Layton Doung Memorial Service

July 24, 2014, 1:00, FCBC

Welcome and Opening Prayer

In Isaiah 40, we read, “A voice says, “Cry out!” And I said, “What shall I cry?” All people are grass, their constancy is like the flower of the field… The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God will stand forever.”

On behalf of Janice Chan, Keegan Doung and Logan Doung, I welcome you here today to remember our good friend and loved one, Layton Doung who was born on March 25, 1955 and returned to the Lord on June 30, 2014 having lived for 59 years. Life is like grass that withers or a flower that fades and we are suddenly left with unanswerable questions and thrown into a tailspin.

We are appreciative that you are able to be with us on a Thursday afternoon, a break in our normal weekly routines. In a way, being here today is like how death comes unexpectedly and breaks into our normal routines like our friend, Layton Doung returned to the Lord. We pray that perhaps your presence here today may also be a reminder to you that life is indeed precious and fragile just like a flower fades but we believe that the word of God will stand forever.

While our hearts may be heavy with sadness, we are also here to celebrate a life well lived fully and faithfully. And if there’s a legacy that Layton Doung wish to grant you with is that you too should live fully the life that God has given you.

Let us pray.

Creator God, we acknowledge that, like grass, we flourish briefly and fade all too soon. This very day we mourn the departure from this earthly life of Layton Doung whom we have known and loved. In spite of our faith in your power and in your love, our sense of loss is real. Come to us, we pray, in power and in love. In the midst of fading grass and fading lives, remind us of the things that cannot perish: your written Word, preserved in Scripture, and your living Word, Jesus, the Christ, our unfading Savior, in whose name we offer this prayer. Amen.

Seeing Life Fully

The poet, Amanda McBroom wrote,

            It’s the heart afraid of dying, that never learns to dance;

            It’s the dream afraid of waking, that never takes the chance;

            It’s the one who won’t be taken, who cannot seem to give;

            And the soul afraid of dying, that never learns to live.

We can say that Layton Doung was not afraid of dying so he learned to swing and do the Lindy Hop. He was not afraid of dreaming big so he seized every waking moment to engage in all the amazing things that life offered him to do. He was not afraid of being generous and kind-hearted so his sons are now generous and kind-hearted too. Because Layton Doung was not afraid of dying that even in his young age of 59, we can say that he lived out the lives of many who never learned to live every  moment as their last.

In the Bible, there’s an incident when Jesus was walking along and saw a man blind from birth (John 9). There wasn’t a reason for this man to be blind from birth. But Jesus said that while there is still time, the disciples should work because he is the “light of the world.” Jesus then spat on the ground and made mud with his saliva and spread the mud on the man’s eyes and said, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam.” When the man went and washed, he came back able to see.

In some ways, we are all blinded and unable to see what is the meaning of life. Some of us may search all of our lives to find out and some never do. But for Layton Doung, he was able to see his life fully and he pursued it with great passion. When we know what is important and meaningful to us, we are then able to see and find our way. Layton became an advocate of Chinese culture and arts and utilized his leadership and teaching skills to involve and teach others about the rich traditions of our heritage. He was able to see the value of integrating Chinese culture in with our western, American context so that both identities can become one.

For the man blind at birth, he met Jesus who healed him and he said to Jesus, “Lord, I believe.” For Layton Doung who was able to see clearly about his life’s purpose, he met Jesus in what he was doing.

Layton did everything with single-minded focus fearlessly and passionately. He didn’t just study Chinese art and culture; he performed it. He didn’t just drink coffee; he roasted beans. He didn’t just enjoyed dancing; he got into the character with a closet-full of costumes. For most of us, we live rather quiet and measured lives often worried about what to eat or what to drink or what to wear. Layton was not worried about routine things like that. He was able to see the meaning of his life and he lived it fully with no regrets. One can say that Layton was a postal letter carrier so that he can support the pursuit of his real passions in life.

Jesus taught his disciples to not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. He said, “Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?” (Matt. 6:25ff.) Jesus said, “Strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” (Matt. 6:33) If there were anything that we can learn from Layton Doung’s life, it would be to strive first for God’s kingdom and righteousness and all of the worries of this life would be taken care of as well.

Layton Doung is credited for maintaining the importance of cultural traditions in our lives and in our community. There are many Yangge dancers and stilt walkers and drummers and singers who will miss Layton’s visionary leadership. But when next year’s Chinese New Year Parade happens, you who have been mentored and trained by Layton will need to carry on his legacy. His passion to perform throughout California and across the United States will continue if you can also see as Layton saw.

In Deuteronomy 6, we see that there is great value in passing down traditions and teachings to future generations. We read,

            “Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our Lord, the Lord alone. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise. Bind them as a sign in your hand, fix them as an emblem on your forehead, and write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”

We hope and pray that each year, more and more children and youth would follow Layton’s footsteps.

We know that Layton loved the outdoors and particularly camping and hiking. Who do you know who would give up the stability of jobs after their wedding and spent a month camping in national parks? Layton and Janet worked so that they could travel three more years after their marriage. John Muir once said, “Let children walk with nature, let them see the beautiful blendings and communion of death and life, their joyous, inseparable unity, as taught in the woods and meadows, plains and mountains and streams of our blessed star, and they will learn that death is stingless indeed, and as beautiful as life.” While tragic to imagine and difficult to comprehend, the way that Layton completed his life on our blessed star could not have been in any better way. He was in John Muir’s beloved Yosemite’s high country removed from civilization up above 9000 feet after blazing some trail and catching fish at Nelson Lake.

Before we were born, God knew us. God knew that we would be traveling this road of life and there would be some of us who would know where we were going. Layton Doung knew where he was going because he was in touch with who he was and he was then able to see life fully. I think about Robert Frost’s poem, The Road Not Taken,

            Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

            And sorry I could not travel both

            And to be one traveler, long I stood

            And looked down one as far as I could

            To where it bent in the undergrowth;

            I shall be telling this with a sigh

            Somewhere ages and ages hence:

            Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

            I took the one less traveled by,

            And that has made all the difference.

Layton Doung took the road less traveled. He forged ahead when others took the safer route. He traveled out of his comfort zones and brought back new ideas for us and for the larger community to enjoy. He often pushed up against the limits only to discover that there is still farther to go. He roamed the open road with his family in an old red camper to see what is there in that yonder horizon. And what he found all of his life was that God has blessed him and gave him endless passion to live his life fully and faithfully.

As people who are still living in this world, we give thanks to God, our Creator for making Layton Doung in his image and placing him on this earth so that he may model for us how to see life fully and to pursue life with heart-felt passion.

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 fearless passions.

We praise you for all the right choices we made 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 family loved ones, 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 God, for the life of your child, Layton Doung, ended here, resumed with the Lord.

Closing Remarks

Following the Benediction, we will first dismiss Janice and her family to leave the sanctuary to make their way to the Chinese Culture Center. You are all invited to attend and participate in the second event of today to celebrate the life of Layton Doung beginning at 2:30. There will be more sharing about Layton’s life, a slideshow, musical highlights followed by a buffet reception. The culture center is located on the third floor at the Hilton Hotel on Kearney Street. The easiest access will be to walk across Portsmouth Square and the footbridge over Kearney right into the Chinese Culture Center.

The family has requested that if you would like to make a donation in memory of Layton Doung, please make gifts to the Chinese Culture Foundation and the Community Youth Center of San Francisco. Information is on the back of your bulletins.

When you exit the sanctuary, you will be given two envelopes: the white one with a piece of candy symbolizing that you have been at a bitter sweet event and that the candy would sweeten your life. The red envelop containing a coin symbolizes that you would have a happy life filled with prosperity.

We hope that you would attend the Celebration of Life event where Janet Chan and her family would be delighted to greet you and for you to share more stories about how Layton Doung has made a difference in your life.

Please rise for the Benediction.

Benediction

In Psalm 46, we read,

            God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change, though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea; though the waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble with its tumult. The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. (Psalm 46:1-3, 7)

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.