September 11, 2013, 10:00 AM
Call to Worship & Opening Prayer
God is gracious. He heals the brokenhearted, and binds up their wounds. Great is our Lord, and abundant in power; his understanding is beyond measure. Jesus 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. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” (Psalm 147: 1c, 3, 5: Matthew 11:28, 29; 5:4)
On behalf of Betty, Marian, Wyman and Norman and their families, I welcome you here today to remember the long life of Mrs. Wai Lum Gin Chin. We celebrate her productive life and God’s mercies on her and God’s grace on all of us. You have come perhaps to seek comfort from your grief. You have come to give honor and respect to a good life praying that you too may receive such good things that come from God. You have come to offer sympathy and compassion to Mrs. Chin’s family to which this family is most thankful for your thoughts and presence. At church, Mrs. Chin was known as the “unofficial church greeter.” Today, she is still welcoming and greeting you as we come to celebrate her good life. We hope that you will receive as much as you have given your time and presence to be here.
We have a celebrative service planned for today that involves a number of the family members. Through their life experiences, they will undoubtedly present the wonderful life and faithful witness of Mrs. Chin who was born on January 2, 1917 and returned to the Lord on October 31, 2013 having lived for more than 96 years.
Let us pray.
O God, your care is like that of a father who has compassion for his children and a mother who comforts her child. We cast our heavy burdens of grief on you. Be gracious with us in our anguish. Grant us the comfort of your rest. Assure us with the confidence that your faithful servant, Mrs. Wai Lum Gin Chin has been received into the arms of your mercy, in the blessed rest of your eternal care. May our lives hereafter bear witness to the hope that is ours in the crucified and risen Christ, who defeated death for our sake and now reigns victorious in your glory. Through his name we pray, Amen.
Every Day is Sunday
The National Football League just started their 2013 season this past weekend with the Forty-Niners having an impressive win. Major League Baseball is coming to the post-season with some teams getting ready for the payoffs, others fighting for the two wild card slots and many others already looking forward to their off-season with the prayer of doing better next year. There are seasons in sports just like there are different seasons of the year. While athletes would become undisciplined when they are not playing in the off-season, being a Christian is being in-season all year round.
When someone like Mrs. Chin has been a Christian for such a long, long time, she’s always been in-season. Once she accepted Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior, she stopped practicing Chinese rituals and only worshiped God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. With only six years of education in China, she learned how to read the Bible every single day that her Bible is literally worn out.
Many of us are somewhat hesitant to talk about our faith outside of church but not Mrs. Chin. When she meets people for the very first time, she would invite them to church. And when she sees that you have some interest in God, she would ask you if your husband or wife is coming to church. There’re no boundaries for Mrs. Chin when she talks about God because she is in-season as a Christian all the time. When she was still able to come to church, she became known as the “smiling white-haired lady” who unofficially became our church greeter. She welcomed everyone to join the church and to know the Lord whom she loved all the time.
The Apostle Paul writing to the Colossians spoke about people like Mrs. Chin. Paul said,
“So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory.” (Col. 3:1-4)
Mrs. Chin sought the things that are above and set her mind on the above and revealed Christ all her life. And now she is with him in glory.
A few years ago when Mrs. Chin started to have dementia, she would forget what day of the week it is. Every day she would ask Marian if it was Sunday. And Marian would tell her she just went to church yesterday or that Sunday was still days away. But in some profound and unexpected way, Mrs. Chin’s forgetfulness has taught us an important truth. Every day is a Sunday. As Christians, every day is a gift from God for us to use for his purposes—to give praise, to seek forgiveness and to offer reconciliation, to bring peace and joy, to search for meaning and to thank God for such abundance and blessings that we all share. Christians are in-season people all the time because every day is a Sunday.
In this same passage that Paul wrote to the Colossians, he continued by saying,
“As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Bear with one another, and if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” (Col. 3:12-17)
Mrs. Chin’s children don’t remember one time when she was angry toward them. She clothed herself with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness and patience. She taught them to bear with one another and when life challenges came and we all know that life does things like that to us, her children were able to be in-season and confidently and ably met the challenges well. Mrs. Chin’s love for her family which is only second to her love for God, kept her family in perfect harmony. Mrs. Chin was one of the original members of the Women’s Society and with gratitude in her heart; she along with the other women sang psalms, hymns and spiritual songs to God.
One of the things that Mrs. Chin did was to have her picture taken with each of the church’s pastors. She kept these in her wallet. At first I wondered what need did she have for this. She has lots of pictures of her four loving and matured children, a good group of grandchildren and a growing number of great-grandchildren. What did she need pictures of pastors like me? I discovered that she wanted to pray for us. I might be undisciplined at times as a pastor but Mrs. Chin was praying for me. I might be out of season now and then but she was always diligent and obediently in-season so that I might follow her faithful example. All pastors need people like Mrs. Chin to be in-season for them.
Some of you may know that Mrs. Chin reminded me of my own mother who spoke the same Toishan dialect. There were times when I would called her Mom which gave me in Marian the sister that I never had. Mrs. Chin would make her children goot fun that helps with eating too much fried foods. She cooked only a limited number of dishes but each of her children grew up to be strong and healthy anyway. She washed and ironed clothes for her children just like she did for customers when she worked in their Chinese laundry. She took care of her children and in return her children took care of her until she completed her long and well-lived life on earth.
Paul said, “Whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” Mrs. Wai Lum Gin Chin welcomed everyday as a Sunday when she was always in-season to do everything in the name of the Jesus. May all of us be in-season and do the same.
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.
We praise you for all the right choices we made in 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 to 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 children and grandchildren, 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, O God, for the life of your child, Wai Lum Gin Chin who was always in-season on earth but is now in-season for eternity, ended here, resumed with the Lord. Amen.
Announcements
If you wish to make a gift in memory of Mrs. Wai Lum Gin Chin, the family has requested that you can make donations to the First Chinese Baptist Church in San Francisco where she was a member for 62 years. More detail information can be found in your program.
When you exit, you will be given two small envelopes. The white envelope contains a piece of candy to symbolize sweetness in a bittersweet situation. The red envelope contains a coin for you to buy something on your way home to suggest that you will continue to prosper and to have a healthy life.
After you have come forward to pay your last respects, there will be a Memorial Luncheon at the Mayflower Restaurant in Union City where the family looks forward to fellowshipping with you. See the funeral program for detail information.
The private family Committal Service at Greenlawn Memorial Park in Colma will follow the luncheon.
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, Wai Lum Gin Chin, has promised, through the Lord, to forgive us and to shelter us throughout eternity.
I charge you to find your comfort and peace in these gracious promises of a loving God.
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.
Committal Service
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. (John 11:25-26)
Do not be afraid: I am the first and the last, and the living one. I was dead and see, I am alive forever and ever. (Rev. 1:17-18)
And from John, “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. (John 3:16)
In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, crucified and risen, we commend to God’s merciful care our sister, Wai Lum Gin Chin; and we commit her body to this 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.
God our Maker, you made our sister, Wai Lum Gin Chin, in your own image; you set her feet on a sojourner adventure; you watched over her along the way. As you lovingly received and welcomed her to the ranks of the redeemed, we pray that you would continue to guide our sojourner steps so that, at the appointed time, we might join Jean Lim in the communion of saints—forgiven, transformed, and fit for our new life with the Lord, in whose name we pray. 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. Go in peace.