Christmas Gifts

As a Christmas gift, we gave each of our nursing home residents a poinsettia plant and with it a verse that proclaims the good news of Christmas: “But the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.’”  Our gifts gave us an opportunity to meet residents who normally don’t join us for Sunday service.  These visits really encouraged the residents, and encouraged us as well.  

Here are some words from our members about their experiences: 

Jen: I visited a Chinese resident who was very thankful of our poinsettia gift.  As I explained the meaning of Christmas to him, he said he had just heard about the Christmas story through the Chinese radio on Saturday, and seemed more receptive to hearing about Jesus because of our gift.

Cheng: PC was so thankful that we gave him the plant. He shared with me that he really looks forward to our service every week, because it is really one of the only things during the week that cheers him up. Even though his memory is not very good, he would often bring up the time that we weren’t able to hold service because we were all away at our church-wide Thanksgiving Retreat, so that tells me he really cherishes our Sunday services.

For the first time I also met a woman named G, and she was very happy to receive the poinsettia. I am not sure if she is there temporarily, but she did have surgery for her heart conditions that are still giving her a lot of problems. Hank, Kevin and I all prayed for her to heal.  Kevin visited her again recently, and because she remembered that he was one who had given her the poinsettia, that gave him an opportunity to pray with her again as she shared with him that she was very sad. 

Audrey: M’s daughter joined us for Sunday service the next day with the intention to thank us for our poinsettia gift for her mom.  Since M wasn’t in her room, we had left the gift on her table.  M’s daughter later found it and asked the staff for the time of our service the next day, and she joined us for service, thanked us, and she has been trying to bring her mom to our Sunday service.

Barbara: Overall, coming into their rooms with a poinsettia seemed to just brighten their faces, and most were willing to just talk even though it was the first time I had met some of them. C was so happy to see us she gave me a hug and a kiss on the cheek. She had just finished a snack and wanted to talk. W was also happy to see us. When Chris came into the room, she said that she really enjoys hearing from the preacher on Sundays. I pointed to him, and asked, “Do you mean this preacher?” “Yes!” And she asked him to come closer and to pray for her.

Loneliness

On Saturday, we went to CB and OCC to deliver Christmas poinsettias to all the residents.  I was so thankful for this time, because I got to meet so many residents that I have not had a chance to meet before.  At CB, I met W and E.  They are roommates, and W is an army veteran from World War II.  He has 2 children that were born to him when he was stationed in Spain, but they remained in Spain after he came home, and he has very rarely seen them and does not talk with them anymore.  He says he does not get any visitors as he has no family.  I asked him if he believed in God, and he said “At this stage in life, of course”.  I think he knows that he is near the end, and he is basically immobile, with tubes and a colostomy bag. 

On Sunday, I went back to visit them after the service, and got to talk more with E.  E said that he was not feeling good emotionally today as his best friend just died of liver cancer yesterday.  He is an African American man and says he has no siblings or family, and so his best friend was like a brother to him.  He said he called his friend on the phone yesterday, and his friend said that he would call him back since he was not feeling well, and he died right after he hung up the phone.  E said that he had come out to church periodically through his life, but did not currently go now, so I invited him to our service.  He opened up to me to readily about his friend, and I was struck by how lonely it must be for him, especially now as he has no one left.  For W too, he is now near the end of his life, all alone in a nursing home with no way to contact his children.  I took today’s Sunday worship message to heart—we may feel like foreigners in the world, aliens and strangers, but we are members of God’s household (Ephesians 2:11-22).  He offers to draw us all near no matter what has happened or what we have done, and welcome us as members of his own family.  I prayed that W and E would come to understand this, and feel more urgent to share the gospel.

Brokenness is Real

We hosted a Thanksgiving luncheon for the GB residents who did not have other plan and would stay around on the Thanksgiving Day.  A couple days before that, when answering our question about how many residents might stay around and join the luncheon, one of the managers at GB told us that there was this one resident who is severely alcoholic and very lonely, and that he might be around.  She said she remembered this resident saying something like “Jesus is really important to me” and thus thought we as a Christian group could help him with his problems.  I then recalled that this resident came to our service a couple of times when he first moved in, and he is a great singer who sings for a living by performing at different parties.

On Thanksgiving, as we started our luncheon, I remembered what the manager had said and called that resident from the phone downstairs.  He picked up the phone and I introduced myself to him.  He actually remembered me.  I invited him to join our luncheon and he sounded surprised and delighted.

When he came, he was apparently under the influence of alcohol, and he shocked everybody by his loud greeting and strange behavior.   We quickly seated him away from other residents and a couple of us tried to talk to him to occupy his attention.  Thankfully he remained undisruptive from then on.  As I was talking to him, I could see that he was not his normal self.  However, he thanked me for inviting him. Though he was under the influence of alcohol, he was coherent.  About 10 minutes into our conversation, he started telling me that he is “a sick person”, that he is “not physically sick but sick in his heart”, and that I “know what that means”, that he knows that he has alcoholism, that he needs God. As I listened, I noticed there were tears on his face, and my heart went out to him, and I invited him to come back to our Sunday services.  He then said he would start coming to our service again.

I was praying that he would come to our service, but he did not show up. I called him after our service ended, and gently told him that I was expecting him at the service.  He told me that he felt he was so messed up that he could not come, but he would try to come next time. I asked him whether we could talk sometime, and he agreed.

This resident reminded me that brokenness is so real in this world, that wherever we go, we have broken people who need love – not any love but God’s love.  In fact, everyone has their own story, even though they may appear fine on the surface, and everyone needs God. There are so many people dying to know the gospel and we really cannot rest but to find these people and bring the gospel and God’s love to them.

Comfort and Strength from God

Ms. B, a resident at one of the senior homes we hold Sunday services for, recently lost her mother.  We got to know Ms. B over the past few months, and she asked us to help organize a memorial service.  I had never led a memorial service before and really felt at a loss as to how I should conduct the service, but I knew that this would be very important for Ms. B.  I knew that in order to console Ms. B and show our love and support, I really had to prepare well.  I am thankful that while I was preparing for the message for the service God reminded me of another message I gave a few years ago when our church was doing regular visits to one of the nursing homes in Oakland, and the theme and the content of the message were suitable for the memorial service. As I was reviewing this message, I was very comforted by the timeless words of the bible passages I had quoted back then.

The service went smoothly and I overall felt very calm and confident while I was conducting the service. I felt that God was really there with me as I was determined to set aside my insecurity and focus on really giving a message of God’s comfort and hope to Ms. B and the friends who attended the service. After the service, the Ms. B genuinely thanked me and my wife Joy, as well as the rest of our group, for being willing to sacrifice our time and energy to do this service for her mother. One of the managers at the senior home also came up to us to thank us for so readily honoring Ms. B’s request. Later, Joy told me there was a young employee of the senior home who was watching and listening to our service from a distance for some time, and she was in tears as she listened to the message and the hymns we sang. This young employee reminded me that everyone has his or her own story, and everyone needs to be touched by God’s message of love and hope.

I thank God for using this memorial service to get me out of my comfort zone and stretch me. As I understood the importance of the memorial service, I had to really engage my heart with God as I did the preparation. The process of preparing the message prompted me to take His Word more seriously and indeed it was a great blessing God gave to me to again reflect upon God’s Word, to see how true and applicable it is to each one of us in this world.  I am thankful for God’s using me as an instrument to minister to the elderly people in this way – I never thought I would be conducting a memorial service. When I look at myself, I really don’t have the qualification to be in such a position. But God has looked on me with mercy and has entrusted me with these people, so I commit to do my best to treasure such an entrustment.

A Change of Heart

Mr. J wasn’t a regular attendee of our Sunday services we hold at a local nursing home.  I first heard about him from my wife, Ulia, who met him in the lobby of the nursing home one Sunday – he yelled at her for something she didn’t do, but she apologized anyway and promised she wouldn’t let that happen again.  One Sunday, he did attend our service, but intentionally sang hymns during our praise time so loudly and obnoxiously that no one could enjoy the praise.  We felt pretty daunted by his presence, and some of us decided to pray for him.  A few months have passed, and amazingly he has had a change of heart.  He now welcomes us when he sees our group enter the nursing home on Sundays, and with a smile points “Stage left!” to direct us to the dining room where we hold our services.  And when I don’t see him welcoming us on Sunday morning, I inevitably see him wheeling down the hallway just a few minutes before 10:30am to make it right on time for our service.  He is now regularly attending our services, sings along with the hymns, and even answers when the speaker asks questions of the audience during service.  When we didn’t hold service at the nursing home on a recent Sunday due to a church-wide retreat, the following Sunday he commented, “I’m glad you guys are back.  We didn’t know what to do with ourselves last Sunday!”  It’s been encouraging to see his change of heart and to see his welcoming face every Sunday, and we’re looking forward to getting to know him more.

Faithfully Sharing the Gospel

Mrs. Y came to live at the senior home fairly recently, so I’ve known her for only a few months.  As an elderly immigrant she can speak and understand only Chinese.  She became a Christian just 5 years ago.  Her son and daughter-in-law who are Christians shared the gospel with her.  Now, she is faithfully sharing the gospel and God’s love as best as she can.  At the senior home, she makes an effort to get to know the other Chinese residents, teaches a free Tai Chi class, shares her home-cooked food with her new friends there, and boldly invites the other residents to Sunday services and to believe in Jesus.

When I am in need encouragement while preaching, I just look to her, even though I know she can’t understand a word I’m saying – she can only understand the Chinese translation that’s given at the end of the service.  I’m thankful to have gotten to know Mrs. Y; her faithfulness to God and her desire to share the gospel really encourages me to be faithful in sharing the gospel to the people we’ve gotten to know at the senior home.

Thank You for Being Who God Has Called You to Be

A few weeks after we celebrated Grandma B’s 101st birthday, I ran into her son at the nursing home, and he handed me a letter.  The letter was addressed to Grandma B from a woman named E.  Apparently E had searched for Grandma B’s name on the internet and came upon the story on our church website on Grandma B’s 100th birthday celebration.  E was writing to Grandma B to wish her a belated Happy Birthday, as well as thanking Grandma B for her part in bringing her to Jesus.  She writes: “I just wanted to say ‘thank you’ for being who God has called you to be.  Your love has spilled out over many people; a true reflection of our Savior.”

Wow.  The letter affirmed to me again Grandma B’s long history of faithfulness to God and to His people – that E, once a young girl in Grandma B’s Good News Club, would now, many years later as a woman and mother, recall Grandma B’s impact on her life and thank Grandma B through this letter.  I was thinking to myself, Grandma B will meet again in heaven all the people she has blessed!  And I’m sure she has many people she’ll be reunited with there!

Being Ready When God Calls

I am so encouraged whenever I see Mrs. B at the worship service. She is so happy to be there to worship God.  Recently, on a Sunday, as we were walking into the room to set up for the service, I heard talking and singing, which was very usual.  When I looked in, there was Mrs. B, either teaching or leading a few others around her in singing a song.  It was a very simple song, which went like this

“When God calls you, you got to go; you may be rich, you may be poor; when He calls you, you got to go.” 

Before they sang, Mrs. B recited the words to the people around her with passion and conviction. After the service, when I asked her about the song, she said, “I’m trying to be ready.”  From what I can see of her each Sunday, I think she is very faithful in trying to be ready when God calls her.

Grateful for Sundays

On more than one occasion C expressed that she is very thankful for our presence and our Sunday services.  She isn’t able to go to church and she is so thankful that we can bring Sunday services to her nursing home.  When I observe her during services, she pays close attention to the messages, and mentioned they give her something to think about during the week.  I’m reminded that God has sent us to this nursing home for people like C, and thankful that we can serve the residents this way.

God at Work

These last few months at GB care home has been very encouraging to me as I see God at work in our midst. At times, our ministry at GB seems really slow or even ineffective, but I’ve been able to witness the Holy Spirit moving through the residents and even through our own members, and this reminds me that God is still at work. Mrs.F’s salvation decision has been especially encouraging. Before she made her decision to become a Christian, I remember she was so consumed by her past and her own depressing thoughts, and she told me that sometimes she just wishes it would all be over. Her outlook on life is still a little bleak at times, but knowing that she has claimed Jesus as her Savior tells me that God is indeed working in her heart even though sometimes it feels like otherwise. I see how God has been working in the hearts of the residents as they have become much more friendly and welcoming of us. One Sunday after we came back from a trip to Yosemite, and they arranged a feast for us since we didn’t have time to prepare lunch. Though Mrs.A doesn’t come to our Sunday services, I run into her at GB, and she is smiling and responsive when I ask her how she’s doing, when before when she would be dismissive and brush me off. Even just among our small crew of seven church members who go there every Sunday, I see how God has been working in us, shaping our hearts to be like Jesus, putting the elderly and one another first. Seeing God working so concretely is very encouraging and helps drive me to give more of myself in serving Him.