I just finished watching the very moving funeral for Jimmy Carter and am in overwhelm over all the most emotional and inspirational moments. All of my favorite Scriptures and music were included, from Micah 6:8 to Romans 8, but the one that brought me to tears was the singing of “Imagine” by Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood.
That John Lennon song never fails to touch my heart, but today, just 11 days before Donald Trump’s second inauguration when the pathos and seeming impossibility of that dream feels viscerally real it broke my heart.
But what really hit me between the eyes were words of Scripture that were implied but not uttered by Rev. Andrew Young in his remarkable homily. Rev. Young told a story about the sheriff in Carter’s home county being one of the meanest men in the world. When Young asked Carter about that racist sheriff when they first met, Carter’s response was, “yes, he’s one of my friends.”
Carter knew how to love his enemies because he didn’t see anyone as an enemy, and I am convicted of my own inability to do that by this poignant story. That was painfully clear to me today as my antipathy toward Donald Trump reared its ugly head seeing him sitting there in that cathedral. Jimmy wanted Trump there which means he was and is more of a Christian than I will ever be.
As I live in dread of what January 20 will bring for our country and the world this powerful tribute to our 39th President is a much needed reminder to me of the faith and hope that “nothing in all creation can separate us from.” And it also reminds me that “I’m not the only one; and I hope some day you will join us,” that even my MAGA sisters and brothers will join us, “And the world will be as one!”
Peacefully Harsh 