Jimmy Carter Admits He’s ‘Absolutely and Completely at Ease’ With Death During Church Service

During a church sermon over the weekend, the oldest living U.S. president shared how he was accepting of death during his fight with brain cancer in 2015. Jimmy Carter participated in his weekly sermon in Plains, Georgia. His most recent message at Maranatha Baptist Church, which was in front of more than 400 people, touched on his near-death experience.

“I assumed, naturally, that I was going to die very quickly,” Carter began “I obviously prayed about it. I didn’t ask God to let me live, but I asked God to give me a proper attitude toward death. And I found that I was absolutely and completely at ease with death.”

“It didn’t really matter to me whether I died or lived. Except I was going to miss my family, and miss the work at the Carter Center and miss teaching your Sunday school service sometimes and so forth. All those delightful things.”

Carter made his return to the church after breaking his pelvis in a fall on Oct. 21. He made his sermon with a walker. The church announced on Tuesday in a Facebook post that Carter would resume his appearances just two weeks after his accident.

Prior to the brain cancer diagnosis in 2015, earlier in that year Carter had a small mass removed from his liver. He shared that he was cancer free during December of that year.

Carter served as President from 1977 to 1981 after previously holding the position of State Senator in Georgia. He was the 39th President of the United States. Carter also was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize after co-founding the Carter Center, whose goal is to advance human rights and alleviate human suffering.

During his return to the church on Sunday, Carter also provided his thoughts on the current political landscape. He feels that it would be “nice” if the country would return to being a “superpower in maintaining peace.”

He urged those in attendance to help each other out especially to those who need a friend because “that’s the way we to make the United States a superpower.”

“Suppose the United States was a super power in environmental policy. Suppose the United States was a superpower in treating people equally. See, that’s the kind of superpower I’d like to have,” Carter said.

At 96 years old, Carter overtook President George H.W. Bush, who passed in 2018, as the oldest living president.