As the event concluded, Carter’s casket was slowly removed from the cathedral by members of the military, ending a multiday string of events and services in Washington, D.C., meant to honor the late president. The casket was then returned by plane to Georgia for a final, private funeral at Maranatha Baptist before being buried alongside his wife on the grounds of their home Thursday evening.
In his eulogy, Biden blessed Carter’s final southern journey, pairing one of Carter’s favorite Bible passages — Micah 6:8 — with one of the current president’s favorite hymns: “On Eagle’s Wings.”
“As he returned to Plains, Georgia, for his final resting place, you can say goodbye in the words of the Prophet Micah, who Jimmy so admired until his final breath: Jimmy Carter did justly, loved mercy, walked humbly,” Biden said. “May God bless a great American, a dear friend and a good man, may he be raised up on eagle’s wings, bear you on the breath of dawn, make you to shine like the sun, and hold you in the palm of his hand.”
At a simpler service later in the day, as the sun was setting over the town of Plains, people who had worshipped with Carter for years and cared for him in his last days came together at Maranatha Baptist Church. As the 50-minute private funeral began, the church’s pastor, the Rev. Ashley Guthas, opened the service by saying the word “peace” in English, Arabic and Hebrew.
“We are here because we have been impacted by the earthly presence of this remarkable human, a leader who used his power not for selfish gain, but humbly in service of all,” Guthas said.
Her predecessor, the Rev. Tony Lowden, who had become Carter’s personal pastor, recalled how the former president always asked him, “Who have you helped and how can I help you help them?”
Lowden who said Carter had asked him for the phone numbers of sick members of the church so he could call them, recalled an occasion when the former president tearfully embraced, from his wheelchair, an African man who came to the church to thank Carter for saving him from guinea worm disease.
Lowden went on to thank many of those in the pews who had helped Carter or who are working to build upon his legacy — the caregivers and medical team who he said lengthened Carter’s life, the Carter Center that continues his work, and the National Park Service that will care for the historic site where Carter lived.
“Not self, but country; not self, but country,” Lowden said, recalling the words above the chapel doors at the U.S. Naval Academy. “Don’t let his legacy die. Don’t let this nation die. Let faith and hope be our guardrails. God bless you.”
This article originally appeared here.
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