Mrs. Janie Lee Chu’s 100th Birthday
November 29, 1902—November 29, 2002
Grace
God of grace and God of mercy, with joy and excitement in our hearts, we come together tonight to mark a special day in the life of Mrs. Janie Lee Chu as she celebrates her 100th birthday. You have blessed her all the days of life and you are continuing to protect her and guide her as a living treasure for all of us here to value. We pray that faithfulness and wisdom will abide with us as you have given these things to Mrs. Chu. Bless this night and the feast that we are about to partake as symbols of your everlasting love for all humankind. In the name of Jesus Christ who has made life everlasting, we pray. Amen.
Firm Steps in God
I feel like a baby in the presence of Mrs. Chu! You know how there are some people who are older than you are but after some years of living, you kind of catch up with them and you begin to call that older person by his or her first name? (Some people don’t even have real first names like Pungo and Charcoal!) Not true with Mrs. Chu! It would be a mistake to call you anything else but the “honorable Mrs. Chu.”
When Mrs. Chu was born on this day 100 years ago in 1902, she didn’t say to her parents, I am going to live 100 years. Her life was probably similar to any little girl growing up in California. She probably liked playing with dolls and games and traveling with her family. While we can say that we survived the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake and lived to tell about it, she survived the 1906 Earthquake and Fire too. While the earth was moving, Mrs. Chu was not afraid to climb out of bed and step out her door.
George Burns once said, “If you really think your life is over, and you have no place to go, I advise you to take very short steps. It will take you longer to get there.” I can’t imagine Mrs. Chu ever taking very short steps. In the children’s street game of red light and green light, she would take “giant steps.”
One of the simplest things we do is taking steps. It starts by standing and holding onto the furniture. And with encouraging words and reassuring arms extending out from our parents to come to them, we begin taking our first steps. With these feet that we have, many steps have been taken and each one of them is an act of faith. We begin taking steps toward God.
The Psalmist was reminding the people not to worry about the troubles in the world. He said,
“Our steps are made firm by the Lord, when he delights in our way;
though we stumble, we shall not fall headlong, for the Lord holds us by the hand.
I have been young, and now am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken
or their children begging bread.
They are ever giving liberally and lending, and their children become a blessing.
(Psalm 37:23-26)
Longer than anyone of us here tonight can testify, Mrs. Chu’s steps have been made firm by the Lord because God has been delighted with her life.
At First Chinese Baptist Church, the name Mrs. Chu is the equivalence of the Sunday school junior class. She taught this class for 50 years! No one in our Sunday school could graduate into junior high without first passing through Mrs. Chu’s class. Her long-standing position in the junior class has created somewhat of a church pop culture. When her former students get together, they would trade stories about what Mrs. Chu required her students to achieve. If the junior class is comprised of 4th and 5th graders, that means she has taught 25 different groups of juniors in her 50 years of teaching!
Some of them are sitting here tonight! (Stand up if you were in Mrs. Chu’s class.) And I can imagine what juniors can be like. They may have been more active than the 1906 and 1989 tremors combined, but God made her feet stand firm in that third floor classroom because God was delighted in her ways.
My first encounter with you, Mrs. Chu was when you served on the Search Committee in 1974 to call me as the Minister of Christian Education 28 years ago. When it was time for questions, you asked me, “Do you think the children should carry their Bibles to Sunday school?” I remember telling you that the words, “Holy Bible” on the cover of the RSV Bible that I received when I was promoted to the junior class at my home church in Boston was worn off from my carrying it to church. You were pleased. I know that you believe in the truth of the Bible in your life. And for any of us to lead lives that will have purpose and meaning, especially during these times of uncertainty and doubt, we need to trust in the truth found in the Bible.
Just as recently as this past Tuesday night when we were having our first Advent Bible study at Anna and Dick Wong’s house, Anna Wong and Mic Fong said, “Mrs. Chu made us memorize the Luke 2 account of the birth of Jesus Christ.” They knew how to pronounce “Emperor Augustus and Quirinius was governor of Syria.” Your students who are now in their 60s have found that their “steps are made firm by the Lord because he delights in their ways.” Even when life poses problems that may make us stumble, the Lord is holding us up by his hand.
I want to assure you that our children are still studying the Bible in the Sunday school. And the teachers are still using the methods you model for them during those 50 years. And when this generation of students are promoted from the junior class into the junior high department, their steps will be made firm by the Lord and when they stumble in life, the Lord will hold them up too.
One of the best things about getting old is the privilege of seeing blessings. The Psalmist said that when we are a senior citizen, we are able to see the righteous cared for and become a blessing. It is wonderful for so many people—family and friends, former students and teaching colleagues here tonight.
We pray that those of us here tonight are the blessings that you are able to see. We owe much of the mature people we are today because of your faithfulness and your steps firmly planted in the Lord.
For all of us who are not yet 100, we still have much to learn from Mrs. Chu. She didn’t decide one day and say, “My goal is to live to 100.” Instead, every new morning when she climbed out of bed, she firmly planted her feet on the ground because God was delighted in her ways. She has done this for 36,500 times. Every step she took was toward God. Every step she took modeled for her students to read the Bible. And when she stumbled, God came and reached out to her by his hand so that she can continue to take more steps.
If we who are not yet 100 can do what Mrs. Chu has done—thanking God for every new day when she can take yet one more step toward God in word and in deeds, God will help us to firmly plant our feet on the ground. And when we stumble in life (and we all will), we will know that God will not let us fall headlong but he will hold us up with his hand. Who knows, we may find ourselves celebrating centennial birthdays as well.
Thank you, Mrs. Chu for being our teacher for all these many years. Whether it is in the classroom or by your life example, we have learned that the Lord is our God, the Lord alone. The Deuteronomist said,
“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 on your hand, fix them as an emblem on your forehead, and write them
on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” (Deuteronomy 6:5-9)
Happy Birthday, Mrs. Chu! And may God continue to bless you when you take your next step. Amen.
New Scholarship Fund
Mrs. Janie Lee Chu Christian Leadership Fund to be established at the First Chinese Baptist Church for the ongoing training of Sunday school teachers.