Former President James Earl Carter Jr., the thirty-nineth President of the United States, died on December 29, 2024, at the age of one hundred. Tributes to his life and legacy have flowed to his family and the nation from all over the world. His six-day funeral starts today (Saturday) with a motorcade to The Carter Presidential Center in Atlanta where a private service will be conducted before arriving at the Georgia state capitol. He will lie there in repose for the public to pay their respect around the clock. On Monday, he will then be transported to Washington where he will lie in state in the Capitol Rotunda until his funeral on Thursday at 10 a.m. at the Washington National Cathedral.
President Joseph Biden has ordered that U.S. flags be flown at half staff at all federal properties including the Capitol for the prescribed thirty-day federal mourning period for a president’s death, established in 1954. Predictably, the President-elect, Donald J. Trump, the Narcissist in Chief and chief inciter of violent insurrections and master grifter of Bibles, is furious and fuming over this provision. Okay. Once Trump is inaugurated, he might order them raised, returning to his ugly practice of disrespecting those whom the nation so justifiably admires? We will see.
Ironically, I lowered my U.S. flag to half-staff as a sign of mourning on the day the immoral Mr. Trump was elected in November. I am grateful for Mr. Biden’s declaration. Now my half-staff flag has a whole new depth of meaning, mourning the death but celebrating the life and legacy of a man of faith, honor, empathy, and justice. In His sermon on the Mount, Jesus promised that those who mourn shall be comforted and blessed. I am only now, in my mourning of the death of an extraordinary Christian man, beginning to feel something of that sense of being blessed.
It is often said of President Carter, the peanut farmer from Plains, Georgia, unfairly I might add, that he had a failed presidency. However, all agree that he had an extraordinarily successful post presidency career of public service. The historical consensus is that he was always ‘a man of the people’ and as President, he brought the presidency back down to earth. God only knows where this President-elect will take it! In an article for the Chicago Tribune, Peter Baker said of Carter: “In the Presidents’ Club, Jimmy Carter was the odd man out.” I loved something that Douglas Brinkley, author of The Unfinished Presidency: Jimmy Carter’s Journey Beyond the White House, wrote of Carter:
Jimmy Carter’s not real keen on clubs…The idea that he needs to be in photo ops with these other presidents is not his MO. His heroes in politics were Anwar Sadat and Mahatma Ghandhi, not Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.
For me, the most important aspect of his life and legacy was his Christian faith and the vital role it played in his personal identity and political purpose. His real hero was Jesus Christ. In my last blog post, I talked about being and becoming, who Jonathan Rauch calls, thick Christians. Jimmy Carter was the thickest of Christians, a student of scripture, a Sunday School teacher and a devout worshiper who practiced his faith in the real world, in the making of policy and for relationship building. Inspired and humbled, I am embracing this period of mourning as an opportunity to reflect on my life and faith and on whether I could be counted among those who work at becoming and living as a thick Christian.
It has been reported that former President Jimmy Carter had two favorite bible passages. The first is from the Hebrew Bible, the Old Testament. He refers to it in his 1976 Inaugural Address, Micah 6: 8. (NRSV)
He has told you, O mortal, what is good;
And what does the Lord require of you
But to do justice and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?
The following is how he referenced it in the Inaugural:
Within us, the people of the United States, there is evident a serious and purposeful rekindling of confidence. And I join in the hope that when my time as your President has ended, people might say this about our Nation:
--that we had remembered the words of Micah and renewed our search for humility, mercy, and justice; (The Presidency Project)
His second favorite Bible verse was Ephesians 4: 25-32 (NRSV) but specifically, verse thirty-two.
…And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you.
The nation seems far afield from these biblical ideals, but perhaps amid our mourning, with flags at half-staff, we might again, like the wise travelers from the East in search of Christ, rediscover our determined and confident search for ‘humility, mercy and justice and learn anew how and why we should live with kindness, tenderheartedness and forgiveness of one another.
Neither of Carter’s favorites are listed among the top ten most popular Bible verses. World Vision identifies those as:
- John 3:16 – 2,100,000 monthly searches
- Jeremiah 29:11 and Philippians 4:13 – 82,000 monthly searches
- John 10:10 – 73,000 monthly searches
- Proverbs 3:5 – 58,000 monthly searches
- Matthew 28:19 – 50,000 monthly searches
- Philippians 4:8 – 42,000 monthly searches
- Philippians 4:6 – 37,000 monthly searches
- Romans 8:28 and James 1:3 – 33,000 monthly searches
- Proverbs 3:6 and Ephesians 2:8 – 32,000 monthly searches
- Romans 3:23 – 27,000 monthly searches
By the way, it is both fun and worthwhile to look up each of the above.
If you and I were asked to identify our favorite bible verse and show how this verse informs and guides us, which would we select. Would they be among those listed above, or like Carter, would we have our personal and unique favorites. I have several favorites. Christ’s new commandment is one:
I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another. John13: 34-35; ((NRSV)
Another favorite, as I mentioned in a previous post, are the lines from Mathhew 25, the parable of the sheep and the goats. Although it is a harsh and definitive parable, when Jesus says these words, he is telling us something essential about what should be the priorities of our humanity and life of faith.
…then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that saw you sick or in prison and visited you? And the king will answer them, ‘Truly, I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least who are members of my family, you did it to me.’ (Matthew 25: 37-40; NRSV)
Finally, as it relates to my life in ministry, there is one bible verse that stands out as a favorite. I cited it at the beginning of the Introduction to my book: Voices from Pulpit and Pew: A Memoir from Retirement. (Westbow Press, 2023)
The heart of all Christian ministry rests in the words of Jesus when He said: ’No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.’ (John15: 13, NRSV)
During these days of mourning the death and honoring the life, sacrifice and service of former President Jimmy Carter, we would do well to choose our favorite bible verses, study them, and let them provide the guiding principles and truths for our thinking and behavior. Our path to ‘thickness’ is through the choice and study of scripture, including the teachings of Christ. Carter was a self-identified ‘born again’ Christian, much to the delight of many and the consternation of others. This time of mourning, this poignant pause for self and national examination might also become for each of us a time of renewal and rebirth in the SPIRIT of our favorite bible verses. Inspired and empowered by what we may learn and apply, we will doubtless be called into a deeper and more impactful sense of discipleship, as disciples of Jesus.
President James Earl Carter Jr.- Well done, good and faithful servant!