Baby Funeral
This morning was really hard. I conducted the funeral for three month old, Kaylee Zopp, who died Sunday morning of SIDS.
I've officiated at a couple hundred funerals -- and this was one of the hardest I've ever done. It seemed so surreal -- so wrong -- to have a tiny little casket with a tiny infant in the front of our church.
She was such a precious little baby. Speaking for her service took just about all the strength I could muster.
Usually, funerals are reserved for folks who have lived a long time. Usually the grandchildren weep. This time, the grandparents were the ones in deep sorrow.
I spoke mostly from Isaiah 40 -- keying in on verse 11:
He tends his flock like a shepherd. He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart. . ."
I also shared the words of Cynthia Clawson's song, "When You Can't Trace His Hand, Trust His Heart."
GOD is Too wise to be mistaken.
GOD is too good to be unkind
So, When you don't understand And When you can't see HIS plan
And When you can't trace HIS hand Trust HIS Heart
This afternoon, after the funeral, I received an e-mail from my friend, Naomi Cochran. Having attended the service, she reflected on the words of poet, Wendell Berry:
To Know the Dark
To go in the dark with a light is to know the light.
To know the dark, go dark. Go without sight,
and find that the dark, too, blooms and sings,
and is traveled by dark feet and dark wings.
"The darkness in the loss of a child is perhaps the deepest of all." Naomi reflected, " But, when I saw Monica kiss her angel child, and then the one in her arms, I knew her darkness will bloom and sing."
I've officiated at a couple hundred funerals -- and this was one of the hardest I've ever done. It seemed so surreal -- so wrong -- to have a tiny little casket with a tiny infant in the front of our church.
She was such a precious little baby. Speaking for her service took just about all the strength I could muster.
Usually, funerals are reserved for folks who have lived a long time. Usually the grandchildren weep. This time, the grandparents were the ones in deep sorrow.
I spoke mostly from Isaiah 40 -- keying in on verse 11:
He tends his flock like a shepherd. He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart. . ."
I also shared the words of Cynthia Clawson's song, "When You Can't Trace His Hand, Trust His Heart."
GOD is Too wise to be mistaken.
GOD is too good to be unkind
So, When you don't understand And When you can't see HIS plan
And When you can't trace HIS hand Trust HIS Heart
This afternoon, after the funeral, I received an e-mail from my friend, Naomi Cochran. Having attended the service, she reflected on the words of poet, Wendell Berry:
To Know the Dark
To go in the dark with a light is to know the light.
To know the dark, go dark. Go without sight,
and find that the dark, too, blooms and sings,
and is traveled by dark feet and dark wings.
"The darkness in the loss of a child is perhaps the deepest of all." Naomi reflected, " But, when I saw Monica kiss her angel child, and then the one in her arms, I knew her darkness will bloom and sing."
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