After greeting us, Betty asked if we would like tea and some of her home-made shortbread. Although that visit is now more than twenty years past, I distinctly remember the impish look on Revd. Young’s face as he smiled broadly and said “highly recommended,” and winked to indicate that if we said yes, he could have some too.

It was great shortbread and great conversation – the type where there is both humour and a total lack of superficiality. I had the sense of being in the company of people who understood where they belonged in the cosmos, people who had a clear sense of the purpose of life and strived to live according to the light they had.

I had met Revd. Young before that meeting. More exactly, I had once heard him preach at St Paul’s church in Petaling Jaya. It was a powerful sermon, with his signature body gyrations and hand movements. His text was from the gospel of John: “He [Jesus] was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him.” Revd. Young stressed that the darkness will not overcome the light. This was a prophetic word of encouragement in the time of Operation Lalang and Bapa Malaysia’s establishment of UMNO Baru. From my notes, I produced a one page article and sent it to Revd. Young for revision. He changed two words, and agreed to have it published.

I don’t recall whether it was during the first meeting with Betty or at a later meeting, also at her home after my wedding that I heard Betty tell the story of how a total stranger at the local market asked her for some money “for food.” Betty invited him to come and stay at their home. There were also stories of car breakdowns, stories of children’s questions and the suffering of the marginalized, stories of the providence of God. Betty told the stories with a simple grace and reverence: stories of people, of God, of convictions, of mystery.

Betty encouraged us with quiet stories of a life entrusted to God, a Spirit longing to glorify Jesus, a soul who asked engaging questions and refused to provide pat answers. In her later days she was a writer. I have not read her books, but my wife has and I know she has been awed and inspired.

Someone wrote of Pope John Paul 23rd that “he was brave enough to die in front of our eyes and not to hide his illness behind some screen of secrecy.” Similarly, Betty had been ill for some time, and we knew she chose not to undergo some of the available, aggressive treatments: because these would interrupt her life and disrupt her ability to fulfill the writing task which she sensed God had assigned her. We are grateful.

Betty was a Christian. In death she has taught us another lesson. We too shall die. But we shall not fear death or “fight it with every available means.”

For a Christian, death is not an exit into nothingness or into judgment. Death, though it involves saying farewell to the privilege of caring for others – especially of beloved spouse, children and grand-children, is a doorway to a better place. A place where the focus will be on praising God at a much higher level than is possible here. Betty, and her survivors, experienced both sadness and gladness. A reunion awaits the saints.

The first was “Free at last, released to Jesus in whose arms she lives forevermore”, a thought which came to me when I was driving along a rather crowded street. Pulling to a safe side of the road, I sent this thought to Peter Young.

The second thought centres on what I had been reading from the third chapter of the Book of Ezra in the Holy Bible which records how the foundation of the Temple of God was relaid and the various reactions of the people:

“And when the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the LORD, the priests in their vestments came forward with trumpets, and the Levites, the sons of Asaph, with cymbals, to praise the LORD, according to the directions of David king of Israel; and they sang responsively, praising and giving thanks to the LORD, “For he is good, for his steadfast love endures for ever toward Israel.” And all the people shouted with a great shout, when they praised the LORD, because the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid. But many of the priests and Levites and heads of fathers’ houses, old men who had seen the first house, wept with a loud voice when they saw the foundation of this house being laid, though many shouted aloud for joy; so that the people could not distinguish the sound of the joyful shout from the sound of the people’s weeping, for the people shouted with a great shout, and the sound was heard afar.”

Betty’s passing will have a similar effect upon the host of people who knew her: a chorus of weeping with a loud voice alongside a shouting for joy so that it would not be possible to distinguish “the sound of the joyful shout from the sound of the people’s weeping…”

So it must be for a person who knew how to live and who knew how to die. A person who lived her life for others: family, friends and strangers not to mention the birds, dogs and flowers. A person who welcomed poor and rich, a friend of all and sundry whatever their social status, race, culture or station in life. A person who in any and all circumstances invariably found her place and role in life because her life’s purpose was the service of God and whoever He had sent to her. A person whose heart had been with people in need.

How many people had Betty helped? How many lives had Betty’s books, stories, sharings, food, kind thoughts, acts of mercy, cheerful disposition and welcoming smile touched? No one but God can tell.

At about three in the afternoon on Tuesday December 8 2009, Betty fell asleep and woke up in the arms of Jesus. Praise God from Whom all blessings flow!

Rest well dear Betty and enjoy to the fullest measure the presence of the Lord.

(from Keat Peng, the “boy” you accepted, taught, forgave and touched)

Admin Note: A Wake Service will be held on Thursday, 10 November 2009, at St. Gabriel’s Church, Kuala Lumpur (location map). A Memorial Service will be held on Friday, 11 November 2009, at St. Paul’s Church, Petaling Jaya (location map). For more information, contact Nancy at 017.313.9658.