May 3, 2014, 1:00 PM
First Baptist Church of Boston, MA
Thank you, Earl for inviting me to bring the eulogy for your mother. Thank you Pastor Steve Butler Murray for sharing this pulpit with me in this service today.
It is once again good to be back home in Boston and to be standing behind this pulpit where I first tried preaching by giving Youth Sunday sermons. That was a long time ago. It was here that I was ordained 40 years ago. While it seems that I have gotten old, to know that Marianne Norman was still at this church until she returned to the Lord on March 21st at the age of 90 is a testament of living a long and blessed life.
Marianne Norman was always Mrs. Norman to us Sunday school pupils. In Boston, it was always “pupils” and not “students” in those days. For our generation growing up at First Baptist, Mrs. Norman was our 4th grade Sunday school teacher. I was only 9 years old when she was my teacher. After 56 years have passed, she is still Mrs. Norman to us.
We know that Mrs. Norman was a member of this same church for 70 years and she sang in the choir up in the balcony for 60 years and was church treasurer for 30 years and I along with my fellow pupils were fortunate and blessed to have Mrs. Norman for that one year when we were in the fourth grade.
When we were only 9 years old in the 4th grade coming from mostly Chinese American homes of first-generation Chinese American parents, Mrs. Norman was more than a Sunday school teacher, she was one of our adopted parents who showed us how to live and thrive in American life. Our parents provided what little they knew about living in America but people like Mrs. Norman gave us a glimpse of what is coming. She along Mr. Norman and their son, Earl became model examples of what it meant in becoming an American.
When we city kids visited them in Melrose, it was like going to the farm. Melrose was nothing like the city in those days. While our mothers wore 24 carat gold necklaces, Mrs. Norman wore a string of pearls. While our mothers would wear a dark coat, it was Mrs. Norman who wore this dead animal of some kind around her neck and on her shoulders! It may have been a mink stole! I was always scared of that! While our mothers often use Tiger Balm, Mrs. Norman was like a bouquet of flowers. We were becoming Americans by being with Mrs. Norman.
One of the things that I remember the most is that she always drove a Thunderbird! I always thought that was pretty cool car! In fact, when I was shopping for my first car to commute to college, I almost bought a vintage Thunderbird on Commonwealth Ave when that was auto row in those days but didn’t because I felt I didn’t have the reputation of a Mrs. Norman! For my first car, I ended up buying a rather modest white Plymouth Valiant from Ed Boch! Today, whenever I see a Thunderbird on the road, I still think of Mrs. Norman because she has the reputation to be in one.
When Jesus was leaving Jerusalem and setting out to the region of Tyre, he entered a house but did not want anyone to know he was there. In Mark, it says,
“Yet he could not escape notice, but a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately heard about him, and she came and bowed down at his feet. Now the woman was a Gentile, of Syrophoenician origin. She begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. He said to her, “Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” But she answered him, “Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” Then he said to her, “For saying that, you may go—the demon has left your daughter.” So she went home, found the child lying on the bed, and the demon gone” (Mark 7:24-30).
Mrs. Norman was like that Syrophoenician mother who would go at great length to help her daughter become healed. While one can say that Mrs. Norman was never a foreigner in Boston but rather a very “proper Bostonian,” like the Syrophoenician woman in Israel, Mrs. Norman never hesitated to care and watch over her Chinese-American pupils.
When Jesus makes a point of letting her know that his first obligation is to the people of Israel, and that leaves the Syrophoenician woman out, she insisted. In fact, she is a bit bold with Jesus by making it clear that her child is in danger. Whatever Jesus felt about the wisdom of helping foreign women, he was clearly drawn to children and clearly wanted to express love for them. For those of us who had Mrs. Norman in her fourth grade class, we knew that she had our best interests in mind.
If my memory still serves me well, her class was in the area left of the stage in Wayland Hall separated only by wooden rollaway partitions. After we had our children’s church time with Mrs. Margaret Jordan teaching us “Great Is Thy Faithfulness” on a flipchart, we would go to our respective classes. I remember making a little Bible booklet that we colored and stapled together.
When we were promoted to the third grade class with Mrs. Beatrice Wyatt, we received our first Bibles in the King James Version. When we read the old King’s English, it was Mrs. Norman who made the Bible become the Living Word. I’m not surprised that Pastor Steve read John 3:16 today since we had to memorize that verse in Sunday school. In fact, I can still remember how frightening it was when we had to memorize and recite the entire 1 Corinthians 13 before we received our new Bibles! Just like how many of our parents learned their English at the Chinese Sunday School that met on Sunday afternoon, we were learning more than just a new language, we were knowing the Living Word of Jesus Christ on Sunday morning.
Marianne Norman was active in the General Federation of Women’s Clubs.
GFWC’s roots can be traced back to 1868 when Jane Cunningham Croly (1829-1901), a professional New York journalist who wrote under the pen name of Jennie June, attempted to attend a dinner at an all-male press club honoring British novelist Charles Dickens. Croly was denied admittance based upon her gender, and, in response, she formed a club for women. The work of the Women’s Clubs improved the quality of life for women and families by passing child labor laws, equal rights amendment, education and health reforms, combatting violence against women and promoting human rights. One of their significant projects was the founding of hundreds of free libraries around the country so that children can have books to read.
Mrs. Norman served as a volunteer in the Women’s Clubs for many years and served as President from 1994-96 in Massachusetts. She went beyond her church and became an advocate for the needs of women, families and children in the state. Serving in the Women’s Clubs, Mrs. Norman had to be bold and speaking her mind quickly and plainly like the way the Syrophoenician woman responded to Jesus. While she needed Jesus help, she wasn’t about to let him push her around. Mrs. Norman was not a person to be pushed around either.
We have a lot to celebrate here today. The gifts of love and caring that came through Mrs. Norman’s life are the same gifts and strengths in this Syrophoenician woman who intruded into Jesus’ rest.
Like the Syrophoenician woman, Mrs. Norman had only one child of her own, Earl Jr., who is here, and they loved each other very much. And Mrs. Norman loved many other children just like they were her own. This is the reason why I am here today and perhaps some of you are also here because Mrs. Norman loved you just like you were her own. I think I can say that Mrs. Norman was one of the “prettiest” teachers whether in Sunday school or in public school that I have ever had!
One of the most meaningful rituals growing up at First Baptist as a child was getting carnations on Mother’s Day and then bringing them home to our mothers. We would carefully and gently put them in a glass of water so they would last as long as possible. When I went to First Chinese Baptist in San Francisco in 1998, we decided to start this beautiful tradition on Mother’s Day. So next Sunday, we’ll be giving to all of the women in our church a carnation to celebrate the importance of motherly love that is so essential in growing up.
Mrs. Norman was a soft and a bold woman of faith. She exhibited the gentle love of a mother to her son and to all of us whom she loved as if we were her own. But at the same time, she was like the Syrophoenician woman, bold and outspoken particularly when she was serving in the General Federation of Women’s Clubs passing laws and actively fighting for the rights of women, the protection of children, the accessibility of books in libraries so that a healthy and more loving society may flourish.
Mrs. Marianne Norman was a believer, a baptized Christian. Let us give thanks for Marianne Norman, who loved all children like they were her own, who made life more pleasant for countless people who never even knew her name, and who spoke up clearly and forcefully when the stakes were high.
Jesus helped another woman who did just that, and granted her heart’s desire! Jesus, the Lord of life blessed Mrs. Norman a long and productive life and granted her heart’s desire.
We are no longer 9 years old in the 4th grade Sunday school class. But we have become responsible and faithful people serving the Lord where we live and work. We have become fully American while still valuing our Chinese American heritage teaching our own children and grandchildren the richness of heritage and the meaning of a place that we can call home. Let us be like Mrs. Norman caring for all the children of the world like they were our own. Let us be bold and speak out for the civil and human rights for all people especially those who are voiceless.
May our own lives be model examples of a life lived faithfully in the Lord as Mrs. Norman lived out her long 90 years of life. Thanks be to God for the life of Marianne J. Norman.
Let us pray. Lord, hear our prayer of thanks for your servant and our friend: Marianne J. Norman.
For her enjoyment of all children, like they were her own.
For the way she brought her son, Earl into the church and into faith in Christ.
For her steadfastness in work and her love of ordinary work that blessed ordinary people.
For the gift she had of speaking her mind, and at the same time, letting people know that she cared for them.
For the faith she carried in her heart and expressed through her hands, we do give you thanks.
Walk with us, we pray, in the days ahead.
Be strength for us when weakness is our portion.
Be light when the darkness comes early.
Be wisdom when doubt fills our thoughts.
Be hope when loneliness is our only companion.
Lord Jesus, be for us healing as you were to others long ago and will be again for all your servants.
Holy God, we joyfully affirm our faith in your raising Jesus from the dead, and in your power to make all things new. In the name of the Lord of life we pray. Amen.
Benediction
Beloved, in the midst of sadness, I charge you to rejoice.
Rejoice in our hope of sharing the glory of God as we believe that Marianne J. Norman is with you in glory today!
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!
May the God of hope fill you with joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord makes his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace. Amen. (Romans 5:2-5; 15:13; Numbers 6:24-26)