Monday, April 27, 2026, 11:00 AM
Lakeshore Avenue Baptist Church, Oakland, CA
Greetings & Opening Prayer
God is gracious. God heals the brokenhearted, and binds up their wounds. Great is our Lord and abundant in power, his understanding is beyond measure. Jesus said, “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” (Ps. 147:1c, 3, 5; Mt. 11:28, 29; 5:4)
As the Interim Pastor of Lakeshore Avenue Baptist Church, I welcome you to the Celebration of life of Tina Dright who was born on August 25, 1943 and returned to the Lord on March 20, 2026 having lived for almost 80 years. On behalf of Tina Dright’s family, we are thankful for you to be here to remember, to celebrate, and to collectively honor your loved one who has faithfully completed her life on earth.
While I have not had the opportunity to know Tina Dright in person, I am looking forward today to know her through your reflections and memories. As longs as we continue to reminisce, Tina is with you. And when that time comes when our memories begin to fade, we are reassured that God will always remember her as well as each one of us forever.
Let us pray.
O God, your care is like that of a father who has compassion for his children and a mother who comforts her child. We cast our heavy burdens of grief on you. Greet graciously with us in our anguish. Grant us the comfort of your rest. Assure us with the confidence that your faithful servant has been received into your arms of your mercy, in the blessed rest of your eternal care. May our lives hereafter bear witness to the hope that is ours in the crucified and risen Christ, who defeated death for our sake and now reigns victorious in your glory. Through the name of ChristJesus, we pray. Amen.
Worries and Smiles
When we attend a funeral or a memorial service or a Celebration of Life which we are doing today, we more often than not come with the thought that it will be sober, sad, or maybe even bleak. Instead of bright and colorful clothes that we wore on Easter morning, we tend to wear black and gray.
In Ecclesiastes, the poet said that while there are times for dancing, there is also a time to mourn.There’s also a time to weep, and a time to laugh. (Ecc. 3:)
Not with any degree of disrespect, I think Tina Dright would want us to be more joyful than sad;happier than mourning, and if there’s any crying today, it would be the cries of joy. Tina lived a full life driven by abilities she had and the purpose that she organized her life around.
A common adage supported by scientists is that it takes more muscles on our faces to frown than to smile. Generally speaking, it takes 17 muscles to smile and 43 muscles to frown. We are created to smile rather than to frown. I noticed that in all the pictures in your program, Tina is smiling; not once was she frowning. While we all face challenges and disappointments some time, we also find ourselves happy and smiling. By using fewer of the muscles on her face, she invites you to her world that is joyful, hopeful, and a blessing.
When a baby grows to between 6 to 8 weeks of age, a baby can respond back to you with a smile when you smile. This is called a social smile. The significance of a social smile is that it’s not reflexive but rather, the baby is beginning to recognize faces, feel safe, and actively engaging in social interaction. When we look at these pictures of Tina smiling, there are 21 smiles. Even in death, Tina is blessing you as you look at her because she is giving you a smile and the only thing you can do is to smile back.
After every service, the pastor gives a Benediction. Often the Benediction comes from Numbers 6:24-26. You know it.
God bless you and keep you.
God’s face shine upon you and be gracious to you.
God look upon you with love and give you peace.
Imagine God, our Parent and Maker’s face when we say this Benediction. When God’s face is sharing light on you, God must be smiling. When God looks at his beloved, God is smiling on you. When God gives you love and peace, there’s no other way to offer such gifts from God without giving you a big smile.
Just as in life, now with the Lord, Tina is smiling on you and wishing you the best. Tina’s smile reveals her passion for life that is to live it with beauty.
Tina knows something about beauty with class and style. She started and owned her clothing store. Having a good eye for trends and style, she’s able to fill her store with clothes that her customers want.
Tina reminds us of the woman in Proverbs 31. This is an ode to a capable woman who is recognized by her husband and the entire town of her talents and gifts. This woman took care of her husband, her family, and her household and provides food for her children. Not afraid of anything, she also takes cloths and make clothing of fine linen and purple. In Proverbs, it says,
She perceives that her merchandise is profitable.
Her lamp does not go out at night.
She puts her hands to the distaff, and her hands hold the spindle.
She makes herself coverings;
Her clothing is fine linen and purple.
She makes linen garments and sells them;
She supplies the merchant with sashes
Strength and dignity are her clothing,
And she laughs at the time to come.
This woman not only makes clothing for her family and sells them to merchants to sell to others, she laughs. The poet says, “She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.” I suspect when this capable woman was doing all of this, she had a smile on her face.
Tina was such a person who gave a smile to all who came to her for her wisdom, particularly at times of trouble and worry. Tina was a person who clothed others because she enjoyed doing this so that she can make you and the world more beautiful than it can ever be.
When a passing of a loved one happens, we are confronted with worries. This should not be surprising because there are indeed many things in life to worry about. The disciples trying to understand Jesus and the future also worried. But Jesus reassured them by saying this:
Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap or gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil or spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. (Matt. 6:25ff)
Jesus tells his disciples not to worry and that today’s troubles are enough for today. “But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” (Matt. 6:33)
While we are still living in this world, on this side of heaven, Tina and others are clothing us to be warm, to be unique and distinguish, and to look good. But we know that until we move on to the other side, to the glory of heaven, Jesus is telling us to not worry. We don’t have to worry today and we don’t need to worry about tomorrow.
The God who cares for the lilies of the field and the birds in the air will also take care of us. God has cared for Tina Dright in her life and now in eternity. When we strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, all of our needs will be taking care of—we don’t need to worry. And let your smile bring joy to others to have hope for tomorrow.
Let us pray.
Eternal and loving God, Giver of life. We thank you for all the stages of our lives, from birth to death and beyond death.
We praise you for the freshness, the innocence, the wide-eyed curiosity of childhood. We thank you for the wildly exciting trials of adolescence, for youthful dreams and even awkwardness. We praise you for all the right choices we made in our early maturity and we beg your forgiveness for making so many wrong ones. We thank you for the satisfaction of our later maturity, for teaching us, sometimes painfully, how to give more and expect less in return.
And we praise you for as many sunset years as you may have in store for us, for fragments of wisdom, for family and friends, and for the courage to face our own mortality strengthened by the promise of a more perfect life, thanks to the love and willing sacrifice of your blessed Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.
Thank you, O God, for the life of your child, Tina Dright who helped us to smile because she smiled, who helped us to not to worry because she didn’t worry believing that as you cared for the lilies of the field and the birds in the air that you also cared for her from birth to death, and to beyond. We know that the life of Tina Dright ended here and resumed with you, Lord in heaven. Amen.
Benediction
As the Lord feeds the birds of the air and clothes the lilies of the field, let us depart knowing the Lord will provide for our every need and care for us all our days.
Now may the Lord keep you and bless you. May the Lord makes his face shine and smile upon you and be gracious to you. May the Lord lift up the heavens knowing that here is where Tina Dright is and give you peace. Amen.