Reflecting on the funeral of Jimmy Carter

I am writing this article in the first moments after the funeral of former President Jimmy Carter at the Washington National Cathedral. Every living president was there. Tributes were delivered by President Joe Biden, the son of former President Gerald Ford, the son of former Vice President Walter Mondale, and a host of other dignitaries.

Events surrounding the inaugurations and funerals of American presidents are arguably the closest our country comes to royalty. When Donald Trump is inaugurated on January 20, this will be akin to a coronation, just as it was for previous presidents across our history. Mr. Carter’s funeral, part of a declared national day of mourning, was akin to a royal funeral.

Nothing else we do comes as close to how Great Britain coronates and memorializes their royalty. But these two juxtaposed presidential events demonstrate some vital differences between our leaders and their British counterparts.

From peanut farming to the Oval Office

Jimmy Carter famously rose from poverty and peanut farming to becoming our nation’s 39^th president. Donald Trump staged what is widely considered the greatest political comeback in American history to become our 47^th president. Both illustrate the dictum that anyone in America can be president.

Our history bears this out, from the sons of presidents (George W. Bush) to the sons of single mothers (Barack Obama), from children of privilege (George H. W. Bush) to children of alcoholic fathers (Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton).

By contrast, members of the British royal family are obviously family members. No one outside their family can aspire to such status except by marrying into it, as was the case for Kate Middleton when she married Prince William.

The egalitarian nature of American leadership, from the executive branch to the legislative and the judicial, from Washington, DC, to your local school board, is essential to our culture in more ways than we might recognize.

Anyone can be someone in America

I have long been a fan of American Western history and novels. It is intriguing to me to watch people gather themselves into wagons and make the trek into the unknown in their quest for new lives on the frontier. Without this impulse, our nation would still be thirteen colonies along the Eastern seaboard and world history would be vastly different than it is.

This belief that anyone can be someone in America pervades the entirety of our society. Business CEOs can start in the mailroom; hospital presidents can start as lab assistants. To the degree that our country is a meritocracy, its capitalistic ethos is a tide that has the potential to raise all boats. To the degree that the system is “gamed” and unfair, we all suffer and our collective future is imperiled.

Why does America embrace this egalitarian impulse to such a remarkable and pervasive degree?

To me, the answer is found in large part in our religious history. Some of the first settlers to these shores were Christians seeking freedom from their oppressive state church and the ability to practice their beliefs as they wished. The Founders claimed their independence from England on the basis that “all men are created equal” and thus should not be subject to the vagaries and injustices of royalty.

The First Great Awakening swept across colonial America with a spiritual vitality that brought much of the nation into a biblical worldview. The Second Great Awakening, coming on the heels of our independence, renewed this spiritual fervor and extended it across society.

From then to now, despite the advances of secularism in recent generations, Americans remain more religiously committed than any other developed nation.

Five steps into a better future

This impulse to champion the equality of all people is clearly and deeply rooted in Scripture.

• God created each of us in his image and likeness (Genesis 1:27).
• We are commanded to love our neighbors as ourselves (Matthew 22:39).
• We are to serve others as the highest exercise of leadership (Matthew 20:26).
• Class distinctions are replaced by gospel grace: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28).

We are at our worst when we deny or denigrate the sacredness of each individual, from chattel slavery to the imposition of LGBTQ ideology to elective abortion to physician-assisted death. We are at our best when we embrace Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s aspiration that our children “not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”

To advance the biblical equality that is at the heart of our democracy, we can take these steps today:

1. See yourself as God sees you, a sinner deeply loved by your Father and saved by his grace.

2. See others as God sees them, people for whom Jesus died who are welcome in his family.

3. Ask the Lord to expose any prejudice or injustice in your heart and life, then confess whatever comes to mind and seek his help in making restitution where appropriate.

4. Look for practical ways to use your cultural influence for the common good, finding needs to meet and serving to advance God’s kingdom through your compassion.

5. Pray regularly and fervently for another spiritual awakening to renew our nation’s commitment to our Lord and to each other.

Mother Teresa observed,

“When you know how much God is in love with you, then you can only live your life radiating that love.”

Do you “know how much God is in love with you” today?