March 1, 2003
McAvoy, O’Hara, Evergreen Mortuary
10:30 AM
Call to Worship
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 plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
a time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;
a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
a time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
a time to seek, and a time to lose;
a time to keep, and a time to throw away;
a time to tear, and a time to sew;
a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
a time to love, and a time to hate;
a time for war, and a time for peace.
Thanks be to God for giving us enough time to fully live our lives. On behalf of Gan Fay Lee, Gan Tow Lee, Dan Lee and the entire Lee Family, I welcome you here today to remember and celebrate the life of Mrs. Fung Soon Lee who completed her life on February 15, 2003. I am Rev. Don Ng, Pastor of the First Chinese Baptist Church in San Francisco and along with Rev. Dr. James Chuck, our Pastor Emeritus, we are glad that you are here in the presence of God and in the fellowship of brothers and sisters to support and comfort one another. This is a time for us to remember and celebrate God’s grace and promise of everlasting life in Jesus Christ.
Let us pray.
Creator God, we trust you to guide us through every season of life. You carry us from death to life, from weeping to laughing, from mourning to dancing, and from silence to speaking. Thank you for the life of Fung Soon Lee who faithfully supported her family throughout her life and blessed them with the value of hard work. As Mrs. Lee embraced each season of her life with courage and determination, inspire us today to experience every season of our lives in its fullness. Help us to see and trust that nothing lasts forever—except for eternal love. In the name of Christ, we pray. Amen.
Scripture Reading
Psalm 23
Hebrews 11:1-3, 13-16
Reading the Biography James Chuck
Chinese & English
Rest from Our Burdens
For only a few exceptions, we all have to work. We work to earn a living so that our family would have food, clothing, and shelter. We work to utilize our God-given gifts and talents to live out our life’s purpose. For Chinese Americans, we also work out of our sense duty and responsibility as fathers and mothers. We learned from the very beginning of life that to be a “good” Chinese, we must work long and hard often at the expense of oneself, for the livelihood and comfort of our families.
Mrs. Fung Soon Lee started working at a very young age caring for her younger sisters and brothers while still performing her share of housework in Jiangmen City in Guangdong. She worked so diligently that other people liked to work side by side with her. Because of her industry, she made their work easier.
In the Bible, Jesus Christ 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.
For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)
In our modern world, we don’t make much use of yokes anymore. Basically a yoke is a long piece of curved wood used to harness two farm animals together. The two animals would pull together to plow a field. The yoke allowed the farmer to harness the strength of both animals at the same time to more easily accomplish the task. Mrs. Lee was willing to help others out. In doing so, she made their jobs easier. It was like, she was yoked with them and the burden was made lighter.
When Mrs. Lee came to America, where opportunities to succeed and get ahead were depended on how hard one is willing to work, she became a seamstress merely making pennies for each garment piece sewn. After saving enough to become business owners, Mrs. Lee and her husband purchased a dry cleaning shop in the Richmond District where she once again gave tirelessly for 22 years to provide for her family. Through her hard work, she modeled for her sons the value of an honest day’s work. Dan learned how to fold clothes by watching his mother.
Jesus used the image of the yoke to refer to his own life purpose and vision. By yoking up with Jesus, by accepting his burdens as our own, we will find that in spite of our own burdens, we would find rest. The word, “rest” does not mean how we might define “rest” today. It’s not sitting in front of the TV and watching a basketball game. Rest really means being “fulfilled” and “satisfied.” When we take Jesus’ yoke, the weight of our own life will give way to a sense of fulfillment that your life really counts for something. The things you do and face will not tire you out, but energize you to do even more.
Mrs. Lee seemed to understand this. She was never afraid of yoking up with others in order to lighten their burdens. She worked hard to become a US citizen so that she can sponsor her sisters and brothers to America. I can imagine how she might have spent time helping them get settled in their new homes. Out of her faithful duty, Mrs. Lee took the burdens of her loved ones and helped them to see that their dreams can come true too.
For the past three years when her health deteriorated and her disease took a painful and difficult course, she had a peaceful determination of someone who knew who she was and what she was about. Her son, Dan took time to care for her as she once cared for him. She was proud of what each of her sons became. The “rest” that Jesus was speaking about was the “rest” that Mrs. Lee found. She discovered an inner sense of peace that comes from knowing what life is all about.
I was told that Mrs. Lee enjoyed gardening. She planted flowers and enjoyed their beauty. St. Francis of Assisi was hoeing his garden when someone asked what he would do if he were suddenly to learn that he would die before sunset that very day. He said, “I would finish hoeing my garden.” Out of a deep sense of duty for her family and her faithfulness to do what was expected of her, Mrs. Fung Soon Lee finished hoeing her garden.
Today, we remember and celebrate how Mrs. Lee, unafraid of hard work with a willingness to yoke her strength with others in order to make their burdens lighter can now find rest for her soul. Let us go from this place with the commitment to help others with their burdens as a living memorial for the life of Mrs. Fung Soon Lee.
Let us pray.
Creator and Provider God, at this time of all times, we thank you for the precious gift of life. We thank you for health—and for the skill and compassion of those who care for us when our health falters and fails. We thank you for home—for the roof over our heads and the bed where we stretch out to renew our strength in sleep and for loved ones who make that roof and that bed and all the rest into a true home. And we thank you for hope—hope for the pursuit of the next chapter in our lives, hope for recovery and a fresh start when a goal has eluded us; hope at the last, when all hope seems lost, except for the one shining hope set before us in your raising our Lord Jesus from death. Amen.
Announcements
The Lee Family is most appreciative and thankful for your presence here today. We pray that your expressions of respect to Mrs. Fung Soon Lee and your condolences to the family will also grant you peace and prosperity in your life.
If you would like to make a memorial gift in Fung Soon Lee’s name, the family has requested that gifts can be sent to the Self-Help for the Elderly Home Care and Hospice Center on 407 Sansome Street, San Francisco.
After the Committal Service, the family invites you to the Memorial Luncheon at the Tong Palace Seafood Restaurant on 933 Clement Street, between 10th and 11th Avenues where they would welcome your presence.
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, Fung Soon Lee, has promised, through our Lord, to forgive us and shelter us throughout eternity. Let us find comfort and peace in these gracious promises of a loving God.
Now, may the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. May the Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace. Amen.
Committal Service
Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.” (John 11:25-26)
“For 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)
In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, crucified and risen, we commend to God’s merciful care our sister, Fung Soon Lee; and we commit her body to its 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.” (Revelations 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 cared for and counted on has left us. Grant us strength to face our loss, with the assurance that Fung Soon Lee’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.
Now may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with all of you. Amen.