July 31, 2007, 11:00 AM, Halsted
Call to Worship
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)
Dr. James Chuck and I, Pastor Don Ng from the First Chinese Baptist Church in San Francisco where our beloved friend Ernest Lum has been a member for over 20 years welcome you here today to remember and celebrate the life of Ernest Lum. Ernest Lum was born on July 3, 1928 and returned to the Lord on July 25, 2007. Although Ernest never married and did not have any siblings, you who are here represent for him his beloved family comprised of first cousins and sisters and brothers in Christ. We pray that your presence today will be a blessing to each other and to yourselves believing in confidence that Ernest Lum is now blessed in the arms of Lord today.
Let us pray.
We thank you, God, that nothing in all creation—nothing in life and nothing in death—can separate us from your love. Fill us with your Spirit in this time of suffering and loss, and remind us that Christ is Lord of both the dead and the living. May we trust him to rescue us from all destructive powers and show us the way to a new and everlasting love. Amen.
Biography—A Love for Learning James Chuck
Scripture Readings
Never Too Old to Learn
One of the greatest joys in my life today is to be a grandfather of 4 grandkids and to have at least one of them live close by. When I am asked to baby sit, I see it as a privilege and not a chore. What I like about babysitting is to observe how a baby grows and learns new things everyday—even as they learn to be more independent and a bit stubborn! Learning something new is something we do everyday.
The story of Ernest Lum’s life read by Dr. Chuck is entitled “A Love for Learning.” What an appropriate title since from the very beginning of life and up to the very end, Ernest was always learning. As a baby, he learned from his mother and paternal grandparents while his father was in America carving out a living and sending money home to China. From this great distance, Ernest probably learned from his father’s absence the meaning of hard work and to never be afraid of it if you want to be anybody.
At 5 1/2, he walked to his village school in China to learn how to write Chinese characters. He attended elementary school operated by the British in Hong Kong. When he arrived in the United States in 1940 as an 11-year old youth, he didn’t know English so he along with other recent immigrants attended a concentrated English class at Lincoln High School. After high school, he went to Sacramento Junior College and majored in chemistry and eventually graduated with an Associate Arts degree from City College of San Francisco. He wanted to go to a four-year university but didn’t have the money to do so. But that did not stop Ernest from learning.
When I read Ernest Lum’s life story, I was immediately reminded of Nicodemus in the Gospel of John. There was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews, who came to Jesus at night to ask him a question. Nicodemus wanted to know more about the Kingdom of God from Jesus. When Jesus told him that no one can see the Kingdom of God without being born from above, Nicodemus interpreted what Jesus said as literally being born again from the womb. And since Nicodemus was already an older man, he couldn’t see how that can be done. Jesus taught Nicodemus about being born again of water and the Holy Spirit. Following this conversation that Nicodemus had with Jesus, Jesus then said, “For 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.” (3:16)
Ernest Lum was far from being a Pharisee like Nicodemus, but he had the same searching faith of a Nicodemus that led him to believe that he was never too old to learn and never too late to know God. When he may have come up short in academic degrees, Ernest was smarter than how he perceived himself as only a “B or C” student. He knew the life skills of getting along with people so that he wouldn’t get beaten up as a kid or getting along with his postal coworkers to do a job well or volunteering at our church’s Friday Night School ministry to help new immigrants get settled in the United States as he learned how to himself. Life skills are very important because we are able to see what really matters in life.
Nicodemus knew all about the Torah but Jesus had to teach him to not just depend on the earthly things but to know about the heavenly things. The last time I visited Ernest in the hospital was less than two weeks ago when he was in dialysis on the first floor and not on the seventh floor where his hospital room was. He asked how I knew where to find him. I told him that his nurse told me. He thanked me for finding him. In an almost inaudible voice, he said, “How does God know?” I told him that since God made everyone of us, God knows each one of us. God never forgets us because he made each of us special and unique.” At that point, he said, “I believe in miracles. God is calling my name.” I reassured him that the church is praying for him and that we will not forget him. Like God, we know who Ernest Lum is. Ernest wept in the joy of knowing that he will never be forgotten in God’s eyes. Like Nicodemus, Ernest toward the end of his life was still asking questions because he wanted to learn. He was never too old to learn about God’s love and his grace and mercy.
In his retirement when he had more time, Ernest Lum became a full-time student reading any book that caught his interest. He added to his vocabulary by looking up unfamiliar words in the dictionary and used flash cards while riding the MUNI to Chinatown to learn them. He told me that he has read the Bible from cover to cover. We can learn a lot from Ernest Lum! As a student of Joseph Campbell, my only regret is that I didn’t have the chance to talk with him more about the role of mythology in our culture. I would have enjoyed that and I think he would have too.
After the conversation that Nicodemus had with Jesus in John 3, we don’t hear about Nicodemus until in chapter 7. People were questioning Jesus’ authority and his teachings. The Pharisees and the temple police were asking if anyone believed in Jesus. At this point, Nicodemus appears again challenging his fellow Pharisees that we should not judge Jesus without first giving Jesus and his disciples a fair hearing. The other Pharisees wondered if Nicodemus was one of Jesus followers. Something happened between chapters 3 and 7—Nicodemus was becoming one of Jesus’ disciples. He was willing to put his life on the line by speaking out. Ernest Lum in his own way confessed his faith in Jesus when he told me that when he served the US Army, he never killed anyone. He wanted me and perhaps he wanted the world to know that as Christians, we are to love one another. Ernest was never too old to profess his faith and his belief in the God who created him and placed him on this earth to live a life of humility and thankfulness for what he had and who the person he has become.
At the end, from my visits with him, I felt that he was happy that he was not alone. Although he did not have any immediate family members, he knew that he belonged to the Adult Fellowship at the church. His life-long interests in learning led him to connect with the wider world through books and newspapers. He probably was never alone when it came to learning new things that he said was the most rewarding part of his retirement years.
The third and final time we read about Nicodemus in John’s Gospel is in chapter 19 when Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus came to Pilate to take Jesus’ body for burial. They brought embalming mixtures, linen cloths and place Jesus’ body in a new tomb in which no one had ever been laid. Nicodemus did not leave Jesus alone—he asked Jesus questions about the kingdom of heaven, he defended Jesus in the face of other Pharisees, and at the end, he took care of Jesus’ body.
In faith, we believe that Ernest Lum is not alone anymore. He is with God. God knows each and everyone of us by name and whether we are still in this world and when we return to God in the next one, God will always know us and we are never left alone. Ernest Lum was never too old to learn and we too are never too old as well to know that God loves us so much that he gave his only Son, Jesus Christ to die for us for our sins so that we may have life eternally and to be with God and not be left alone forever.
Let us pray.
Our gracious God, how we thank you for the gift of life! We know the Scripture is true that teaches us that in you we live, and move, and have our being. But even as we give thanks for the life of Ernest Lum, we acknowledge, O Lord, that death is a part of life. Even though death always feels like an intruder, we know it is really part of the path we all must walk. We are grateful for those whose lives encourage us on the path of life—the Adult Fellowship and the First Chinese Baptist Church. This loved one, Ernest Lum, whose life we celebrate today, has been faithful in life and now in death. May we learn from his courage and constancy how to embrace the totality of the gift of learning that you have given us, and accept by grace the hope of eternal life. In the name of Christ our Lord, whose life, death, and resurrection are the first fruits of eternal life. Amen.
Announcements
After you have come forward to give your last respects, we will travel to Woodlawn Cemetery in Colma for a brief interment service. Following that, you are also invited to a memorial lunch at the Yet Wah Restaurant on Clement and 23rd Avenue in the Richmond District of San Francisco. This will be an occasion to share memories that you have of our friend, Ernest Lum and to celebrate God’s blessings and abundance in the eating of rice with one another.
Benediction
Beloved, in the midst of sadness, I charge you to rejoice.
Rejoice in our hope of sharing the glory of God!
Rejoice even in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope!
Rejoice above all that this hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit! (Romans 5:2-5)
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen (Romans 15:13)
The Committal Service
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)
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.” (11:25-26)
In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, crucified and risen, we commend to God’s merciful care our brother Ernest Lum; and we commit his body to this final 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. (Rev. 14:13)
Let us pray.
Merciful God, you created us in your own image, perhaps because you were lonely; you created us as members of families, so that none of us should ever be lonely; you share our grief when the family circle is broken and we experience loneliness and sorrow, because someone we have loved and known has left us. Grant us strength to face our loss, with the assurance that Ernest Lum’s return to you has not broken our family circle, but only extended it beyond this earthly scene into the heavens that your children share with you, thanks to the resurrection of your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Benediction
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.