans of food and let them go on the grocery store shelves so shoppers can have food to eat. Unless we are able to let go what we have been holding onto, we won’t be able to help others and to see all of the blessings and new possibilities that are just waiting for us to do in the future. There is so much more to hold onto!
You have held onto to Peter for these years so that you are now able to let him go. The intimacy of holding onto a loved one has given you strength—that nourishment to enable you to let go. You will always have his memories and they will never let you go.
We know that in the beginning the Word was with God and Jesus Christ was God. When there was darkness, God let the Word go into the world to bring light and the darkness did not overcome it. God didn’t hold back Jesus Christ but let him go to forgive our sins so that we may have everlasting life. After we have held onto Jesus for some time, we let him go to return to God the Father so that he may prepare a place for us in heaven.
By this act of letting go today, we pray that we may once again begin to hold on to the promise of God—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 brother, Peter M. Pang; and we commit his ashes to this final resting place.
Blessed are the dead who…die in the Lord…they will rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them.” (Rev. 14:13)
(Place in niche)
Let us pray.
God of grace and mercy, comfort and assure us with the knowledge that Peter M. Pang is with you, at peace in your eternal love and care. As we go forth from this place, grant us faith in your goodness, faith in guiding wisdom and faith in your everlasting promise, through your Son Jesus, our Lord.
O Lord, support us all the day long, until the shadows lengthen, and the evening comes, and the busy world is hushed, and the fever of life is over, and our work is done. Then, in your mercy, grant us a safe lodging, and a holy rest, and peace at the last, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Benediction
The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord makes his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace. Amen.