What Would Jimmy Do?

 

                                                         

                                                                    Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter

Faith without Works Is Dead

What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but does not have works? Surely that faith cannot save, can it?  

If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food and one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill,” and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that?  So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.

But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from works, and I by my works will show you faith. 

James 2:14-18 NRSVue

In the 1990s there was a widespread evangelical movement with the initials WWJD (What Would Jesus Do?) Today we could offer the variation WWJD (What Would Jimmy Do)? Yesterday former US President Jimmy Carter died at the remarkable age of 100. There have already been many tributes and retrospectives -- Carter was ancient enough on the brink of death enough times that media obituaries would have been finely honed. 

I appreciated a well-crafted sentence from the CBC tribute: "A devout Christian who taught Sunday school at his local Baptist church for decades and whose faith-based politics were often championed as an antidote to the cynicism of the Watergate years, Carter unexpectedly ascended from the Georgia governor's office to the presidency."  Carter often named his Christian faith as central to every aspect of his life. 

"I am a peanut farmer and a Christian. I am a father, and I am a Christian. I am a businessman and a Christian. I am a politician and a Christian. The single most important factor in my own life is Jesus Christ."

One journalist who describes himself as an atheist went to one of those Carter Sunday School sessions which were attended by hundreds who lined up for hours to get in. He said that it was more of a philosophy of life session salted with scripture, and an inspiring experience. He noted that Jimmy notably drew on the small New Testament book of James, which makes perfect sense. Over the years I've come to appreciate James more and more and it is obvious from the lives of Jimmy Carter and his beloved wife Rosalynn that they took the message of this epistle to heart, every day through eradicating guinea worm globally and building houses for Habitat for Humanity and many other causes. 

I have never understood why so many conservative Christians in the States have such a low regard for Jimmy Carter as a president and person yet commit idolatry worshipping the Orange Menace. Certainly in the post-presidency years Carter was a fearless ambassador for peace and justice and wasn't afraid to support the Palestinian cause and criticize the US for its support of what he named as apartheid. He was made of steel but didn't have a steely heart. 

If there was a What Would Jimmy Do? bracelet I would be tempted to wear one in his honour and as a reminder of what it means to follow Jesus. The world was definitely a better place with him in it and his legacy as a Christian will endure.