Baby Funeral

Memorial Services for Cooper Wesley Tatlow 6-17-02 @ 11:00 am

First Christian Church/ Yuma

ORDER OF SERVICE

PRELUDE “Amazing Grace” (Joy Chamness)

WELCOME/ OBITUARY/ PRAYER Phillip Krueger

Welcome: Thank you for coming this morning to pay your respects to the family of Cooper Wesley Tatlow.

OBITUARY:

PRAYER Our loving Father in Heaven, we come with mournful hearts seeking the peace, which only you can give. We confess that life sometimes puzzles us. We grope for meaning amid the mysteries we do not understand. Help us, Lord, to find your healing light in our time of darkness, your comfort for the hurt that runs deep within, and your strength to see us through what we face now…and what will come in the future. Through Jesus Christ our Lord we pray, Amen. Eva E

“Without You” C.D. music only

TRIBUTES Any spoken tributes

Letters & notes read by the Pastor

MEDITATION Phillip Krueger

1. It is always hard to accept the death of a young person, especially that of a baby.

a) Our culture idolizes youthfulness. Those who are young are supposedly indestructible.

b) A person’s death at a young age shatters our dreams of what we picture for their future.

c) It also threatens our own sense of invulnerability.

d) If life stopped so suddenly for someone so young, what is in store for me?

e) James 4:14 says, “You do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.”

f) Life on Earth is short. At one moment it is here, and in the next it is gone.

g) But, a life, whatever its length, is of great value to God.

h) We want to live forever because God put the concept of eternity in our hearts. Ecclesiastes 3:11 says, “He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.”

i) It is natural to want to live as long as we can.

j) Thank heavens the Bible teaches us that life does not end when physical life is cut short.

2. What a joy Cooper was to his parents Allen and Crissy and to all his family and friends.

a) Cooper brought joy to everyone around him.

b) He was always laughing, happy, smiling and exploring.

c) He loved to snuggle.

d) Cooper was very expressive and readable with his emotions and although he was unable to communicate in words yet, you always knew exactly what he was feeling.

3. Cooper wasn’t with us very long.

a) Born August 4, 2001, he departed to be with God June 9, 2002; Cooper was only with us 309 days in all.

b) He came into this world premature, being born too early. He struggled just to stay alive.

c) He left this world too early as well.

d) He couldn’t wait to get here and couldn’t wait to leave!

4. Why did God leave him on the Earth such a short time?

5. This reminds me of a story in the Old Testament (2 Samuel 12:15b-23).

a) King David and his wife had a newborn son.

b) Their son became desperately sick.

c) He was so ill that they feared he would not last long.

d) King David apparently felt totally helpless.

e) He began to bombard heaven with prayers. He also fasted. He did not eat. He only cared about his child getting through the illness.

f) He lay each night upon the ground, unwilling to undress and rest in a comfortable bed.

g) When others tried to get him more comfortable or to eat something, he completely refused.

h) This went on for seven days until David sensed that the dreaded time had come.

i) His companions had not told him that the child had died. David was in such a sad state they feared that he might do himself some harm. So when the child died, they apparently just murmured among themselves, but did not inform him.

j) But suffering parents are usually very perceptive, and David was aware of the whispers, the unusual quietness.

k) So he asked his servants if the child had died, and they confirmed that he had.

l) Then David did something that totally puzzled everyone.

m) He got up from the ground, washed himself, dressed himself in fresh clothes, and made his way to the house of the Lord.

n) There he worshiped God.

o) He no doubt committed his son to the care and keeping of God.

p) After David had spent some time with God, he went home.

q) And then for the first time in days, he asked for food, and when it arrived, he began to eat.