Can We Know Why?

CAN WE KNOW WHY?

On behalf of Marc, Bindu, Alec, and the rest of the family, I would like to thank you for coming today to help remember and celebrate the Life of young Reece Marchand.

Before we go any further, let’s pray.

- Prayer - Most Sovereign Lord, we know that to You one day is like another. You are not limited by time, nor is Your knowledge limited in any way, so you knew this day was coming long before we did. You foresaw the accident and the events that led to this day, so none of this shocks You.

However, Father, we are mere mortals. We do not know what tomorrow holds. None of us, 2 weeks ago, anticipated being here, gathered together with these folks, and experiencing what we are today. We are shocked by the suddenness with which death has come near. We are pained by the loss that we are experiencing, grieved by the dreams that will never be fulfilled, and torn by the empty place we now find in our lives.

We, perhaps like Jesus at the tomb of Lazarus, know that one day we will see Reece again, but are hurting, and grieve for the hurt we see in our friends’ lives.

Please help us in the short time we are together today, to remember the good, and to find comfort in the presence and the work of your Holy Spirit.

In Jesus name we pray, Amen.

For those who are Christians, for those who are part of Jesus’ flock, David wrote a psalm describing our relationship with Jesus. In Psalm 23 David writes:

- Read Psalm 23.

What a help, what a comfort it is to know that if you are a follower of Jesus, that you can walk through the valley of the shadow of death, without being afraid, because the Shepherd is walking with you.

The story is told of an old gentleman lying on his deathbed. He asked his friend to reach into his pocket and get the dime out that was there. He did and the dying man put the dime in his mouth and swallowed it. He said, “I came into this world with nothing and I don’t want to leave anything behind.” Silly man. All of us leave something behind. We leave friends and family. We leave the people who’s lives we have touched over the years, and we leave memories.

- Let Marc share.

I would like to give you an opportunity now, if you would like, to share some of the memories you have of Reece. If you have a story or a memory you’d like to share, come on up.

- Let people share memories.

I hate funerals. It isn’t because I feel sorry for the person who has passed, so much, because that die has been cast. The struggle is over for them. Shoot, Reece is in a better place right now than we are.

No, funerals don’t make me sad because of pity for the person who has passed away, but rather, they make me sad because we who are left behind are left with a void. We are left missing a friend, a son, or a loved one. And you know, it always seems more difficult, to tell them goodbye, when the Lord calls them home young, and when parents are still living and are here. It’s not supposed to work like that.

Amos, the ancient prophet, quoted the Lord as saying, And in that day—this is the declaration of the Lord God—I will make the sun go down at noon; I will darken the land in the daytime. Amos 8:9.

Jeremiah, the weeping prophet, also experienced the loss of someone who died at a young age, when he said: she breathed her last breath. Her sun set while it was still day.” While Reece was still young, and his friends were with him, suddenly, without anyone expecting it, we find that his sun has set.

When an accident like the one Reece was in nearly 2 weeks ago occurs, a person often ends up asking why. Why did God allow this to occur? If God is good, and He is, and if God is all-powerful, and I know He is, we sometimes want to know why God would allow something like that to happen to a person who was so young?

And now, when Reece has died so young, we are faced with questions. The sadness of death seems less severe somehow, when the sun sets in the evening. It’s not difficult to adjust our minds to the idea of death coming when a person is old and has lived a full life; but when a friend or loved one dies at young age we often find ourselves asking God, “Why?” “Why God have you taken our friend? Why God, did you take him now?” We wonder Why? We sometimes find ourselves asking, with the psalmist, “Has God forgotten to be gracious? Has He in anger withheld His compassion?”