October 8, 2010
Call to Worship
Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.” (Luke 18:16-17)
On behalf of the Family of Mary Heong Kwong, I welcome you here tonight to remember and celebrate the long life of Mary Kwong. She lived for 95 years born on November 11, 1914 in Toishan, China and returned to the Lord on October 1, 2010 in San Francisco. God has truly blessed her with a loving and caring family. She lived long enough to see her children grow up to have children of their own and then to see and play with her great grandchildren too.
Mary Kwong was the beloved mother of Doris and her husband, Marwan Masri, Sophie, and her husband, Richard Tom and Dewey and his wife, Kathy Kwong. She was the grandmother of 6 grandchildren and 3 of their spouses, and 5 great grandchildren.
Let us pray.
With humble adoration, we come before you, O King of Kings. We praise you for our creation, for the wondrous gift of life. We give you thanks for your adoption of us as children of yours, thanks to your divine Son, who loved little children so much. Increase in us, we pray, a child-like spirit of truthfulness, wonder, and trust so that nothing—not suffering, not sorrow, not even death—may shake our faith in you and our love for you. We pray in the name of your Son and our Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Scripture Readings
Life Story
Message—Loved All Her Children
The Apostle Paul told us that nothing in all of creation would ever be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. God has an unbreakable relationship or connection with us that can’t be separated. When we know Christ, this faith conviction will always reassure us that God is there for us and will never let us go. Just as God has this relationship with us through Christ, we too have human relationships with our own families that are strong bonds of love.
One of those bonds of love is the way Mary Kwong loved her children and their children and yet their children. From the stories we have heard from family members, Mary welcomed the children in her family to her. Nothing separated her relationship with her children. In the advent of all the Chinese holidays, she would begin shopping for the ingredients and making the variety of Chinese pastries and ti weeks before so that her children can come home to celebrate. She would make large quantities so that each family might take the abundance home to enjoy some more.
In the Bible, we know that Jesus welcomed all the children to him. When the people were bringing their children to Jesus in order that he might bless them, the disciples first stopped them from coming. But when Jesus saw this, he was not happy with his disciples. He said to them, “Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs.” (Mark 10:14) Jesus told them that, “whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.”
Mary’s children can remember times about their mother when they were children. This can only happen because these memories are beautiful and wonderful and they have left a long-lasting impression on their hearts down through the years. Both Doris and Dewey remember times when Mary would go out to lunch with them but wouldn’t eat herself probably to save hard-earned money. Feasting with her eyes on how happy they were was sufficient and satisfying enough to sustain her. Sophie remembers all the dresses and sweaters their mother made for them and for the grandkids. Mary loved to knit and sew so that her children would always be warm and fashionable.
One time Dewey and his mother went fishing Chinese-style. They would drop their hooks and sit inside the car where it was warm. When they saw Mary’s pole moving which was most of the time, they would get out into the chilly air to pull in a big catch. It was never about catching a fish as much as the importance of spending quality time together. Mary welcomed her children to her and never pushed them away.
Mary involved her children in what she liked the most—buying new material at Kress or the Emporium to make more new clothes for her children. What may have come across as indecisiveness, Mary would always ask her children what they thought would be a nice pattern or matching buttons or collar styles for her planned creation. She welcomed your ideas and tastes.
I heard that Mary was usually the “good cop” and your father, Gene was the “bad cop” when it came to disciplining their children. Once Gene scolded them, they stopped what they were doing and behaved. But when Mary tried to tell Doris, Sophie, and Dewey to be quiet, it would take repeated times of “Mo tow!” before they would stop. It’s not out of disrespect but rather Mary welcomed her children to her just like Jesus welcomed the children to him. Her children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren knew that Mary was patient with them and always gave them another opportunity to live up to her expectations of them.
Mary knew about the value of education and instructed them to study hard and not watch cartoons on TV. She would send them to church knowing that they will learn good things while she and her husband would need to work 7 days a week.
Mary Heong Kwong lived a full and abundant life. She trusted her husband as a partner in all of their business endeavors. She trusted her children for their ideas and opinions. She at the end, trusted God her maker that in her child-like and child-loving life and faith, the kingdom of God belongs to her.
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 and hopes. We praise you for all the right choices we make in our 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 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 grandchildren and great 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, Father, for the life of your child, Mary Heong Kwong, ended here, resumed with the Lord. Amen.
Announcements
There will be a Funeral Service for Mary Heong Kwong tomorrow at 11:30 AM here at McAvoy O’Hara Evergreen Mortuary followed by an interment at the Ning Yung Chinese Cemetery in Daly City. You are also welcome to attend the Memorial Meal afterward at the Tong Kiang Restaurant on Geary between 22nd and 23rd Avenue scheduled for 3:00 PM.
For those who may be unfamiliar with this tradition, when you have come forward to give your last respects and greet the family, you will receive two envelopes when you exit. The white one symbolizes the sorrow of losing a loved one and the red one symbolizes the truth that as you have come to offer comfort and encouragement to Mary Kwong’s Family that they wish you happiness and prosperity in your life. May the candy give you a sweet life and the coin good fortune.
If you would like to make a charitable donation in the name of Mary Heong Kwong, her family would like you to make that to The Self-Help for the Elderly.
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, Mary Heong Kwong, 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.
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.