Funeral Corey Schneider

John 11 Psalm 46

September 18, 2003

“Our Refuge and Strength”

Prayer: Heavenly Father, we pray for strength to get us through this difficult time and these difficult moments. We turn to you in this hour of deep distress. We know that Your thoughts are not our thoughts; neither are Your ways our ways; for as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are Your ways higher than ours. We do not ask to understand why this has happened, but we implore You to comfort and sustain us with the assurance that Your Love for us will not fail in this hour. Strengthen us in the conviction that all things, under Your merciful direction, must work together for good to them that love You. Remove all doubts and complaints from our hearts and help us to say, as Job did, “The Lord giveth and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” We commit ourselves to Your loving care today, tomorrow, and always. Hear us for the sake of Jesus Christ, our Savior. Amen.

Linda, Kevin, John and Jason, family and friends of Corey, grace to you and peace through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. In the midst of these terrible moments of tragedy that have engulfed us. All of us have been asking questions. Why Corey? Why so young? Why this way? We ask what if. What if we had done something different, changed the course of the day, done it differently some how, then maybe Corey would still be here. All of us have questions. The answers to those questions we do not posses, nor can any one give them to us. Still we ask questions. It is the human thing to do. And not finding answers troubles our souls.

With our questions come feelings of resentment and feelings of being cheated. Why God? Why Corey? Where were you when he died? Where are You now? Corey had so much life in him and ahead of him. And we think, God it’s just not fair. And our souls are troubled and it is more than we can bear. We are not alone though when we feel these feelings and ask these questions. The lives of all people are filled with trouble. The only difference is that it doesn’t always hit us as hard as it is hitting us today.

In our gospel lesson we read about two women who asked questions and whose hearts were filled with grief and trouble. These women were Mary and Martha and they had a brother Lazarus. Lazurus had been sick so they called for the Lord Jesus to come to Him to speak His healing Word and make him well. But Lazarus died. The Lord did not get there in time. It seemed that the Lord had come too late. Martha cries out first and then later Mary, both saying the same thing to Jesus, “Lord, if You had been here my brother would not have died.” How human they are, and we are so much like them. Like them, we are tempted to say, Lord, Corey would be with us now if you had been with Him. If You had been here, he would not have died.

Jesus responded to Mary and Martha saying, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha answered, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” As Christians this is also our hope and response of faith toward the Lord. Still, in the face of death, it is hard to understand and our hearts are troubled

The Lord was with Corey and He still is. And the Lord is here with us today. He shares our grief and trouble just as he did with Mary, Martha and Lazarus. The gospel tells us that when Jesus saw Mary weeping and the people who had come along with her also weeping, He was deeply moved in His spirit and he was troubled. He asked them, “Where have you laid Lazurus. And then we are told that Jesus wept. Jesus wept. The people looked at Jesus and said, “See how He loved him!” Jesus shared their grief and their pain and their trouble, right down to his very soul. He weeps with us now. As the author of life, through whom Corey was given the gift of life, our Lord is just as appalled at death as we are. The reason the Son of God took on our humanity was to put an end to death, forever. That is why Jesus came and willingly suffered and died, taking our trouble upon Himself. When he died on the cross He put an end to death for all of us. At the cross we see how much He loved us – We see how much He loved Corey.

Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.” To prove that he held the keys of life and death Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. Corey believed and confessed his faith in Jesus. We confess this faith with him. We believe together that Jesus is the Son of God who came into the world, and that through Him we find refuge and peace where there seems to be no peace. Through Him we find strength to go on in life. Through our faith we know that Corey is not dead. He is alive.

Corey’s confirmation verse was Psalm 46:1, “God is our refuge and strength, an ever present help in trouble.” God was Corey’s refuge and strength. The Lord was with him every day of his life. When he was baptized our Lord put His name on Corey promising to be with him forever. He shared Corey’s joys as he lived life snow-mobiling and racing four wheelers around the yard and playing with his brother Jason. He shared Corey’s joys in all the friends that he had. He shared Corey’s joy with his mother and father and his step-dad Kevin learning how to ride the motorcycle and cooking the family chicken dinner. And our Lord shared Corey’s troubles, perhaps especially on the day when Corey died. Our Lord was there to take Corey home, to the place that was prepared for Him. There Corey has eternal life and joy. We rejoice knowing that Corey was so special that God wanted to take him to heaven.

Corey’s trouble has ended, but ours remains. For all of us that loved Corey, Jesus Christ is present with us in our grief and pain. In our loneliness, heartache, and frustration he says to us, “Cast your burdens on me, for I care for you!” We are promised that we are never given more than we can bear. Our God has given us a way in which to bear it all. In Jesus Christ we will find our refuge and strength, our ever present help in trouble.”

In the midst of our trouble, even though we grieve, we know that God is with us, we celebrate His blessings. We celebrate the gift of life that was given to Corey which he continues to have with God in Heaven. We celebrate his life of faith in his Lord. We celebrate that God blessed us with knowing Corey, even for this short time. We celebrate Christ’s victory over death, even Corey’s death. What great comfort we can find in our Lord who said, “Because I live, you shall live also.

In these difficult moments we comfort one another with the hope and strength and assurance of God’s Word. Corey is in the arms of His Savior Jesus Christ. He shares in His victory over death. Because our Lord’s victory over death is eternal, our separation from Corey is only temporary. Someday we all shall go to join him as he has gone to join those who went on before him. Through our tears we comfort one another with the hope that we have in Jesus Christ and all that He has accomplished for Corey and all of us. Amen