Reflections...

A sermon preached at Kowloon Union Church on Sunday 8 November 2009 by the Rev. Phyllis Wong. The scripture readings that day were Ruth 3:1-5, 4:13-17; Psalm 146 and Mark 12:38-44.


Opening prayer
Lord, open our minds and our hearts to understand Your truth. May the words from my mouth be a delight to You and serve Your Will. Amen.

Introduction
I wish to do a simple survey. Who are living with elderly parents, grandparents and close relatives at home right now? Who have an elderly in your own family but he or she does not live with you? Which of you have elderly neighbors?

The Hong Kong Christian Council has suggested her member churches to assign one Sunday in November as Elderly Sunday. The purpose of the designated Sunday for the elderly is to raise the concern and care for our elderly at home, in church and in the community. In addition, it is time to celebrate the contribution of the elder to our families and community. Today we have taken this elderly Sunday on board in our congregation at KUC.

Our Lord Jesus Christ has given the Church the mission to share the Gospel to people. Amongst all, for people of the aged, what does the gospel mean to them?

Life situation changes. Look at the life of Naomi. Naomi was a Israelite woman mentioned in the Book of Ruth in the Bible. She had faced ups and downs in life. From the Book of Ruth, we were told that Naomi went to Moab (a foreign land to the ancient Israelites) with her husband and two sons. But all of them died in Moab. When Naomi planned to go back to her home country after her husband and sons died, she asked her daughters in law to leave her and return home. While one of the daughters in law, Orpan, left at her request, the other one, Ruth, insisted to stay with her and followed her back to Ruth’s origin of Israel. When Naomi came back to her home country, she had nothing except Ruth. By the end of the story, this was the part that we read this morning, Ruth was married to the rich relative (Boaz) and gave birth to a son (Obed) that brought Naomi great honor and a secure life. Naomi got a grand-son who was close to her. In ancient Jewish Law, close relatives of the deceased had to take up the responsibility to redeem the dead relatives’ land as well as to marry the widow and give birth to a new born under the name of the dead so as to keep the dead man’s name and avoid his name being cut off from his kindred.

We can see how Naomi’s life of ups and downs, moments of joy and sorrows. When she had come to a critical and desperate point in life, her daughter in law demonstrated to her unfailing love. Ruth was able to bring hope and honor to Naomi. As said in the narrative, Naomi’s women friends said Naomi was blessed by the Lord, she had a daughter in law so in love with her. Ruth was more to Naomi than seven sons.

We can imagine or we may actually recognize our elderly at home and in society experiencing different kind of difficulties and turmoil in life, like Naomi. What is able to sustain them perhaps is the unfailing love of those around them.

From the story of Ruth, we find that the faithful love to our elders is all important. That’s no matter how bad the situation is, we will still stay with them and love them. We never let them face the crisis and problems alone. In all circumstances, we just stand by them!!!

The gospel to the aged is the faithful and unfailing love by their loved ones. We stand by them always!

Sometimes we may not be able to live near to our elderly parents/grandparents/and close relatives for some reasons. My friend was a case in point. While she lived and worked in Canada, her father lived alone in Hong Kong. When her father’s health was deteriorating, she took him to the elderly home. For elderly who do not receive care from immediate family members, they need others’ helps and support. In reality, this is very common in our society and different parts of the world. For examples many families in HK have to employ domestic helpers to take care of their elderly or take them to elderly homes. If our work is related to taking care of elderly or if we know there are aged neighbors living next door, perhaps we can take this opportunity to demonstrate our love and care to them. If everybody in the society takes every single elderly as our parents and grandparents, this world would be a better place to live. Although the elderly whom we serve in work setting, whom we meet in church or who are living next door to us do not have a blood relationship with us, in God we are all God’s children. We are created by God and connected in the love of God. In God’s world, we are one family.

The gospel to the aged is that we take them as our family. We love each other for we are all God’s children.

Some of us may think we don’t have the patience with the elderly; and some of you may say ‘I am too busy’. It is also true that not all elderly are easy to communicate. They are all good reasons for walking out from caring for our elderly at home and in our community. The offering of the widow that we read from Mark 12 this morning has given us some thoughts about the sharing of our possessions or what I call gifts. Jesus praised the widow for her offering of the two small copper coins. It was not the face value of the coins that Jesus treasured, it was the heart and commitment of that widow to God. The widow had given all she had. She did not keep anything for herself. This has reflected a strong message of giving and sharing of what we have to God and for God. The widow was poor and inadequate, but she still offered. The challenge of God to us through the deed of the widow is that, we give and share of what we lack and not what we already have abundantly. When we offer something that we find ourselves lacking, it involves a great risk indeed. This kind of offering requires great courage and commitment to God and those we care about.

In caring and supporting our elderly, if we find ourselves being inadequate in love, patience, and time available, try to emulate the widow and give out of this shortage and see how God make miracles out there.

The gospel to the elderly is that people around are willing to give and share love with them.

In Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Council of Social Services has advocated community concern for the elderly. They have initiated an annual “Elderly Day” which is coming soon next Sunday. The theme for this year is ‘Aging well, living well’.

Elderly has the right to dignity. They should be entitled to basic health care, welfare service and retirement protection provided by the government and community. Besides the basic need of food and medical service, elderly people’s need of social participation that make their life whole and full are another important aspect. Elderly citizens should not be regarded as passive and weak, they are a group of people full of wisdom, experience and fun which can be shared with the next generations. Due to longer life expectancy nowadays, educational and social programs provided to elder can enrich their lives after retirement. The image of the elderly should not be just old and sick, dependent and miserable.

The gospel to the aged is that their contribution to the society should be recognized. And their needs of different dimensions should be recognized and addressed. Aging would be a process of blessing to themselves and others. “Aging well, living well”.

Now, I would like to talk about the subject of concerns – the elderly themselves. Gospel to the aged. For our dear elders, what does the gospel mean to them?

From Naomi, she was able to lead a life with perseverance. Although she had lost her husband and sons, she did not give up. She was a very tough woman with the wisdom to face the hardship in life. In addition, Naomi was a very kind and loving person. Out of love and concern to her daughters in law, she asked them to leave her and start a new life that may be good for them. The unselfishness of Naomi in return gave her the faithful daughter in law –Ruth who declared to stay with her no matter how bad the situation was.

The Elderly are able to lead a life in full and with joy if they are able to love others and have strong faith in God who is kind and gracious to all people especially those who in special needs.

If the elderly realize that at the end of the day, God of this universe is right there to protect them and bless them, the elders would then be at ease and at peace. Psalm 146 is a great piece of spiritual prayer to remind all elderly of the gospel that God has given and promised. Let me read it once again for you.

“Happy are those whose help is the God of Jacob. Whose hope is in the Lord of their God, who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them; who keeps faith forever; who executes justice for the oppressed; who gives food to the hungry.”

This is the promise of God and our faith in God that keeps us to face an uncertain life, a world of changing where we find nothing strong enough to cling on to. But only God can fulfill our needs and desires.
Gospel to the aged is the unfailing love of God who care and fully presence in their life.

At the end of my sermon, I would like to share a personal experience of encountering with an elderly.

This was my father.

When my father reached his last stage of earthly life, I had quality time to talk to him and listened to his life story. Three months before he died he was very sick and had to be admitted to the hospital frequently. There was one occasion when he was sent to the emergency ward and needed to take an x-ray. I found that his vest was full of holes when he took off his clothes. My first reaction was ‘how come father, you are not that poor, why don’t you put on a new one. Surely you can afford it!’ I guess I was a bit embarrassed seeing this in a public place, that makes me feel bad. My unhappiness changed when my thought shifted to think of my father’s past life experience that he had once shared. My father was born in a fairly well off family. Because of the civil war and the change of political sovereignty to the Communist government in Mainland China in the late 40s and 50s, he moved to Hong Kong. Life in Hong Kong was never easy for him and he had suffered from hunger when he came to Hong Kong without a job. In addition to this, his pride was hurt when he went to borrow money from a friend to feed his stomach but was rejected. He was a responsible father and did his best to raise a big family of 8 children. Having lived in poverty, he was therefore very conscious not to waste anything but keep them. Very often he would keep the things that he did not need, and thus became source of conflict between himself and his daughter in law who lived with him. When I saw the holes of my father’s vest, I remembered all these life experiences that he had gone through. By that very moment, I felt no more unhappiness and embarrassment, but a deep sense of respect and gratitude to him from the bottom of my heart. My father was a humble man and had led a simple life, which I should honor and appreciate.

Understanding of our elderly in our families and community through listening is very powerful. Knowing their life struggles help us to understand why they are who they are now. This helps us to increase our acceptance and remove obstacles of loving them.

When my father was very sick, he had a chance to meet with God directly. I had seen my father’s pure heart to God for his total trust in our Lord Jesus Christ. He handed over his life to God and let go of everything that happen to him. He experienced a great inner peace and joy in Christ. That was an amazing and gracious moment to him and to our family.

Gospel to the aged is a process of listening and understanding. This is gracious and unconditional love from God, and practice of Jesus’ commandment of loving one other. May God empower us to love and bless the elderly amongst us. May God bless all elderly and lead them a life in full happiness and peace. Amen