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.
r) David’s actions puzzled his servants.
s) They thought his real mourning should have just begun.
t) They asked him to explain.
u) Then David uttered these words: "But now he is dead; why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he will not return to me" (2 Samuel 12:23).
v) David knew he had a country to govern, many people to care for, a family and remaining children to support and guide.
w) He knew he couldn’t have his little one back in the household.
x) But one day, he believed, they would be reunited. So he relinquished his child to God, and began to look to the future.
y) David knew he would see his son again. This brought him comfort.
z) David knew that his infant son would spend eternity with the Lord and with him.
aa) This knowledge helped David deal with the death of his baby son.
6. What was God possibly trying to accomplish through the wonderful, but short life, of David’s son and the life of Cooper?
a) It makes us ponder our own mortality and our own relationship with God.
b) Cooper’s life and death brought us to church today. We wouldn’t have been here otherwise.
c) If we give ourselves to God in this lifetime, we will see and be with Cooper after our life on earth is over.
d) He is with God right now.
e) Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it." And he took the children in his arms, put his hands on them and blessed them. Mark 10:14-16
f) Cooper is in the arms of Jesus receiving his blessing and love.
7. With these thoughts, let us leave this blessed child in God’s care and keeping.
a) And let us claim the ancient promise of the prophet Isaiah who wrote of our Creator: "He will gather the lambs in his arms, and carry them in his bosom" (40:1 1).
b) Sweet little Cooper has been gathered in God’s arms. He could be in no more secure place.
CLOSING PRAYER:
God of Mercy and Grace: We know You know what it feels like to lose a Son to death. For You so loved the world that You gave your one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For you did not send your Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him. (John 3:16-17)
We trust you to keep Cooper safe in your loving arms now and forever. We pray in the name of Jesus Christ, our risen Lord. Amen.
“Angels In Waiting” C.D. played during the greeting of the family (after the closing prayer)
