Dad's Funeral

Prelude – Eliana Sanger

*Call to Worship – adapted from , ,

English Standard Version Psalm 16

1  Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge.

2  I say to the LORD, “You are my Lord;

I have no good apart from you.”

English Standard Version Psalm 16

9  Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices;

my flesh also dwells secure.

10  For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol,

or let your holy one see corruption.

11  You make known to me the path of life;

in your presence there is fullness of joy;

at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

English Standard Version Chapter 14

6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

*Invocation

*Praise to the Lord, the Almighty (v.1,2) – congregation

Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of creation! O my soul, praise him, for he is thy health and salvation! All ye who hear, Now to his temple draw near, Join me in glad adoration.

Praise to the Lord, who o'er all things so wondrously reigneth, Shelters thee under his wings, yea, so gently sustaineth! Hast thou not seen How thy desires e'er have been Granted in what he ordaineth?

Confessing our Faith – Apostle’s Creed

Christian, what do you Believe?

I believe in God, the Father Almighty, the Creator of heaven and earth,

and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord: Who was conceived of the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended into hell. The third day He rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty, whence He shall come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic[1] church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.

[1] The word "catholic" means universal. It is not a reference to the Roman Catholic Church.

Scripture Reading – ,

English Standard Version Chapter 6

38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. 40 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

English Standard Version Chapter 4

13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. 14 For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. 15 For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.

Remembering Dunning – Friends and family

*Amazing Grace (v 1,4,5) – congregation

Amazing grace—how sweet the sound— That saved a wretch like me! I once was lost, but now am found— Was blind, but now I see.

And when this flesh and heart shall fail, And mortal life shall cease, I shall possess within the veil A life of joy and peace.

When we've been there ten thousand years, Bright shining as the sun, We've no less days to sing God's praise Than when we've first begun.

Scripture Reading –

English Standard Version Chapter 8

38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Words of Comfort and Hope – Rev. Carter Sanger

For those of you who may not know me, I’m Dunning’s son and as I happen to be a pastor too, I have the honor of offering words of comfort to my own family and dad’s friends as well as share a small piece of how dad touched my life, because he did in so many ways.

Dad’s journey through life turned toward home last Thursday when he took his last breath. My mother, my sisters, and my wife and I got to sing and pray him into the Kingdom of God. It was a sweet time; a moment when you feel the closeness of the Lord as he comes to take his child home. I offer that as a comfort to his family and friends for we are in a fortunate position. Our grief is tempered by the fact that we know dad is with the Lord. As a pastor who preaches funerals, believe me when I tell you how comforting that is, because I can’t say that about everyone.

I don’t say that because dad was some super saint. He wasn’t. He certainly had a caring soul, don’t misunderstand. He was often reaching out to those who needed a hand or needed a friend. He had a gift for caring for people. Some of you know this first hand because he reached out to you. Most of you probably don’t know it, however, because he did so under the radar. He didn’t do it for show. His care was genuine. I can’t tell you how often he took me or one of my sisters with him to visit a family member I hardly knew, or take care of a friend who needed something repaired.

He cared for his family too. He was always doing something, whether it was adding on to his Michigan cabin or planning an event, for his family. He loved my sisters and me and our spouses; he loved his 11 grandchildren. He loved his brothers and his nephews and nieces and their children. He loved his cousins, 2nd cousins, cousins once or twice removed. His family was near and dear to his heart. He brought family together in earnest and often. We didn’t always recognize this love, however. He always wanted to take one of us with him to run his errands. We all got to be skeptics when he’d ask us if we would run a small errand with him. We’d ask where and he’d tell us about one stop. But every errand turned into 10 stops and several hours. To dad, it was time to spend with us and time he could pass on his wisdom about life.

He was eager to pass on what he could and eager to give us what he wanted to experience from his own dad but didn’t. His dad was much older, fought in the war, and died when Dunning was still in his twenties. So dad made sure he was involved in our lives. He came to baseball games, soccer games, football games, track meets, dance recitals, caping trips, ski trips and more for his children and grandchildren. He coached us on and off the field. That was special and set an example that all of us have sought to follow.

And he loved my mother. He was not shy about giving her a kiss when he got home or holding her hand at times. On their 50th wedding anniversary dad surprised us all by reading (or was it singing) a poem he had written for her in front of all the guests and followed up with a big public kiss. Speaking of PDA, here’s a recent story. Not long after moving into the nursing home a couple of months ago my mother curled up next to him and ran her fingers through his hair as he layed down for a nap. He said, “Frances, we can’t do this.” She asked what he meant. He lay silent for a time as it was taking more and more time for him to process things. He had to be asked a few times. His response. “You can’t be naked. There are people out in the hallway.” Not sure if we’ll ever know if he was serious or kidding. We can be sure he loved her.

He loved his brothers too, at least I highly suspect it. It’s hard to say since the rest of us couldn’t follow their jokes which often included words that only the three of them understood. We laughed at them as they laughed at the jokes. It was a brotherly love, I suppose. It involved things like seaweed on a sleeping back and practical jokes that could leave scars on the body or dents in the pocketbook. I hope it was love because it set an example for my three boys. I know it was love. Uncle Fenton, he loved you and Lee dearly.

One of my favorite stories took place just a few weeks ago. He had recently moved into the Arbor House so he could receive the additional care he needed and Frances was visiting. He was laying on the bed and she half curled up next to him as she ran her fingers through his hair. He was having difficulty processing at this point so it was a bit of a surprise when he told her “Frances, we can’t do this.” She asked what he meant. He lay silent for a time and had to be asked what he meant a few more times. His response. “You can’t be naked. There are people out in the hallway!” Not sure if we’ll ever know if he was serious or kidding. We do know he loved her.

But he had a stubborn side too. Once he had an idea in his head there was no changing it. I know firsthand as I’ve tried. We’ve all tried to change it. It is why we’re left with many unfinished projects on the Michigan cabin. Dad wanted something done so he’d start it and expect the rest of us to finish it, even though we all vehemently protested doing it in the first place. And he could be ornery. He was always plotting and planning mischief toward someone. We could talk about the time he dumped a group of teenagers on a dune scooter ride in Lake Michigan or the time his hunting party left a field on fire, or the time he was pulled over for speeding and gave the officer his brother’s driver’s license instead of his own.

No, I have no illusions to think that he is with the Lord because he was a good person, as much as we want to remember him that way. I can offer words of comfort and hope this morning not because dad was faithful, but because God is faithful. Dad wasn’t hoping God would welcome him home because of his goodness, but because of Christ’s goodness. He trusted God to nail his guilt and shame to the cross upon which Christ was crucified.

Dad understood grace and forgiveness. Dad understood that the only way to God the Father was through faith in God the Son. That means that when it is time for dad to face the judgment of God, he will stand before God not with his record in view, but the record of Jesus Christ. This is our hope as a family for dad. Otherwise this would be a very different funeral and a very difficult one for me to officiate. For there is a real judgment that we will face and real accounting we will have to give. We won’t be asked to give an account for how we think we should have lived, as if God leaves that to us to decide. God doesn’t measure us against our own personal ethic. He measures us against his own character. He made us in his image that we might reflect him to the rest of creation. That’s why we are here. When a creation doesn’t serve the purpose for which it was created, what good is it? It deserves to be thrown out. That is what we deserve, every one of us. And we would be had God not acted to redeem some. To redeem is to regain posession of something that was lost. That redemption price was paid as Jesus chose to stand and face the judgment that we deserve. And that redemption takes affect for those who put their trust in God to redeem them.

Without

The sad reality is that words of comfort and hope are empty for those who choose to trust in their own goodness or in a God of their own design. Thankfully, we have reason to be full of hope for dad.

And we can have reason to have hope in our own time of judgment. Jesus didn’t come to die for a particular race, or a particular social class, or a particular ethnic group. He came to die for what the Bible calls “sinners,” which simply means he came to die for those who know they're not good enough and look to God to be their refuge, their safety, in the time of judgment. That is no small thing—to trust the Lord to deliver you from the death you deserve.

What does that trust, that faith, teach you? It teaches you that, while God is a just God, he is also a tender-hearted and gracious God. He opens the eyes of the blind, the ears of the deaf, and gives hope to the hopeless. He pursues us even as we try and escape him. This is the story of .

English Standard Version Psalm 139

1  O LORD, you have searched me and known me!

2  You know when I sit down and when I rise up;

you discern my thoughts from afar.

3  You search out my path and my lying down

and are acquainted with all my ways.

4  Even before a word is on my tongue,

behold, O LORD, you know it altogether.

5  You hem me in, behind and before,

and lay your hand upon me.

6  Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;

it is high; I cannot attain it.

7  Where shall I go from your Spirit?

Or where shall I flee from your presence?

8  If I ascend to heaven, you are there!

If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!

9  If I take the wings of the morning

and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,

10  even there your hand shall lead me,

and your right hand shall hold me.

11  If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,

and the light about me be night,”

12  even the darkness is not dark to you;

the night is bright as the day,

for darkness is as light with you.

13  For you formed my inward parts;

you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.

14  I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

Wonderful are your works;

my soul knows it very well.

15  My frame was not hidden from you,

when I was being made in secret,

intricately woven in the depths of the earth.

16  Your eyes saw my unformed substance;

in your book were written, every one of them,

the days that were formed for me,

when as yet there was none of them.

The Psalm is about someone trying to flee from the Lord. It is our tendency when we think of God as a searching God, to think he is searching out ways to find us guilty. What the Psalmist finds instead is a tender-hearted God seeking to lead him by the hand and hold him close. That’s what we find in verses 9-10

English Standard Version Psalm 139

9  If I take the wings of the morning

and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,

10  even there your hand shall lead me,

and your right hand shall hold me.

It is when you see God in this light that it touches your heart as it did the Psalmist.

English Standard Version Psalm 139

17  How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!

How vast is the sum of them!

18  If I would count them, they are more than the sand.

I awake, and I am still with you.

This is how God wins our trust; plants in us faith in him as a long-suffering, tender-hearted, saving God. It teaches us to pray in earnest.

English Standard Version Psalm 139

23  Search me, O God, and know my heart!

Try me and know my thoughts!

24  And see if there be any grievous way in me,

and lead me in the way everlasting!

This is the prayer of one who knows God has rescued him from his waywardness and his attempts to flee, to go his own way. This is the prayer of the one who puts his trust in Jesus.

In the last few years, dad was growing in his understanding of this. He couldn’t get enough of the Bible. He studied it for hours a day. He would pour over his Bible study fellowship notes, and other Bible study passages. He would take notes and notes and notes. This had become his passion. In this last year or so he started praying together with my mother. I can’t tell you the power that has on a child, to see his parents praying and reading the Bible together, earnestly seeking to walk in the way of the Lord. It shows us that you’re never too old to find the Lord, and when you do, you discover how patient the Lord has been with you, walking with you every step of your journey toward faith. It is a profound thing.

Funerals have a way of making you aware of your own mortality. More so the closer you are to the one you’re remembering. When you think about that, think about the God whom my dad eagerly wanted to know better. He is tender-hearted and compassionate. He is patient and gentle and has given his own dear son for you to have a way back to him.

The Lord’s Prayer – Sharon Wayne

The Lord’s Prayer – Sharon Wayne

Closing Prayer

*Benediction – from

English Standard Version Chapter 6

24  The LORD bless you and keep you;

25  the LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;

26  the LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.

Graveside:

Graveside: Reading of Scripture

ESV TO THE CHOIRMASTER. A PSALM OF DAVID. O LORD, you have searched me and known me! 2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. 3 You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways.

4 Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O LORD, you know it altogether. 5 You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. 6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it. 7 Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? 8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! 9 If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, 10 even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. 11 If I say, "Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night," 12 even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you. 13 For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. 14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. 15 My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth.

16 Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there were none of them.

13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. 14 For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.

53 For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. 54 When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: "Death is swallowed up in victory." 55 "O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?" 56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Remembering Dad – family

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away." 5 And he who was seated on the throne said, "Behold, I am making all things new." Also he said, "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true." 6 And he said to me, "It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. 7 The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son.

In sure and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal life through our Lord Jesus Christ, we commend to Almighty God our father, brother, husband, friend Charles Dunning Sanger, and we commit his body to the ground;* earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust. The Lord bless him and keep him, the Lord make his face to shine upon him and be gracious to him, the Lord lift up his countenance upon him and give him peace. Amen.

Let us pray the prayer Jesus taught us to pray:

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever, amen.

Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever, amen.

the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever

* Please stand, if able. Unless otherwise noted, Scripture is from the English Standard Version.