Jim Beardsell

Charlotte Collins Reed
Christ Episcopal Church
August 19, 2012

Jim Beardsell

When word of Jim’s death began to spread last weekend, from the stories I heard, I think pretty much everyone felt like they had lost a great friend, whether they had known Jim for most of their lives, or only a short time. Jim made us laugh. Jim gave us a shoulder to lean on. Jim gave us an encouraging word, or on occasion, a look that said more than words. But most of all, Jim made us feel welcome. When Don and I arrived in Springfield many years ago, with a three year old son in tow, Jim and Anita welcomed us and helped make all three of us feel at home here. Jim made it a point to get to know everyone whose life intersected with his, not because he wondered what they could do for him, but because he was interested and genuinely wanted to know everyone. Of course, if you were interested in football, that was icing on the friendship cake. Jim made his friends feel like family, and because of the way he talked about and loved his family, you feel like friends to us, even though many of us have just now met.

So we gather today to celebrate the long life of Jim Beardsell and Jim would be pleased to see his beloved family and so many of his friends all in the same place, singing the hymns he picked out. If we look around, we see all sorts of people here today-young and young at heart, conservative and liberal, gay and straight, black and white, members of different religious persuasions, and that doesn’t include the many people who wanted to be here today, but could not. Jim has brought together an amazing cross-section of the human family to celebrate his life because his life touched such a cross-section of people. And in this gathering, Jim’s life reflects something of the Kingdom of God and the Divine hospitality-the hospitality that embraces all and welcomes all people. Today we celebrate a life that has gathered us together and reminded us of the great welcome of the Kingdom of God.

As much as there is to celebrate this day, and as may Jim Beardsell stories as there are to share, we are also here to mourn Jim’s death. In the opening prayers, we asked God to grant Jim an entrance into the land of light and joy. In order for our loved ones to gain that entrance and pass through the gate of eternal life, we must lost them here on earth. That loss hurts, even when that loss represents the end of pain and suffering for Jim, even when we would not wish him back for a moment longer if that meant his suffering would continue. Even Jesus himself wept at the tomb of Lazarus, his friend. In our prayers this day, we pray for each other, that we may be consoled in our grief and be comforted in our sorrows. Our grief does not mean that our faith is not real. Our grief simply means that we have lost someone we love and that our lives will not be the same without him. Allow yourselves to grieve and know that, in the words of Paul in his letter to the Romans, even the deepest grief does not separate us from the love of God.

The most important reason we are here today is to celebrate Jim’s entry into eternal life. The reading from Isaiah says "Those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength. The shall mount up with wings like eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint." Jim has waited. Jim was not afraid of death. He told me that, and I know he told some of you that. He believed that "neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation" could separate him from the love of God. He also firmly believed that "the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us.’ Ninety some years ago, in his baptism, Jim was joined with Christ in his death and resurrection. In his death early last Saturday morning, Jim was joined with Christ in new life and he was made new. In the gospel reading, Jesus tells us that he has gone ahead of us to prepare of a place for us, so that where he is, there we might also be. Jim has been welcomed into that place, where he can run and not be weary, where he is reunited with his loved ones who have gone before, where he has new people to meet, and where the whole great diversity of humankind is gathered.

Amen.