When Marj Sire called on February 7 to say that Jim had passed away the night before, I was not surprised. Not that it was expected, but I was not surprised. I was told that Jim died due to complications of pneumonia, which one of Jim’s long-time friends told me after the service is “the old man’s friend.” He and Jim often disagreed theologically at Starbucks over coffee. Jim had been in and out of the hospital in recent weeks. He had 13 stents in his heart. When learning years ago that he needed stent number 13, Jim humorously asked what the record was. One of my grad students told me the official record is 34.
I first met Jim Sire during InterVarsity’s orientation for new staff which back in 1981 ended with a lucrative visit to InterVarsity Press in Downers Grove, IL. Jim Sire started asking who was the new IV staff for Illinois Wesleyan University. I identified myself and Jim immediately placed his hand on my head to commission me to InterVarsity’s work on that campus. He then said his son Rich would be a freshman at IWU in the fall. Jim Nyquist’, my ONS small group leader during the IVP visit, strongly encouraged me to “get” Jim to become a donor. Jim and Marj committed then and there to become ministry partners (we called them donors then) and they’ve done so faithfully ever since.
Jim was a “cheap date” when invited to speak to the schools where I served undergraduate students. From one of those speaking engagements came his book Why Believe Anything at All. Jim quickly became a dear friend. It was Jim who ten years later helped me consider moving to Champaign-Urbana to join GFM and serve at the University of Illinois. Each new book of his arrived in the mail gratis with a wonderful signature page for me. One stands out: “For David–Fellow traveler with Jesus—”. This is how I think Jim viewed all of us GFM staff whom he loved and admired. I think it’s hard to understate how much Jim appreciated GFM.
What I think we in GFM appreciate so much about Jim is that he loved “the life of the mind” passionately, but he did so by loving people with open generosity and respect. He never wanted to win an argument at the expense of the dignity of those he sought to bring closer to faith in the Lord Jesus. We also know that Jim loved life deeply and appreciatively. After the memorial service, Marj told me with a smile, “Jim was so wonderful it’s amazing he married me.” Jim knew what he was doing; they were married in 1955.
When Marj called to say that Jim had passed I confess that I was not sad. I’ve not yet felt sadness over his death. Yes, I mourn the loss for his immediate family, and yes, I miss his many emails and phone calls, but Jim died in faith and knew (and no doubt now knows) that he will rise to new embodied life at the renewal of all things. Jim’s memorial service was titled “Witness to the Resurrection: With thanks to God, we celebrate the life of … James W. Sire (10/17/1933 – 2/6/2018).” Jim planned the service himself in consultation with the interim pastor who officiated. When I think of Jim, even now in death, I find myself smiling. He died well by dying in faith. Below is a quotation of Jim’s that sums up how he glorified God and no doubt would want us in GFM to glorify God too (from the memorial bio insert).
"To glorify God is not just to do so in religious worship, singing and praising and enacting the traditional rites of the church. To glorify God is to reveal his character by being who we were created to be—the embodiment of the image of God in human form."
David Suryk (2/20/2018)
