I had heard that former President Jimmy Carter taught Sunday school at his church in Plains, GA so I made sure we were in Plains on Sunday morning. I knew he would not be teaching, but I wanted to get a feel for the kind of Sunday school class the adults have at Maranatha Baptist Church.
It strikes me that Lutherans make many excuses for not attending/teaching Sunday school. That is why Jimmy Carter is my inspiration. He taught his Sunday school class while he was president!
So the class, normally held in the Sanctuary to a full crowd, when Jimmy is teaching, was instead held in a small Sunday school room with only about twenty chairs set up.
The teacher, a very interesting man from Afghanistan, joked that he has been teaching this class for twenty years and that Jimmy is his substitute. He did a fine job.
At the beginning of class, he asked Hilda and me to introduce ourselves. So I got up, turned around–and there–in the seat behind me was Rosalynn Carter. In this class of only 15, she was an active participant. She is 83 (August 18).
She was so gracious–introducing herself to us! I told her why we wanted to be present. She told me Jimmy has been teaching Sunday school since his Annapolis days (1943). Incidentally, he is also a deacon and works with maintenance around the church and has built some furniture for the congregation. He could not be present this morning because he had knee surgery.
lutheranworship 
While there are aspect of Mr. Carter’s politics I disagree with, I have always respected both he and Mrs. Carter’s faith and how they live out their faith in their community and beyond with Habitat for Humanity. There is a natural compassion that I don’t see in many of our leaders today.
Both of those churches are lovely. I have friends who used to attend a Lutheran church in Plains, and went often to Mr. Carter’s church to hear him teach. Small world.