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The Funeral of a Teenager
Just last week I attended the funeral of my son’s close friend who died suddenly at the age of fifteen. I wondered how the funeral could ever be a positive occasion and a celebration of life. This was the first funeral I had attended of somebody so young. Thankfully I was completely wrong and the occasion turned out to be such a positive tribute to a fine young man. |  |
The parents had planned such a wonderful service which allowed everyone to feel part of it. The crematorium was packed with hundreds of people including many school friends who had arrived on a school bus carrying fifty people. Almost all the boys were smartly dressed in suits and ties, something you rarely see in teenagers. But they wanted to pay their respects for a friend so desperately missed. I guess most of them had borrowed the suits from their Dad or older brothers.
The opening music was a favourite song that was regularly played as part of the music group the gifted young man belonged to. Musical instruments like tambourines and maracas were handed around so people could join in with the first hymn. The crematorium came alive as suddenly people became part of the Celebration of Life.
Both parents gave tremendous tributes to a son so tragically taken from them. They talked of all the good he did, the fun times they had and the life that was so fully lived. They asked that each person go and be a living tribute to their son, by helping those in need and standing up for what is right. It must have taken tremendous courage to stand before so many people and talk about your young son who has just died.
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As the service closed, the rock band Guns and Roses played Sweet Child of Mine. It was a fitting end to such a positive celebration of life. As his mother said there are some people who live to be a hundred but they never touch as many hearts as her son did. It was so clear to see how many hearts had been touched by the numbers attending the service. |
Afterwards we went back to the local church where refreshments were served. In the background music played to a large selection of photographs which were shown as a slide show on a screen so everyone could see all those family events that occurred from birth to fifteen.
Whilst it is much easier to have a positive celebration of life when someone has lived until they are elderly; it is so much harder when they had their life cut short by so many years. But as one of the readings reminded us |
“To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; a time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; a time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace." From the Bible "Ecclesiastes " Chapter 3:1-8 King James Version | |
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