Celebrating the Flights of Life

"Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His faithful servants" Psalms 116:5


There used to be death-houses1 tucked away in the dark alleys of Sago Lane in Chinatown, Singapore. People living out the last days of their lives would be left at these death houses to die. There, solitary and terminally-ill Chinese immigrants could rent a bed space for their dying moments. They had pre-purchased their coffins and funeral rites. The funeral parlour would be below these rental spaces.  In those days, the dying person faced terminal illnesses alone often without the prospect of family and community support.

Not anymore.

Dover Park Hospice (DPH) was set up in 1992 to provide care for patients at the end of life. Now, these patients can live out their last days in comfort and dignity – lovingly cared for by an expert team trained in palliative care. What’s more, the hospices in Singapore have been engaging the public and community, creating awareness and societal support.

One example is the recent “Hospice Is….” Art Project initiated by DPH and the LaSalle College of the Arts (LCA). The project involved people from all walks of life, ranging from hospice patients and their families, staff and volunteers from the hospice fraternity, community partners and the general public. They were encouraged to express their feelings about end-of-life issues and Hospices and paint these thoughts onto pre-molded dove figurines. The dove is the symbol of the Dover Park Hospice.

Art Therapy is a creative way to express emotions, thoughts and states of being that may be difficult to share and communicate with others. There is an intrinsic therapeutic value in creating something with one’s own hands and then to share this with others.

Thus, using art to transcend barriers, the project and the ensuing exhibition from 3 to 7 Oct 2103 served as a platform for Singaporeans to share their perceptions on hospice care. It was hoped that the public will become more aware of these end-of-life issues and help de-mystify the concept of the hospice movement.

The success of the open art exhibition in contrast with the hidden death houses in the past, indicates the gradual change in societal attitudes towards taboo subjects such as the death and dying in Singapore.

So, why do we care and why are the dying moments important? In DPH our motto is “Every Moment Matters”. This means that whatever time is left for life should be lived in the most meaningful way. The hospice offers support and specialist care to achieve this aim. No one is left alone to die.

In the same way no Christian will face death alone. Psalms 116:5 informs that God will always be with us.

Lionel

1. Click on hyperlink to view You-tube of Death-Houses of Sago Lane

The Quintessential Pastor

A Pastor and Her Congregation

“ Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood. I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them.  So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears.” Acts 20:28-31

On the last day of 2012, we paid tribute to our outgoing Pastor Tan-Yeo Lay Suan, bidding her farewell after 7 years as the pastor-in-charge of Charis Methodist Church. There were heaps of sincere praise and an outpouring of gratitude.

Lay Suan came to our local congregation in January 2006, our very first lady pastor. She is petite, a trifle frail, but she is a powerhouse minister, performing her many duties as Pastor-in-Charge resolutely and with patience and gentleness.

Church elder, Koh Wan Yee aptly summarised her 7 years ministry in Charis, calling her “…a quintessential pastor, a pastor to all members for all seasons”. 

A minister of the church is a time-honoured vocation.  It is an onerous job. At times, it can be filled with agonising moments of disappointments whilst other times are filled with the elation and joys of having influenced and assisted others in their spiritual journeys. No achievement can surpass that of having guided people through difficult periods, healing hurts, sustaining spirits and restoring their spiritual health.

Unobtrusively, Lay Suan had the courage to exert her leadership in a manner after Bishop Emeritus Robert Solomon’s advice: “As ministers of order, pastors must exercise pastoral leadership, leading not just with the exhortation of their words, but also with the example of their lives. Pastors must also motivate their flocks to follow Christ and to live lives worthy of God. Their leadership must be exercised through personal involvement in the lives of their flocks. They must earn the respect of their flocks in the way they conduct themselves. They must lead their flocks." (Ref 1).

To these duties, Pastor Tan-Yeo offered herself unreservedly and unpretentiously. In so doing, she led, nurtured, encouraged, counselled and protected the flock just as St Paul expected in his farewell message to the Ephesians elders in Acts 20. She left behind an indelible mark and she will be remembered with fondness.

Lionel

Ref 1: R.S. Solomon Ordination Service at 28^th Session of the Chinese Annual Conference, Singapore 13 Nov 2003.

Eleanor - When A Child Is Born

“Behold, children are a gift of the Lord; the fruit of the womb is a reward”. Psalms 127:3

Our granddaughter, Eleanor was born on the 23 Feb 2011 at around 7.47 p.m. Like the birth of her elder brother James, I waited anxiously throughout the pregnancy for Eleanor’s arrival, all the time not knowing what kind of a grandchild will be given us from God but always trusting in His providence.

Every birth is a miracle. I stared at Eleanor and watched her move, cry and open her eyes. I cannot help but feel so proud as a grandfather. The name means the bright and shining one. In this child, gift of God, is the hope of the future. The song, ‘When A Child Is Born’ sums up this hope and exhilarating feeling so appropriately

A ray of hope flickers in the sky

A tiny star lights up way up high

All across the land, dawns a brand new morn'

This comes to pass when a child is born.

A silent wish sails the seven seas

The winds of change whisper in the trees

And the walls of doubt.. crumble tossed and torn,

This comes to pass when a child is born.

A rosy dawn settles all around

You got to feel you're on solid ground

For a spell or two no one seems forlorn

This come to pass when a child is born.

It's all a dream, and illusion now.

It must come true sometime soon somehow

All across the land dawns a brand new morn

This comes to pass.. when a child is born.

This song celebrates the birth of any child, anywhere in the world but it lends itself to an association with the birth of Jesus Christ. It is this greater miracle of the birth of Jesus which offers hope and joy to the world and from whom, every newborn, like Eleanor, gives the same expectations and brings their individual glimmer of hope.

Every child is God’s gift. Psalms 139:12-14 states, 

'For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.'

The Catholic Media House made a video, “The Miracle of Life” which shows us how amazing and wonderful the gift of Life is that God has blessed us with.

God is the creator of Life. Every child is special and wonderfully made. Jer 1:5 states, 

'Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. Before you are born I set you apart...'  

Eleanor is a blessing from God.

Lionel

Find Us Faithful

Pa & Ma
Originally uploaded by LeeFamily

On the 28 Jun 2009, Pat and her siblings, the Goh (Kao) family celebrated the lives of their late parents the Rev and Mrs James Kao by remembering the 20th anniversary of their deaths. Both had died of cancer within 6 months of each other in 1989.

Coming together in family worship, we reminisced about Pa and Ma; what we knew of them. Rev Kao was a Methodist Pastor for 40 years. In his career he was the pastor to many churches ranging from small village congregations in Malaysia to large urban churches in Singapore. He was known as a church builder, having raised funds and organised the development for at least 7 churches in Singapore, Malaysia and China. Mrs Kao was ever the dutiful pastor’s wife who cared for 7 children and ever the present companion at his side.

We talked of how both were so committed to the Lord and faithful in ministry. It was not easy to be a minister of the Gospel in the 1940s. My father and mum in law were sent to village churches that could ill afford the minister’s salary, much less feed seven children. Ma would relate how these churches pay Rev Kao in kind, mostly by giving them “kampong” chickens. But they soldier on, faithfully serving God. They were both prayer warriors, noted for spending the early morning and late night hours on their knees, praying. We recalled the many miracles surrounding them wherein God answered their prayers in the difficult circumstances of their lives and ministries.

Considering their testimonies, struggles and service, the advice by St Paul to young Timothy comes to mind 1 Tim 6:6-8 ‘A devout life does bring wealth, but it's the rich simplicity of being yourself before God. Since we entered the world penniless and will leave it penniless, if we have bread on the table and shoes on our feet, that's enough’.

They are fortunate, my in-laws. They found their calling early in life and lived lives of service, godliness and contentment. Ravi Zacharias states “We often find out too late in life that attaining a pursuit and finding fulfillment are not necessarily the same thing. It is surely possible to find meaning without extraordinary success. Many people do. But conversely immense success does not always bring meaning and fulfillment. Sometimes it takes a lifetime to recognise God’s calling.”

Richard of Chichester prayed.
‘may I know you more clearly,
love you more dearly,
follow you more nearly,
day by day.’

St Paul’s advice to Timothy in 1 Tim 6:11-12 ‘But you, Timothy, man of God: Run for your life from all this (that is the pursuit of wealth and worldliness). Pursue a righteous life—a life of wonder, faith, love, steadiness, courtesy. Run hard and fast in the faith. Seize the eternal life, the life you were called to, the life you so fervently embraced in the presence of so many witnesses.’

What should occupy our lives? Do we pursue wealth, happiness, popularity, acceptance? My guess is that the pursuit of godliness is the best path to follow. It was the path chosen by the Rev and Mrs James Kao. I hope that my life will be lived such that long after I am dead and gone, my children and grandchildren would one day sit in conversation and sift through our lives, Pat and I. My prayer is that they would have found that we’ve have kept our Christian faith and have made a difference for them and others. May they find us faithful.

“After all our hopes and dreams have come and gone
And our children sift through all we've left behind
May the clues that they discover and the memories they uncover
Become the light that leads them to the road we each must find

Oh may all who come behind us find us faithful
May the fire of our devotion light their way
May the footprints that we leave
Lead them to believe
And the lives we live inspire them to obey
Oh may all who come behind us find us faithful”
Lionel

Ref Ravi Zaccharias, “The Grand Weaver” Zondervan 2007

Begin The Journey With The End In Mind.

 

'Fight the good fight of faith. Take hold of eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession before many witnesses.'  1 Tim 6:12

We bade farewell to Sim Hee Wan, a long time church friend. He fought a 2 year battle against pancreatic cancer. I can sense the difficulty our church had in bidding our farewell to Hee Wan. He was still a young father, leaving behind a young wife and two small children. At the wake and cremation, his wife and friends shared strong and stirring testimonies of being touched by a quiet, unassuming witness of a Christian who has the gift of encouraging others. 

In 1 Tim 6: 12, the Apostle Paul wrote

'Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.'

Although this verse is often quoted at many a funeral wake, Hee Wan had a special claim to this verse and it would do well to learn the lesson he was teaching us.

The last two years of Hee Wan’s journey and good fight was tough and difficult. He shared his thoughts of this journey once:- “My family took the 4 hours drive up Malaysia to attend the church camp. As expected the question from the back seat ever so often during the drive was "Are we there yet?" The journey really felt unending to my two children. I find myself asking God the same question. "Am I there yet?" 

It has been 6 months since I started on my chemo treatment. The good news first, the cancer marker count has gone down from the 600+ to 80+. The recent CT scan in May 2007 also showed a small shrinkage in size of the tumour. My doctor told me that the treatment is working for me. I would need to continue with my chemo for 2 more weeks, from 5 June, before he decides on the next course of action. Currently, my physical condition is quite good, hardly experiencing any pain, living quite a normal life, thank God! At this moment, I really don't know how long this journey is going to be. All I know is "He" is doing the driving, and me asking Him the same question over and over again. I believe in good time I will arrive!"

Well in the meantime, we will just have to do what St Paul said, "Whatever that is of good report, think of these things" 

Hee Wan showed me the secret of beginning a journey with the end in mind. Somewhere in his ‘fighting the good fight of faith,’ he learnt that life on earth is about transforming the soul and not about sustaining the body. We are always more preoccupied about our physical selves, more nurturing of our health than about being conscious of our souls.

Consider what Hee Wan wrote on 24 Sep 2007, "I want my life to fulfill God's purposes. In worship to Him through every act I make! In fellowship with His people by putting aside time for them. In having the mind of Christ to be more like Him. In serving His people to be a giver of strength, time and money and to teach people who do not know Christ by being a friend to them."

Psalms 1:2-3

'His delight is in the law of the Lord and on His law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruits in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does he prospers.'

describes a man who nurtured his soul properly under God. That man is like a tree planted by steams of water. No matter what the weather and storms of life, the roots go down into the water sources and bring up life. By doing so he becomes a man who is able to respond to the situations of life in ways that are good and right. He provides thoughts, feelings, actions, relationships and behaviours that are right and in agreement with truth, fulfilling God’s purposes.

He achieves meaning in life. That is what all of us want, meaning for all that we do all and all that we are. Work, rest, struggles, family, friendships, parenting, community, beliefs, contacts must find meaningful experiences and expressions. This is what the Apostle Paul meant when he said in 2 Tim 4:7 “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” 

Did Hee Wan’s journey end? On the 1st April 2008, when Hee Wan drew his last breath, he arrived at heaven’s doors. You see Hee Wan began his journey with the end in mind and death is not the end.

Lionel