November 25. 2007. 2:00, Oak Hill Memorial Park, San Jose
Welcome
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)
We gather here today as family, friends, sisters and brothers in Christ to remember a faithful child of God, June L. Chan, born into this world on August 4, 1908 and returned to the Lord on November 14, 2007. God is gracious and blessed June Chan with a long life so that she may see how God blesses his people with descendants and new generations.
On behalf of the Chan and the Lau families, I welcome you here to this time of celebrating and remembering the life of June L. Chan. By your presence and the many prayers of others, the family of June Chan is thankful for your care, support and love during this time of loss and grief. During this memorial service, we pray that you will hear about how our loving God is ever-so-present wherever life’s journey may have taken us and in the end, we can still affirm that God is gracious and life is good.
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, June L. Chan 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.
Living a Good Life
As a people, we know how to judge whether something is good or bad. We analyze and evaluate everything we see and encounter all the time. The San Francisco Chronicle has this little man in the entertainment pages indicating whether a movie is good or bad by his body language. In Los Angeles, we grade restaurants with letter grades. And most likely, all of us at one time have received a grade at school that we didn’t like. We never like to get a failing grade!
When I heard about the passing of June L. Chan and that she was 99 years old, I asked myself whether we could judge whether it’s a good death or a death that is not as good. We tend to believe that when someone has lived to a mature age of 99 years, that we can say this is a good death. She lived a long and complete life. But while we knew for some time that such a day is coming, we are still surprised and shaken because we can never deprive death of its strangeness.
All of us in some point in our lives have asked ourselves whether we are having a good life. We want to have an A grade for our lives. But what makes our lives good or bad are not measured by the degrees that we have earned or the credentials that hang in our offices or the inventions that we have patented or even the amount of money we have in the bank. What makes a good life good is to live life in the Lord.
In Romans 14:7-9, Paul writes:
We do not live to ourselves, and we do not die to ourselves. If we live,
we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord so then, whether we live
or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died and lived again, so that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.
Mrs. June Chan lived a good life not because she pollinated or bred a new rose but that she worked hard to start a nursery business with her husband. She lived a good life not because she was particularly known by her sons to be a good cook, but Wes still remembers her fried chicken and lettuce-wrapped oysters. She lived a good life not because she had a job that brought home a lot of money but that she faithfully worked at home supporting her husband, cracked the whip at her sons, and took a sincere interest in her grandchildren and great-grandchildren’s lives. Mrs. Chan lived a good life not because she lived for 99 years but that she was caring, selfless, humble and devoted her life to her family, community and to God. June Chan believed in God, went to church, served as a Deacon and taught Sunday school. If we were to give Mrs. Chan a grade for her good life, it would be an A++!
When June Chan was living, she lived in the Lord. Today in June Chan’s dying, she died in the Lord. And we know that it is loved ones like June Chan that Christ died and lived again so that Christ might be the Lord of June Chan today in paradise.
Today many beautiful flowers symbolizing life and how life can be beautiful surround us. We know that in a short time, these flowers will die and won’t be beautiful anymore. We want flowers to be beautiful all the time but when they wither and die, we are reminded of death’s strangeness again. We ask ourselves when we have encountered death so many times before when will there not be any more strangeness? When a death can’t be graded as being a good one, how can we remove the strangeness away from those deaths we feel are not as good?
The German pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer argued that when we come up to a death that is not as good as we would like to say it is, the answer can be found in the suffering God. Why? Because a suffering God has already deprived death of its strangeness. God understands what we are going through because he has suffered too. When we die, we died to the Lord. And there is no other better place to be than to be with the Lord when we die. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son so that whosoever believes in Jesus Christ will not perish but would have eternal life. God in Jesus has deprived death of its strangeness already.
With the passing of Mrs. June Chan, we are aware of the ending of one generation to which we may be saddened and at the same time, it is the beginning of new generations– that is a good reason for rejoicing. Even in the midst of unexpected tragedies and sadness, God is a gracious God, merciful in many ways, blessing us with new generations of loving people. Paul in Philippians said, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again, I say rejoice.” Rejoicing comes to us when we are living in the Lord. And rejoicing comes too when we die, we die in the Lord.
In a little while, we’ll be hearing the angels once again proclaiming, “Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.” (Luke 2:10-11) We are about to enter a season of hope and good tidings of great joy.
There is going to be good news of great joy when new babies arrived in your household. There is going to be good news of great joy when wedding bells ring in your household. There is going to be good news of great joy in the good life that you are living because Jesus has deprived death of its strangeness.
Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say rejoice because when you thought that your life has been a “C” or perhaps even a “D,” Jesus Christ has made it an “A++!”
Let us pray.
Dear God, life has been good and long. Although we may be sad, we are not lost. We are alive and life is left for our rejoicing. We can be born from above as well as from below. Even those who think we are too old can still be born again. Lord, we count on you to help us; to accompany us; to hear through our grief to its depth in thanksgiving.
Thank you, O God that June Chan was with us so long; that she was well so long; that she was happy so long, that she knew Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior for so long. For all that she never knew, for the grief and suffering that were hers, we also give thanks. Her suffering made her stronger and served as a model for us to be strong in the Lord too. O God, we know how much she relied on you for living a good and faithful life.
We give thanks, not as we ought, but as we are able, for all that is good and all that is permanent. Our memories will carry us through the hard times because they are good. Our hope will be in you and in remembering how you got us through all kinds of trouble, both in life and in death.
For every good thing, we praise your name. For all that we missed, we absolve ourselves in you. For kind words left unspoken, forgive us. In the name of Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.
Benediction
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 goal when one goal has been reached; hope for recovery and a fresh start when a goal has eluded us; hope at last, when all hope seems lost, except for the one shining hope set before us in your raising our Lord Jesus Christ from death.
Beloved, in the midst of sadness, I charge you to rejoice. Rejoice in our hope of sharing the glory of God!
Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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)
In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, crucified and risen, we commend to God’s merciful care our sister June L. Chan; 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.” (Rev. 14:13)
Let us pray.
God of grace and mercy, comfort and assure us with the knowledge that June L. Chan is with you, at peace in your eternal love and care. As we go forth from this place, grant us faith in your goodness, faith in your guiding wisdom and faith in your everlasting promise that in Jesus Christ, there is eternal life. Your amazing grace upon us leads our souls to see our Savior God and we can only sing, “How great thou art!”
Grant us the awareness that each of our days is a true gift from you, to be lived preciously and joyously in hopeful expectation of eternal life in divine presence with those we love. In the name of Jesus, the Lord of life, we pray.
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.