“With God’s promises, there is not only life now, but confidence for the future” — Funeral of James A. Brown

12. May 2025

Funeral of James A. Brown

John 14:1-6

“Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. And where I go you know, and the way you know.” (Jn 14:1–5).

This is the Word of the Lord that came to me, so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing, you may have life in His + Name. AMEN.

Rena, family, and friends: grace, mercy, and peace are yours in Jesus Christ, your Lord. Today, we are blessed to remember the life given to our brother in Christ, Jim. And what a rich life it was! There is no way for us to encompass everything Jim did and everyone Jim blessed. Even the incredible obituary only scratches the surface. But if you can believe it, his seventy years are just the beginning.

In one way, Jim lived in the past. Maybe it’s a bit obvious to speak of his reenactment of American history? It was such a significant part of his life. He was an astute historian. I understand he could recall obscure details about anything he had learned without even referencing a book. His dedication and commitment to faithfully recreating significant events in our history were his way of keeping those memories alive. As it is said, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

Edmund Burke said it even better: “People will not look forward to posterity, who never look backward to their ancestors.” More than simply remembering the events and learning from them, reenactment is about preserving the details of clothing, arms, organization, and even facial hair, such as mustaches. (In case you were wondering, I kept my beard long just for today.) More than mere nostalgia, Jim knew there were lessons to learn, traditions to uphold, and craftsmanship to preserve. We don’t know what tomorrow will bring, and so we preserve the wisdom and knowledge of our forefathers.

That isn’t to say that Jim only lived in the past. He was intimately present for Rena, his family, friends, and fellow laborers. God gave Jim skills and work to preserve, provide for, and care for his neighbors, and perhaps for the critters outside and the strays that visited the porch as well. His craftsmanship with swords and sabers, as well as wood and leather, might have led him to retreat into the mechanical and technological world.

But Jim also remained rooted and grounded in God’s good gift of creation. For Jim, his trades and hobbies were a way to engage more deeply with his family and friends. And what gifts! God took him around the country and, in these last days, brought people from all around to visit and say their goodbyes. But if you can believe it, Jim’s years are just the beginning.

We, Christians, are people of the past, too. We look backward via the Scriptures to learn who God is and what He has done. We are also called to honor, serve, and obey our parents, both in life and in death. They would have us never forget the Holy Scriptures, just as Jim holds his Bible to his chest. And in the Holy Word, we learn that God made us and all creatures. As He gave and preserved the people of old, He will care for us. God the Son died for us on the cross of Calvary, shedding His blood and dying our death for the forgiveness of sins. And Jesus promised to send His Spirit to call, gather, enlighten, and make holy for Himself a Christian Church.

And when I visited, Jim, Rena, and I reflected on the moment when God the Father, Son, and Spirit baptized Him and called Jim His own. Jim heard in his ears the forgiveness of sins that Jesus purchased and won for him. Jim could look back on that event many years ago, not with nostalgia, but with the understanding that everything needed for faith and life, Jesus gave Jim in those saving waters. He heard those inspired words of our forefather Simeon, “Lord, now let your servant go in peace. Your word has been fulfilled.”

And here in the Christian church, God gives us to reenact the gift of our baptism—not that we need to be baptized again, but so that we know and believe that what God did in that washing of water and the Word still has its way with us. That’s why we begin nearly every service of the Church with the name written on our foreheads and hearts at baptism. “In the name + of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” We receive the same gift of forgiveness washed upon us in Christ’s shed blood as we hear the pastor declare, “In the stead and by the command of my Lord Jesus Christ, I forgive you all your sins!”

And today, at the beginning of our service, we remembered yet again Jim’s baptism into Christ. This time, Jim didn’t wear the uniform of the 4th Kentucky Cavalry. Instead, his casket was draped with the pall, a visible sign of how Jesus clothed Jim in His righteousness, covering all Jim’s sins. In an even more astounding confession from St. Paul in Romans 6, we proclaimed together that in the font so long ago, Jesus got Jim’s death over with. In the saving waters, Jim had already died with Christ, rose with Him, and was given the gift of life in love and hope.

That’s the beauty of the rites and rituals of the Church. They’re like the reenactments that Jim did for so many years or all the old trades that Jim kept alive. The church’s rituals serve as a means of bringing the past into the present, so that we may know and never forget who God is and what He has done for us. But they’re not just memories preserved or events recollected. There’s even more here, because explicitly attached to Christ’s gifts of Absolution, Baptism, Supper, and preaching are His Words of Promise. With God’s promises, there is not only life now, but confidence for the future. If you can believe it, Jim’s life is just beginning.

For the Christian, we can look back to what God has done in Christ to remember, but also for strength in these last days, and for confident hope in a future that is certain. As the Apostle said, “We have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection” (Ro 6:5). Or as we will hear Jesus proclaim, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die” (Jn 11:25–26). And consider Jesus’s promise we heard earlier, “I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also” (John 14:4)

Christ Jesus has already done everything needed for faith and life, gave it to Jim, and gives it to you now as His gift. Jesus promises it, and He will do it! We have confident hope that we will see Jim again as we rest in Christ’s promises, just as Jim does. “This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!” (2 Cor 5:17)

And because the resurrection is described as a new heavens and new earth, there won’t be any more reenactments or need to remember these gray and latter days… well, except one thing. Just as Jesus showed His disciples in the upper room the scars in His hands and His side on Easter Sunday, so we will behold the Christ, the Lamb of God “as though it had been slain” (Re 5:6). We will never forget our Lord Jesus and what He did to save Jim and to save us from sin, death, and hell.

Rena, family, and friends: grace, mercy, and peace are yours in Jesus Christ, your Lord. Today, we are blessed to remember the life given to our brother in Christ, Jim. And we are blessed to remember the gift of forgiveness, life, and eternal salvation Christ Jesus gave to Jim and still gives to all who await Christ’s reappearing. Believe it, Jim’s life is just beginning, and we will see him again soon.

This is the Word of the Lord that came to me, so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing, you may have life in His + Name. AMEN.

Rev. Christopher R. Gillespie
St. John Ev. Lutheran Church & School - Sherman Center
Random Lake, Wisconsin