Colossians 3:1-4; 12-17
Helen Chan lived out the new life in Christ that is described in Paul’s epistle to the Colossians. God chooses people to become “holy and beloved.” God chose Helen and she has served God well. Throughout her life, Helen demonstrated that kind of holy living for her family, her friends, and her church.
Helen “set her mind on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.” I know that whenever Larry or James or I have asked Helen to become involved in the wider denominational ministries of the region and the Asian American Baptist Caucus, Helen always stepped forward. She was able to see that God was not limited to any local church, but that God was bigger and richer and more diverse. She represented us in focusing ministries that lift up the Body of Christ that perhaps more closely reflected how God’s family should live on earth. She was an ambassador to other sister Asian churches and to other American Baptist churches.
It wasn’t easy for Helen to be one of the pioneers in planting the new church in Sunset. During one of my visits to San Francisco, Ed and Helen invited me to have lunch with them to discuss their decision to stay at Waverly or to go to Sunset. They didn’t want their decision to help out at Sunset to damage their life-long friendships in Chinatown. But knowing the gifts that she had, she was called to help plant a new church in Christ. You see, the “word of Christ dwelled richly in her.” She “taught new Christians with her wisdom and with gratitude in her heart, she sang psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God.” Helen untiringly gave generously in modeling the meaning of the cost of discipleship.
Everyone who has been blessed in meeting Helen knows that she was like an angel. Whenever there was a difference of opinions, she was able to discern where our opinions were really agreements. She practiced “compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience.” She demonstrated how we can bear with one another and learn how to ask for forgiveness and then to receive forgiveness. We knew that we can always turn to Helen to bring reconciliation to broken relationships.
In addition to Helen’s many interests and particularly her dedication to her church, she was the love that held her family together. As the passage said, “Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.” Helen always wore “loving clothes” that invited her family when they saw her, to work toward harmony. One of the most beautiful sights that I saw was when Susan, Barbara, Beverly, and Ed were applying healing oils on Helen’s body. Even at the end of this earthly life, Helen was the reason that her whole family is together now and for the future.
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Helen, for me, always “set her mind on things that are above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.” May we celebrate her life with us as our own dedication to affirm the Body of Christ, to let the peace of Christ rule in our hearts, and to love one another with grace and forgiveness. Helen lived her life in “both word and deed, doing everything in the name of Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”
There is a Chinese proverb that I like a lot and represents Helen’s gift to us and to the world.
If there is light in the soul,
There will be beauty in the person.
If there is beauty in the person,
There will be harmony in the house.
If there is harmony in the house,
There will be order in the nation.
If there is order in the nation,
There will be peace in the world.
Thank you Helen for the light of Christ in your soul that made you beautiful. Your beautiful love for your family nurtured harmony and reconciliation. But your love for others made you go outside bringing order and understanding and peace in everything you touched.
Thank you, God for Helen Chan. Let us pray…