BY REV. ROBERT W. LEE IV
As a pastor, it is an incredibly humbling honor to preach to anyone who will listen. When that audience includes the man who served as the 39th President of the United States and has a knowledge of scripture that is broader than most pastors, the pressure is on.
That is the position I found myself in on Sunday, August 18, 2018, when I preached at Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, Ga. President Jimmy Carter had taught Sunday School the hour prior to worship, causing a large crowd to attend the morning’s worship service. I hope I preached a meaningful sermon, that my jokes landed, and that my message was received by all in attendance.
President Carter came up after service and motioned for me to come near. My wife Stephanie was with me so we walked over to hear what this president turned Sunday school teacher had to say. He greeted my entire family in attendance with warmth, speaking to my mom and dad and saying they must be proud of their son. Then he turned to Stephanie and me and invited us to dinner, but only on the condition that Stephanie fix a special lasagna for him. He pulled a worn piece of paper with a recipe on it from his wallet, handed it to her and said he looked forward to the evening.
I’ll spare you the details of the conversation that night, but I will say that regardless of what you feel about President Carter’s politics, that man’s care and concern for this country and its wellbeing is rivaled by few others. He loved this country.
President Carter passed away on Sunday at his home.
As a scholar of presidential and public theology at Pacific School of Religion, I’ve studied not only President Carter’s political career but also his faith journey. This Georgia peanut farmer knew — as we all should know — that God is intimately concerned with who we are and how we care for one another. As evidenced by his writings, advocacy, and interviews, Carter saw his responsibility to “the least of these” as paramount.
You can argue that the Iran Hostage Crisis, the oil shortage, and other issues that tanked his prospects at a second term as defining President Carter and his time in office. However, I see him as much more. I see him as a lion of a man with a roar that was his service. I see him as one of the last of the generation of politicians that many of us still long for. He offered a different way of doing things.
President Carter’s methods were not always conventional or the outcomes always successful, but everything he did was from the heart. He brought people along with him too. On the day I preached in Plains, Ga., I saw his heart as he sat with the crowd and greeted everyone who wanted to say hello. He was a servant of the people. Equally, he commanded the respect of Democrats and Republicans. But his command was more invitation. Granted, the buck stopped with him. But the course of his political career and certainly his post-presidency was an invitation to stand alongside him in the journey toward a more perfect union.
When President Carter stood in the Maranatha Baptist Church office with me that sunny day, he was astounded by my peanut allergy. But his demeanor quickly changed and he checked to make sure there were no peanuts in the church. He spoke of his experiences not as American history best left in our history books, but as building blocks of the American experience that we’re all party to. He was concerned for this country that day; yet he knew America’s promise was found in our ability to elect a peanut farmer as president. He knew that promise was not dead. For that, I am forever grateful.
While in seminary, I often wondered what it might be like to preach to a well-known person. I asked my professor, Bishop William H. Willimon, a preacher who had addressed such individuals, how I would handle such a moment. “They’re looking for God; make sure you show them God,” he said. Such a simple and complex reminder that our goal is to see Jesus.
President Carter’s goal was to see Jesus. Well done, good and faithful servant. I’m mourning our loss, but I’m happy you’ve seen Jesus. Rest in peace and rise in glory.
The Rev. Robert W. Lee IV is a pastor and public theologian who was born, raised, and lives in Statesville. His doctoral dissertation on theology and the American Presidency and Theology at Pacific School of Religion.