Celebration of Life for Gloria Dale Thomalla

foreign [Music] blessings foreign [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] thank you foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] good afternoon and welcome a good friend of the family Elle said just now to me it's so very good life is good and I feel at home with all of you Chris and Dale's family and Friends Sarah just mentioned two as we were discussing coming into the sanctuary oh we don't need anything too formal here we are grounded in the word and the sacraments but that's what I loved about her prioritize life right I never felt nervous around her but just very good to be and now you're right life is so very good let us rise blessed be God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ the source of all mercy and the God of all consolation who comforts us in our sorrows so that we can Comfort others in their sorrows with the consolation we ourselves have already received all who are baptized into Christ have put on Christ in her baptism deal with clothed with Christ in the day of Christ coming she shall be clothed with Glory [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] at least [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] on the bus y [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] here because [Music] [Music] better understand [Music] [Music] God's Mercedes [Music] [Music] [Music] and the world is [Music] the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all let us pray father We Gather to celebrate the life of your servant Gloria Dale Tamila we thank you for her love and joy and dedication to you and her community Comfort us in our grief and strengthen us through your Eternal promise May Dale's life Inspire us as it always has to continue to live with love compassion and service guide us to honor her Legacy and hold dear the service she cherished Jesus Christ's name we pray amen maybe seated Gloria Dale Tamala aged 71 of Hermantown died on Sunday April 16th in the care of her loving family she was born on June 16 1951 parents Harry and Bernadine Sarah helped me out here nay fuson Gabriel in Decatur Illinois Gloria married the love of her life Chris on November 28 1970 Chris and Dale raised two children together Dale wore many hats during her career including as secretary here at Holy Cross Dale is proceeded in death by her parents she has survived by her husband of 52 years Chris children Sarah Alexander blood and Nicholas and Sarah tomla grandchildren Julia and Gabriel blood in Bradley and Nolan Tamala sister Melody and Gary Circo lifelong friends Terry and Vicki pastel best friend Holly and Al Connolly and many extended family and friends word of God as we dwell in God's word word of God Word of Life thanks be to God the first reading today comes from Isaiah chapter chapter 40 verses 21 28 through 31. do you not know have you not heard the Lord is the Everlasting God the creator of the ends of the Earth he will not grow tired or weary and his understanding no one can fathom he gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak even youths grow tired and weary and young men stumble and fall but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength they will soar on wings like eagles they will run and not grow weary they will walk and not be faint the second reading is from Romans chapter 8 verses 35 through 39. who shall separate us from the love of Christ shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword as it is written for your sake we Face death all day long we are considered as sheep to be overwhelmed no one in all these things no no in all these things we are more than conquerors though him who loved us through him who loved us for I am convinced that neither death nor life neither angels nor demons neither the present nor the future nor any powers neither height nor depth nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our lord please rise the holy Gospel According to Saint John the 14th chapter Glory To You O Lord do not let your hearts be troubled you believe in God believe also in me my father's house has many rooms if that were not so would I have told you that I'm going there to prepare a place for you and if I go prepare a place for you I'll come back and take you with me so that you also may be where I am you know the way to the place where I'm going Thomas said Lord we don't know where you're going so how can we know the way he answered Jesus answered I am the way the truth and the life no one comes to the father except through me this is the gospel of Our Lord you may be seated it's a journey right I thought it was okay but when you come up and you see all the pictures I see all of you gather with you it's hard not to feel it and that's okay it's a good gauge that we're doing something right but the holy spirit is indeed alive and well one of our deer members stopped in this last week and chatted with us and she said I just miss her yeah that a woman of deep faith enduring love and unyielding devotion culminating in those final days together there in Jerusalem we see the same enduring love to one another unyielding the ocean deep Faith despite there he gathers them and has his Farewell discourse of the 14th chapter we call it the 14th chapter because we can just do that it's that profound and that important to us it's a farewell from him and farewell is something that we've become familiar with over the last few weeks months if not years and the one thing that has remained constant we've tried our best but the one thing that has remained constant are the words shared amongst you and the words here proclaimed and going way back we're going to go old school for a second we're gonna go way back to the original text of the 14th chapter and you hear rooms you hear Dwelling Places but the actual word here in the Greek is Monet m-o-n-e which accurately translates to abiding places though I am going I am going before you and I will provide abiding places staying places for you it's a word that's derived from the verb mano m e n o which means to abide to remain to stay abide remain stay I want you to sit with these words now as we hear from our lovely Nancy Elmore arcantor In Christ Alone we abide he is our Stead [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] what height of love what depths of peace [Music] my comforter my mind here in the love of Christ I Stand [Music] thank you [Music] they're in the ground his body lay Light of the World by Darkness [Music] in Glorious Day up from the grave Heroes again and as he stands in victory since cause has lost its grip on me for I am his and he is with the precious blood of Christ [Music] no guilt in life no no fear in death this is the power of Christ in me from life's first Christ to final breath Jesus commands my destiny [Music] me from his hand till he returns or calls me home here in the power of Christ I'll Stand till he returns or calls me home here in the power of Christ I'll Stand menow abide remain stay In Christ Alone and this verb it's used throughout our Premier Gospel of John and it's to signify this an intimate enduring relationship from the Rachel Circle Beyond something very close also to what you and I experience when we were gifted any chance we got to be with Chris and Dale right here in Heights were there at the house at the end of that perfect Trap Rock driveway I don't know I'm obsessed with driveways I think it's because I grew up in the middle of the Woods on a big hill whenever it rained and boy I pray it will rain now but when I was a kid whenever it would rain that driveway would become so washed out and I thought someday I'm going to have a driveway not on a hill but perfectly straight there in a good neighborhood and I would drive to Chris and Dale's and I think yeah this is nice there at the end of the driveway just along Rocky Run with the big red retriever Enzo reading for his pets on the belly come by it meno stay a while an intimate enduring relationship they were all over the country and they made the Northwoods home within the interconnectedness and the holy mystery of the Holy Cross and The Trinity and throughout the 14th chapter and Dale's life we see a profound interconnectedness of the father son Holy Spirit and the roles they play provide a glimpse into the complex and beautiful and always welcoming dwelling there at the end of the driveway we hold this mystery of the trinity in high regard in the church and for a good reason this is where our stead is not so much a place but always an intimate enduring rapport and in the fourth and fifth verse of John 15. he uses the same verb again abide with me meno in me and I in you and this is classic John it's hard to follow sometimes but still and yet beautiful and as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it men knows unless it meantos in the vine neither can you unless you abide in me I am the vine you are the branches much like a rose whoever abides in me and I in them it is that bears much fruit behold the beauty from apart from me you just can't but with me all is possible classic what a classic follower she was someone that any Pastor would have loved to have cloned a hundred times over we called Pastor Mike and let him know and of course so dear to Pastor dick and all those who have served before us come and stay a while she did didn't she come let's let's figure this out together from generation to generation the world is changing I loved calling her she always picked up never quit to give me an earful but always there to listen to the latest goings-on here on Arlington or with my own family she talked about Sarah and Nick and grandkids and the latest that Chris was up to come and stay abide be with and this implication this implication here is profound when Jesus talks about preparing a place for his folk he was going to go but he was going to prepare for their futures not speak speaking though about a physical distant location and we're not this afternoon either but we're talking about meno enduring and intimate relationship with him and with each other it's a promise of his unending salvific presence and his unceasing relationship with those who believe in him those who believe that the way the truth and the life he doesn't just say though that he teaches the truth or shows the way is all three it's radical and it's precisely why we see that the world more and more is keeping its distance we're still here because of the Chris and Dales of the church we're still here with all our might 2 000 years later God never and no longer a distant being prescribing rules but intimately involved with raising a family of beautiful family I loved looking at the pictures that you all put together beautiful in so many ways and how they transition through the room as Dale and Chris aged a beautiful handsome couple amen I a God in Christ Jesus intimately involved with raising a family taking care of her own mother running school districts leading a church for a generation and then yeah carrying a hospice bed into the living room having those last difficult conversations mostly surrendered surrounded around the grandkids and yes those last labored breaths God no longer a distant being but intimately there every step of the way involved with even becoming human himself this makes our relationship God and with each other Soul bottomless come and stay a while actually she was never one to really pull up a chair with me when she'd come and make her weekly visits always standing preferring to stand readying to process any of the goings-on with Jessica and the whole team she was always ready to move on to whatever was next in the day taking care of her clients working with her Rachel's sisters serving Lutheran Social Services charm the Food Shelf yeah we miss her and we call this church Luther called it the priesthood of all believers what a way to put it it's not a bad place to spend some time for we all are just passing through that's why given it all this is the most critical aspect of the journey Dales and our direct relationship with God through Christ without the need for anything fancy or another median or intermediary we have an intimate personal nature of God 's love for us a love that only provides not only provides for our Eternal future but is with us right now that's what we celebrate today that's what we'll celebrate in the basement and that's what we'll celebrate later on this evening downtown she lived it in her own way as soon as I thought I kind of had her pegged she would slip in her own way in a very beautiful way I thought I would think wow yeah there you are never too concerned about my own thoughts or anyone else's she lived her life her own way and it's an eternal promise that she's now fully experiencing Dale not just in another distant place that's what I take comfort in right now she's not just in another distant place but she's abiding with Christ himself so I say to you peace dear ones when I say that I hope I hear it from time to time too I know it's easier said than done peace Jesus peace unlike worldly peace it's often temporary fleeting and dependent on so many other circumstances Jesus offers a peace that transcends understanding we often talk about this piece that surpasses understanding however it's not absence of trouble but an inner Tranquility despite it and there you have it there's the whole of it inner peace despite she said to me during one of those last conversations and she said I just wish I had more time to help out Noah then eventually as her rare illness worsened the conversations changed to I'm ready she began to prepare me she began to prepare you it was all beginning to be too much hard to watch and I'm sure unbelievably challenging to live yet as she lived the whole of her life with her partner Chris I will never forget your devotion Dale no longer able to serve herself but had to be served by the closest one to her he rose to the moment and taught me and everyone else what it means to be a husband and as he prepared to go he said let not your hearts be troubled believe in God believe also in me he said to his members he said to his followers and so he says to us today Dale exemplified these words do not let your hearts be troubled she stood firm in her faith weathering life's storms with a Grace that can only come from a heart rooted in Christ he said because I live you will also live Dale has now fully realized this promise of a lifetime stepping from this yes Al very good life and into the eternal life with her savior and for us who remain we find Hope in these her very same promises looking forward to the day when we too will abide with her again Philippians 4 7 dear Church dear Holy Cross and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and Minds in Christ Jesus [Music] but it will be like when I walk by yourself I Can Only Imagine what my eyes will see when your face is before me I can only imagine [Music] foreign [Music] I Can Only Imagine I Can Only Imagine when the day comes and I find myself standing in the sun I can only imagine when all I will do is forever forever [Music] Only Imagine surrounded by Your glory what will my heart will I Dance For You Jesus foreign [Music] will I be able to speak at all I can only imagine [Music] I Can Only Imagine only imagine when all I will do is forever forever worship you [Music] I Can Only Imagine I believe in God the Father Almighty creator of Heaven I believe in Jesus Christ God's only son our Lord who is conceived by the Holy Spirit born in the Virgin Mary Pontius Pilate was crucified died and was buried he descended on the third day he rose again he ascended in heaven he is seated the right hand of the father and he will come to judge the living and dead I believe in the Holy Spirit the Holy Catholic Church the communion the Saints the Forgiveness the sins the Resurrection The Body and life Everlasting let us pray Our Father Who Art in Heaven Hallelujah be thy name thy kingdom come thy will be done on Earth as in heaven give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we free of those who trespass against us and lead us not in temptation but Deliver Us from Evil for thine is the kingdom the power and the glory forever let us commend Gloria Dale Tamila to the mercy of God our maker and Redeemer into your hands O Merciful Savior we commend your servant Dale acknowledge we humbly seat you a sheep of your own fold a lamb of your own flock a sinner of your own redeeming receive her in the arms of your mercy into the Blessed rest of everlasting peace and into the Glorious company of the Saints and Light the Risen Christ give you all joy and peace peace despite there isn't Christ give you all joy and peace and believing that you may abound in Hope almighty god father Son and Holy Spirit bless you now and forever go in peace Christ is with you and as we do so join us downstairs for a reception in our fellowship hall where we can continue to celebrate Dale's life and share all those stories and memories together and all of those who plan sticking around town this evening you're welcome the family welcomes you downtown to the Dublin on Superior Street downtown go on peace just as Dale did for all so long for us serve the Lord thanks be to God [Music] [Music] has come and the land is dark and the Moon is the only light we'll see no I won't be afraid oh I won't be afraid just alone as you stand stand by me so darling darling [Music] by me oh stand stand behind me Stand By Me if the sky that we look upon should tumble and fall we'll see you downstairs [Music] I will cry I won't cry no I won't deal just as long as you stand Stand By Me [Music] by me walk there now then by me Stand By Me [Music] nine dollars [Music] old man Stand By Me Stand By Me [Music] whoa