For People with Bishop Rob Wright
For People with Bishop Rob Wright
The Faith & Leadership of President Jimmy Carter
What lessons can a former president's legacy teach us about today's political landscape? President Jimmy Carter's inaugural address from 1977, given nearly 50 years ago, remains relevant to the social and political climate in our country and world today.
In this episode Melissa and Bishop Wright have a conversation focused on President Carter's speech. They point to his courage to openly acknowledge governmental mistakes and how this parallels biblical principles of confession and repentance. They discuss President Carter's leadership and how admitting error demonstrates integrity and builds trust across party aisles. Listen in for the full conversation.
Read For Faith, the companion devotional.
If we would have done some of the things that President Carter asked us to do, would we be still in this same situation? So this is the burden of leadership. The burden of leadership is to find ways to tell people things that they don't necessarily want to hear at a time when they don't necessarily want to hear it. Right as one person has said, you know, leadership is the art of disappointing people at a rate that they can absorb.
Melissa:Welcome to For People with Bishop Rob Wright. I'm Melissa Rau and this is a conversation inspired by For Faith, a weekly devotion sent out every Friday. You can find a link to this week's devotion and a link to subscribe in the episode's description. Good day, bishop.
Bishop Wright:Hey Melissa.
Melissa:This week's For Faith fodder is an excerpt from the late Jimmy Carter's inaugural address dated January 20th 1977. It's potent, relevant and, with any luck, will get folks' attention with its own resurgence of sorts. So, as the US prepares to swear in President Trump for his non-consecutive second term, what are you inviting us to take away from Jimmy Carter's address delivered nearly 50 years ago?
Bishop Wright:Yeah, 48 years ago. Well, first of all, as I said in our last podcast, jimmy Carter was our 39th president. That's obvious and not only I love you said potent, not only an impactful post-president, but an impactful president, and I think we need to go slow and consider some of the important things that he did how far ahead of the future he was on energy. How far he was on environment, climate, how far ahead he was on lots of topics. Far ahead he was on lots of topics. And you know he comes up out of the soil of Plains, georgia, and to the governor's mansion here in Atlanta and then on to the White House, and so a lot will be said about him. We're recording a day ahead of his state funeral at the Washington National Cathedral and where President Biden, apparently, will give the eulogy, and I just I like for us to.
Bishop Wright:You know, think about his own words. What did he have to say? And so you know what did he stand up and say? You know, almost 48 years ago, about the nation and about what his views were, and you know what I like about his writing and I believe his life and his leadership was he felt that America was a great nation and that sort of is in all of his writings. But he thought that this exception, this American exceptionalism, this idea also carried with it a responsibility, and that was to make good on our highest and best ideals, and that that should actually be and that that should actually be tangible for every tier of society. And so we need people like Dr King and we need people like Jimmy Carter, who not only read the Bible. When they get done reading the Bible, they close the book and then try to implement what they have read in sometimes very difficult circumstances and really resistant and reluctant systems.
Melissa:So, bishop, in his speech in this inaugural address we're coming right off of Vietnam War, and he even connotes that the government has made some mistakes, and I believe he's trying to pull and galvanize the nation back together. I suspect he believed the government to be worthy of citizens' faith and trust, and so he said we must once again have a full faith in our country and in one another. And so, bishop, 50 years ago was a long time ago, and a lot's changed. I like to think we've made some progress in a number of different areas, and yet it's clearly been one step forward and maybe even sometimes two steps back. So I have faith in God alone. How do I put faith into a government who has consistently disappointed me by especially letting down those I love?
Bishop Wright:Yeah Well, what a tough question that is. You know, let's talk about Jimmy Carter's speech and then move into that. I think what he was trying to do, and you know, what's interesting about President Carter is is that if you know your Bible you could actually see his pattern right. So, to admit that he made mistakes I think that's what jumps out at me from this inaugural speech. So, to stand up on arguably one of the best days of his life and a day so full of hope and promise, he mentions the fact that we have missed the mark. And then you look at nowadays, you know, sort of what seems smart to do these days is to never admit a mistake, never admit a misstep. You know to, you know, basically throw this idea of repentance, you know, in the garbage bin in the garbage bin. And so we see in Carter this pattern of you know, we confess and we move forward. And so here it is in his speech. And so I think that's what he was trying to say in as much as I can, you know, begin to parse his mind is is that, with full acknowledgement of how we've missed the mark, let us move forward. And even he says it. You know that. You know in those times, you know where we stood together, even though it was brief, but it was magnificent. In those days no prize was beyond our grasp. And so this is the thing that's befuddling about the practices we've taken up in our modern political conversations the admittance of missteps or wrongdoing, even wrongheadedness, does not actually make us weaker, it makes us stronger. It does not diminish faith in our work. It actually increases faith in our work. To know that we are reflective, to know that we have the courage to say when we've missed the mark, actually is a measure of character, actually is a measure of integrity. And so here we see it again, right from the beginning, where he says basically we've had missteps but we can be stronger and I believe America can be better, is really what he says. It really just sort of jumps off the page at you.
Bishop Wright:Is that, given our missteps and Vietnam was a terrible misstep McNamara and others basically lied. The Kennedys knew about it, Lyndon Johnson knew about it. You know, our time in Southeast Asia cost us American blood, to say nothing of those folks on the other side of this police action that grew into a war. That's no diminishment for those who fought the war bravely, but it is against those who sent those at the time boys to war, young men to war, broke families for a lost cause when we knew full well. And so Carter think about that. So he says this in 77, you know, vietnam is really wrapping up 73, 74. And so, yeah, so we start a new day, but we started with the acknowledgement of how we've fallen short.
Bishop Wright:I see, integrity there would have been powerful to update this idea If those responsible for January 6, four years ago could have turned to the camera and said this was misguided, this was an assault on democracy. This is not our best day. We can do better. This should have never happened.
Bishop Wright:I think that people being, you know, the people that I know across this country, could hear that, could accept that, could find a way forward and it would probably accrue to more trust. But to deny what we saw, to gaslight us, to call those things something than what we actually saw, I think really erodes trust. And if you don't believe me, that's fine. But talk to some young 20-year-olds and they're willing to just write off the whole enterprise.
Bishop Wright:And here you know, and that is, there's no one in government that is truthful, faithful and that has integrity. This is what they say to me, and so they wonder why be involved in the process at all. But when I read Carter and I'm not just being nostalgic here, but when I read Carter I see this gospel pattern where we repent, we admit, and then we sort of strengthen ourselves, steel ourselves with our hope, and that is that we can be better, we rely on one another, and that the blessings of this liberty have to penetrate every level of this society. That's how we move forward here. Look, he sums it up beautifully when he says look, government must be competent and compassionate, right? I mean amazing.
Melissa:It is awesome, it's like one of my favorite lines, and so how might we be, or what might we do, if and when a government cannot be, or is not choosing, to be, competent and compassionate?
Bishop Wright:Yeah, well, look, I think one of the things that occurs to me is that we've got to be always on the watch, for I think in our sedentary lifestyles, the vast majority of us, with our too much screen time, what can happen to us is that we start looking to everybody but ourselves to create a better world. Right, and so look, democrat or Republican, past, present or future, nobody at the highest office in this nation can do it all. Neither can it happen here in Atlanta at the statehouse. Entirely right, citizen still means a lot. Citizen means I take responsibility. Citizen means that, so much as I can in my sphere of influence, I can begin to work my values, live my values, live a life of integrity, and then let that sort of overflow on wherever I find myself. Truthfulness, integrity, generosity that still matters in the world. It still matters.
Melissa:It does, it does matter, and I was doing some research too, and I discovered that Jimmy Carter also delivered something called the Malay speech, and I can't help but wonder if this is part of the problem. Right, maybe we have been abdicating our hope and trust to the government, and yet we need to be stepping up and into some responsibility, like you said.
Bishop Wright:Yeah, well, I'm writing a piece now because, as we know, the inauguration happens also on the 96th birthday celebration of Dr King. And what worries me is that some people will spend the next four years sort of blindly idolizing the president and other politicians and the other half of the people will spend all of their time excoriating or castigating politicians or the president. And the argument I'm going to make there is that I think that both of those approaches are wrongheaded, misguided. I think agency, agency, agency, right, I think you know a blind veneration, idolization of anybody is wrongheaded. It has terrible consequences. And I think you know, just sort of being consumed by criticism of politicians is also wrongheaded. And if we watch Dr King, he did neither. He neither idolized nor castigated because he knew that the work was systemic and not personality driven. And so we see this also again, you know, in Carter. Carter believes in the American people.
Bishop Wright:Now, this is 1977. This is this great mountaintop moment for him. You know a nuclear submarine engineer. You know Annapolis grad. You know long, stable marriage, loving marriage with Rosalind, his life partner, just wonderful. Got out of the car and walked. You know the distance really showed us his down to earthness, and we love that about him. He gets to 79. And he basically looks America in the face and tells them that this is where we are and that you're going to have to, that you're going to have to suffer with me a little bit here if we want energy independence and if we want to, you know, sort of move this economy forward. And of course it's called the Great Melees speech. Yeah, and it's interesting, you know. I don't know if melees that word, um, that characterization of it, has aged.
Bishop Wright:Well, I think you know, when you read leadership books, he looked to the constituents of this country, stakeholders, citizens of this country, and asked them to do their part. And now, when we think back, wow, what would it have been like if America could have decided to turn the thermostat down and take some other steps? Where would we be now? He was way far ahead and he was very vulnerable. And then you look at the hostage situation in Iran and you look at the gas lines and you look at inflation and it was just too much.
Bishop Wright:But to look at citizens in the face and to ask them to endure certain things so that we all can win seems right, I wonder, more than the politicians, if it's not a commentary about who we are. Are we not willing to give up anything to move things along, are we not? I mean, are we so addicted to convenience and look, I'm not special in this regard, I like my conveniences too but the question is still the question what would we give up to further our democracy? What would we give up to make sure that our grandchildren, right, enjoyed some of the things that we enjoy now? As you and I are talking, fires are raging in California. There are other weather issues, you know. There are other hardships all around the country, you know.
Bishop Wright:One wonders, you know, if this isn't cumulative, and if we would have done some of the things that President Carter asked us to do, would we be still in this same situation? So this is the burden of leadership, of leadership is to find ways to tell people things that they don't necessarily want to hear at a time when they don't necessarily want to hear it, right, as one person has said. You know, leadership is the art of disappointing people at a rate that they can absorb, right. And so you know what we learned, and I think that what I'm happy about is that we know Jimmy Carter more by what he did than what he said, and so even in looking at his addresses and so on and so forth, it's interesting that there is not a big gap between what he said and who he was, and I think that's what's made him so beloved to lots of different people on both sides of the political aisle.
Melissa:Right, and Jimmy Carter was definitely a man of great faith. And so what are we being invited to do, bishop, as not just US citizens, at this time? But, as Jesus followers.
Bishop Wright:Yeah, well, you know they say that if you're on a desert island, right, and you can only take two books of the Bible, right. Take the book of Romans, paul's letter to the church in Rome, and take, depending on who you ask, and then take the gospel of Luke, and so this 12th chapter of Romans, though it's not quoted here. When I hear Jimmy Carter talking, I think about the 12th chapter of Romans, where he talks about we are many, but we are one body, and that individually, we all have gifts, and those gifts are manifold and they come through all different kinds of personalities and all kinds of different ways to be. But then he goes on to say you know, in the 12th chapter, in the ninth verse let love be genuine. Hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good, you know. Bless those who persecute you, bless and do not curse them. Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. Do not be overcome by evil if we move down to the end of the 12th chapter. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with doing good.
Bishop Wright:When I think about Jimmy Carter, I think that he had a tenaciousness about him, a tenacity when it comes to trying to do good and just think about it. He was labeled a country bumpkin, a hick. Even till now they're calling him an outlier. There was a famous picture some years back when there were, I think, five presidents all together and President Carter was sort of way down the line and sort of not, with the other group standing closely, and he didn't want to play a lot of the Washington games. Some say that made him naive and unsuccessful. But here we are celebrating his integrity and his resolute conviction that service and faith go hand in hand.
Melissa:Yeah Well, I really appreciate you lifting Jimmy Carter and his leadership up. I think sometimes we fall into the trap of forgetting that there are incredibly gifted, wonderfully faithful human beings who are living and previously lived that we forget that there are incredible models of people that we can model ourselves after, not just Jesus, of course. Jesus is the dude right, and I'm giving thanks for Jimmy Carter's life and witness for sure today, Amen, yeah, we'll think about it as we think about his state funeral on the 9th.
Bishop Wright:Some people, as I've said to you before, some people you really have to work hard to to preach their eulogy, uh, and some people, if you had four hours you couldn't say it all, and thank God that we've had as our 39th president, uh, uh, and for so long, a wonderful post, uh, post-presidency, uh, someone who, uh, words cannot adequately capture, adequately capture what he has witnessed, bore witness to in the life of this nation.
Melissa:Indeed Bishop. Thank you and thanks for listening to For People. You can follow us on Instagram and Facebook at Bishop Rob Wright. Please subscribe, leave a review and we'll be back with you next week. You.