On my right
hand is a Bible. I bring it with me not because I want to read some verses of
it, but to let you know that this Bible is a gift from Tante Mary.
From my
personal experience, one of the most exciting responsibilities of being a
pastor at Surrey is to pick Tante Mary up and to drop her home to and from
church services. Since July 2011, almost every week, my family and I have been
given what I call a ‘golden opportunity’ to be in private and intense
conversations at least one hour a week – not counting Bible Studies and our
visits to her.
In those
conversations we used to talk about either church issues or her family:
children, grand children and great grand children. Indeed in our last visit few
days before her death, she proudly mentioned to us how grateful she was to have
four great grand children. We often talked and evaluated on our Sunday
Services. While, my wife and I often focussed on technical issues, such as music,
style of worship, sermon illustration, multi-media and others, Tante Mary had
completely different interests. Tante Mary is deeply rooted in Pentecostalism.
To her, the most important thing in Christian life and ministry is being filled
by the Holy Spirit. Thus, Tante Mary’s evaluation on our worship services almost
always fell into two categories: It is filled by the Holy Spirit or it is not
filled by the Holy Spirit. We sometimes used an alternate word: anointing. One
day there was a little trouble created by one of our church members. Tante Mary
lightly said to me, ‘Don’t worry Pastor Ery, that person is not born again
yet.’ Whether her judgments were correct or not, I do not know, but Tante Mary
had taught me and the church to go to the basics: that is that the most
important qualifications for God’s servants in ministry are born again, the
filling of the spirit and God’s anointing – those are far more important that
merely technical issues and performances.
One of my best
friends, a pastor, told me that she wished to die while she is preaching. Behind
that wish, we know that someone is doubly honored when he or she died on duty. Tante
Mary as many of us know is a prayer woman. And she died on duty. On her last
Sunday in Surrey, she was asked to pray for our teens that were going to have a
Bible camp. On the previous week, I explained to her the details of the camp:
the speaker, the place, the participants, the theme and everything. On Sunday
before the service began, she approached me asking, ‘Pa Ery: what is the theme
of the youth Bible camp?’ I answered her: ‘My life is my ministry.’ It was
however unusual since she approached me four times with the same question
within less than ten minutes. During the worship, she approached me again for
the fifth time, but now she smiled saying, I now know the theme: My life is my
ministry. That unusual incident tells me that when tante Mary prays for
something, she prays for it seriously. She could have simply asked God to bless
the teens and Amen. She however decided to make sure that she knew the theme of
the camp, and she said it in her prayer that Sunday. That prayer was her last
public ministry in Surrey – Though I am sure she remembered the camp, the theme
and prayed for it up to her last day on earth. As the theme of the camp, HER
LIFE IS truly HER MINISTRY. She died on duty, and therefore is extraordinarily
honored.
Now, let me
share my last memorable incident with Tante Mary. In November 2009, I visited
Vancouver for three weeks, preaching in Vancouver three times, in Burnaby two
times and in Surrey three times. Neither was a pastor nor a member of HFAN that
time. And I do not think Tante Mary knew that eventually I would become her
pastor. After my last service at Surrey, she approached me putting an envelope
in my pocket. I want to be open with all of you. It was one hundred dollar. She
is the very first person in the entire Canada and off course in the church who with
generosity gave me some financial support. To all of you, what Tante Mary did to
me may not be too special. To us, it was prophetic: someone who did not know me
but my name – and I did not know her either but her name – an elderly and in a
foreign land gave me some financial support. My family and I decided to come to
Canada and to serve God in this country not because the money Tante Mary gave
to me. God however has used tante Mary to be his prophet to tell my wife and I that
wherever God calls us to go, God will provide our needs. 
Lastly, less
than a week before she died, we visited her one afternoon. I was sleepy and
tired – and I openly mentioned it to her. Tante Mary again graciously served me
with a cup of coffee. That afternoon coffee will always bring my memory to
Tante Mary’s generosity. My family and I personally value her friendship and service.
Now to the
whole family of Tante Mary (the children, the grand children and the four great
grand children whom she is proud of), I on behalf of the whole HFAN Surrey
congregation want to let you know how lovely and adorable she had been with us.
We love her and we deeply honor her. We pray that this moment of grief may
unite the whole family in peace. Amen.
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