Again, this posting refers to the trip I took just last weekend with my Dad and Bill. We awoke in Americus, Georgia bright and early Sunday morning and headed out toward Plains (about 10 miles west) to the Maranatha Baptist Church. We arrived at around 7:30am, although I was hoping to get there about 15 minutes earlier.
After a brief wait of about 30 minutes, we were allowed entrance to the church. Security seemed a bit more lax than it had been during my other two visits. Neither Bill nor I were required to be scanned by the metal detector, but Dad was. I guess he just looked more like an assassin than we did. All that was required of me was that I turn on my camera so that they could see that it was actually a camera. We ended up in the fourth pew from the front, where a large floral display contributed by Sybil Carter commemorated the 18th anniversary of the death of her husband Billy.
Although the wait for Jimmy Carter’s entrance was well over an hour and a half, the time really seemed to go by quickly. This may have been due to the attactive girl sitting to my left or it may be that the chuch locals have really got their spiels down pat. Local church member Miss Jan gave her obligatory speeches, warnings, instruction, and rules of conduct to be observed during President Carter’s Sunday School class. This is always mildly entertaining enough to keep one from getting too bored during the wait.
When 10:00am rolled around, President Carter entered and did his standard introduction and interaction with the congregation asking if anyone was from out of town (ha ha) and where they were from. He always speaks a little bit about what he has been up to lately before delving into the material. He mentioned his attendance at a Bill Clinton function, a recent visit from President Morales of Bolivia, and his upcoming book about the Middle East.
The lesson for the morning was from Joshua 24, specifically about Joshua’s mandate to the Israelites that they choose which god they would serve. Carter does an outstanding job of always relating the scripture text to choices we must make in our daily lives, equating the pagan gods of the day with our desires to worship money, power, sex, and other potentially destructive forces in our lives.
I greatly enjoy President Carter’s biblical lessons, both written and verbal. He does an excellent job of relating the meaning and relevance of scripture. As this was my third time visiting, I’m beginning to lose some of the awe of seeing a former President and now just drink in the captivating way in which he delivers his message.
President Carter asked the same bible trivia question that I answered on my first visit (I’ll tell you what it was some other time). This time, however, he directed it to one of the local church members. It brought about a tremendous laugh when the member responded with “Sorry, I was having a memory about you and dropped off for a minute there.” How embarassing would that be?
The most touching moment that I picked up on was when Carter was talking about the Carter Center. Several of the center’s interns had filled the back of the church during the class. From the left side of the room came a soft voice – “Jimmy.” Without missing a beat, President Carter snapped his head in that direction and answered “Yes, darlin'” Rosalynn wanted to make sure that he acknowledged the interns. Carter said with a smile, “Yes, dear, I was getting to that.”
Following the class was the normal church service. This was a very rousing affair as there were two special groups of guest singers in attendance, a harmonizing trio from Missouri and the New Generation Choir from Atlanta. Both groups were outstanding and powerful. During the weekly children’s story, Rosalynn Carter was called up to take part in the enactment of “Little Green Riding Hood.”
After the service, as always, the Carters posed for pictures with whomever wished to stay. Of course we did and here it is:
Following the photo shoot, we loaded ourselves into the van and headed back to Dayton. The ride on the way back wasn’t quite as long as the ride there. Highlights of the trip were Burger King and Shoney’s. I got home about 1:00am. Always worth it.
(Read about the last time we saw President Carter teach here)
Continue with 2006…
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