our father who art in heaven, >> our father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name on earth as it is in heaven. give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil for thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever and ever. amen.

for our brother >> for our brother, james, let us pray to our lord jesus christ to set i am the resurrection and i am life. lord, in their distress, draw near to us for those who mourn for james and dry the tears of those who weep. >> here us, lord. >> at the grave of lazarus, your friends, comfort us in our sorrow, lord. >> hear us, lord. >> gave to our brother eternal

life. >> hear us, lord. >> you promised paradise to the thief who repented . bring us the joys of heaven. >> hear us, lord. >> our brother was washed in baptism and anointed by the holy spirit. give him a fellowship with all of your saints. >> hear us, lord. >> lord, comfort us in our sorrows at the death of our brother. let our faith be our constellation and eternal life our hope. >> hear us, lord. >> father of all we a pray to you for james and for all of those we love but see no longer. grant to them eternal rest. let light perpetually shine

upon them. may the souls of all of the departed through the mercy of god rest in peace. >> amen.

give r >> give rest, o christ, with your servants and saints where sorrow and pain are no more but life everlasting. >> you only are immortal the creator and maker of humankind and we are immortal formed of the earth and to earth shall we return for so did you ordain

when you created me, saying you are dust and to dust you shall return. all of us go down to the dust, yet even at the grave we make our song alleluia, alleluia, alleluia. >> give rest of christ to your servant with thy saints where sorrow and pain are no more, neither sighing but life everlasting. >> into your hands o merciful savior we commend your servant, james. acknowledge a sheep of your own fold, a lamb of your own flock, a sinner of your own redeeming. receive him into the arms of your mercy and to the blessing

everlasting peace and into the glorious company of the saints in white. >> amen. >> oh, lord, bless you and keep you. make his face shine upon you and be gracious unto you. the lord lift up his confidence upon you and give you peace. >> amen. >> let us go forth in the name of christ. >> thanks be to god. ♪♪ ♪♪

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♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ >> and as we watch the recession from this extraordinary tribute, the national funeral ceremony at the national cathedral reporting from the nation's capitol just outside washington

national cathedral where the funeral service for late president jimmy carter has just concluded. the 39th president will depart washington for the final time closing out an inspiring legacy spanning five decades since his white house years. in a few hours his casket will return to his hometown in plains, georgia and joint base andrews. a private funeral service at the baptist church where carter, a man driven by deep faith every day of his life, taught sunday school there when he was president. jimmy carter will be laid to rest on his boyhood farm next to his beloved wife, former first lady rosalynn carter. the two forever side-by-side at a home built and put together on-site.

they shared it for the majority of their impressive 77 year marriage every day of their married lives and in fact from childhood they grew up next door to each other. rosalynn and jimmy carter's mother was the midwife. she brought 3-year-old jimmy in to see the baby, rosalynn. here with me now, msnbc contributor jonathan alter. so, jonathan, in this beautiful ceremony, we have seen five living presidents sitting there. current and past. some rivalries resolved. some not. it's the first time we have seen president-elect trump and mike pence shaking hands since the disputes of their

presidency january 6th four years ago. and is seeing president-elect trump sitting next to barack obama and the two of them chatting more than anyone else. we saw, of course, george w. bush, hillary and bill clinton, dan quayle. i mean, it was really a power play of the american presidency. >> you know, it was also about our civic religion and for all of the polarization, all of the alkaloid. we are one people and it is important to be reminded on days like this that we are in this together, for better or for worse and these rituals of state are important for giving us what one critic a hundred

years ago called a usable past. >> in fact, jonathan, you made a point in your book that despite jimmy carter foregoing all of the pop and circumstance carrying his own bad on and off air force one, he detailed every aspect of this service as all former presidents in modern times have peered they planned them for years and years because he wanted this return to washington to lie in state right above hall. and you go through this service at the national cathedral. >> you know, he was in many ways a micromanager and sometimes that hurt him. more often than it helped him. a music lover. every single song was

personally selected by him and many of them have deep meaning. so i think at the end of the day is a man of character, as president biden said three times. character, character, character. what jimmy carter wanted was for the part of his character that related to telling the truth and helping other people to be an example for people all over the world. and the wonderful thing, andrea, he lived to see that was happening and his role as a moral exemplar was taking hold. >> i think in large part

because the vision he had and rosalynn had one year after leaving the white house they decided to build the carter center and post-presidency, in his case 43 years, most of those years in partnership with rosalynn would be fulfilling all of the, you know, commitments of his presidency, to human rights, to global health, to peace and democracy around the world and doing that in such a meaningful way through the carter center and it is remarkable that the reagan's, nancy and ronald reagan were there at the dedication. that was a rift that was never healed because they were so different in their political philosophies. so much with healed. one of the most remarkable eulogies today i found was stephen ford, a minister, one of the sons of jerry and betty ford.

president carter had asked fitz mondale his vice president and jerry ford, his rival in 1976 had asked them to deliver eulogies and steve ford spoke about how they asked each other to deliver each other's eulogies and i did not know who would outlive the other. of course, jerry ford died in 2006 so steve ford delivered his son -- his son delivered his eulogy. on the way back from air force one traveling back from australia for the funeral because at camp david he was assassinated for his commitment to peace by a militant critic

and peace with israel. they decided very briefly about their legacy and as jerry ford wrote, steve ford delivered it and he said they forged a friendship that lasted and was spoken today and is only rival, thomas jefferson and john adams, rivals who became great friends and also made a commitment on that flight to help each other in each other's libraries and joint speeches partially to raise money and partially to promote peace. president ford said and this is so telling today, he wrote they made a commitment and went to the press and said they made a

commitment to doing something to complete the camp david mission. that had not been finished, the rights for the palestinian people. how poignant that is in this day and age. >> you know, there were three things ford said in the eulogy that summed up carter quite well. he said honesty was in his very soul. he said he reminded us that christ had been a carpenter. and he said jimmy carter would leave a legacy of peace and compassion. i think the sense that these you will adjust gave of both jimmy carter's contributions and what he was like as a person gave us a very evocative funeral.

>> and as the eulogy ended, he said as for myself, jimmy, i'm looking forward to our reunion. we have much to catch up on. thank you, mr. president. welcome home, old friend. peter alexander at the white house, one of the most memorable moments today was the hearse, the motorcade driving past and pausing briefly outside the white house where of course viewings were already erected but right between the viewing stands where jimmy carter had served for four years. peter? >> reporter: that's exactly right. jimmy carter was a bit of an outsider during his years in washington, d.c. he spent so much of his time absent at the georgia governor's manchin and the white house . as we watch the procession out of the national cathedral, that will be his next stop. his remains alongside his loved

ones and family members will head to joint base andrews and plains, georgia appeared the ceremony taking place there at the baptist church. more to come. he was such a man of faith, taught sunday school as you know for several decades. i was reading some of the notes shared -- let's listen. >> peter, let's pause for a moment and listen to the chief. ♪♪ ♪♪

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>> and as we >> and as we see the casket placed into the hearse for jimmy carter's final departure from washington, d.c., joining us now, washington post columnist who has written about carter's life and legacy. and who traveled with the former president oversees documenting carter's work fighting global disease. the daily beast washington correspondent who did a habitat build with president carter. and who served in the pentagon during the carter administration and served with so many other presidents. richard, you served with so many presidents and seeing those five presidents there and the relationships you know so well among them it was a remarkable moment in history for the american presidency. >> it never gets old, andrea.

you see these people sitting side-by-side. it is a reminder of the special quality of american democracy, the continuity. 18 months it's the 250th anniversary of this experiment and days like today are reminders of what it has been and what it needs to continue to be and jimmy carter in many ways i thought was really touching, two things struck me, andrea. one was the relationship with gerald ford. his friendship overwhelmed politics. a really good method. now joe biden talk so much about character and i thought a lot of that today. what we need are more relations across partisan lines. we need to see character play a more prominent role in american politics if this democracy of ours is going to be preserved.

>> eugene robinson, how did today's service reflected jimmy carter, the man who really remained as humble and as real everyday of his life as his grandson said in his eulogy? >> you know, of course he had a big hand in planning the ceremony. he picked the music, the soloists who performed at the funeral. that was a reflection certainly of jimmy carter, not only what he wanted for his departure, but also he was, indeed, a micromanager by all accounts. in every respect. but do you know what really struck me? it was a very plainspoken funeral in many ways. it was -- there was an intimacy,

even in the grand cathedral. the family sharing stories about him. andrew young speaking about their relationship that went back so far. and of course, hearing about the friendship. his friendship with gerald ford and how that formed and how it continued. and so at this occasion where you saw all of the former presidents and all of the pump and ceremony, there was also jimmy carter's name and that really struck me. that was so reflective of who

he was. >> i agree entirely, eugene. that really came through in the anecdotes. jason, his grandson -- i love the anecdote about everyone else's grandfather when he first got a cell phone -- >> [ laughter ] right. >> he said, papa? and he said, who is this? and he said, jason. and he said, what do you want? and he said, you called me. i didn't call you. i was taking a picture. >> [ laughter ] >> you know, it was just lovely and jason was so wonderfully captured his grandfather for the family. seeing amy carter and rosalynn's funeral back in

november, we have not seen much of her but she was a young child, one of the youngest since the kennedy children to be in the white house. one of the big issues. >> andrea, one thing i thought about really thought the whole ceremony was how perhaps carter's greatest achievement, how long, how enduring that has been. and it occurred to me that, you know, that last time elapsed between the founding of the state of israel and the signing of those reports that ended the hostility between israel and egypt that has elapsed between the signing and now. in other words, there has been peace longer than there was conflict. that is really an extraordinary achievement. >> it is remarkable.

the former president's will work through the carter center, i saw some of that myself going from africa to haiti and elsewhere around the world. it was so important to him. describe what the carter center means around the world and how he cured diseases. we see the motorcade going out of the cathedral and onto the driveway out of the cathedral. he will be going to joint base andrews for the final drive. he will be turning onto massachusetts avenue and going through washington again. not passing the white house, we don't think, this time. it is a very cold day. i can attest to this. it's windy. below freezing with the windchill factor. the first day, yeah.

and they got out of the car. they were the first presidential couple to get out of the car, the motorcade, and walk up pennsylvania avenue which established a precedent for the presidents to follow. let's talk about the carter center and all of those years, 42 years after his presidency and what he and rosalynn managed to accomplish. >> the carter center came to the former president in a dream. it was something he literally slept on and he awoke to this vision of what his life's work would be, democracy, fighting these horrible diseases that had fallen off the radar in many countries and his grandson, jason, said he literally took door to door efforts to combat. it was not as easy as just getting a vaccine. it took intense grassroots work

you might see in a local campaign to transfer to the local health arena and you said you went to haiti. i went to haiti with the former president as well and got to see on the ground the intense effort this takes. again, many of these underserved often forgotten about populations, where there are stories from carter center staffers who said he would check daily, weekly, the latest on, you know, this or that. it was part of his life's work to make sure that he saw the end of some of these terrible, terrible diseases. >> is interesting because he also influenced some of his successors perhaps probably, perhaps not george w. bush changed the landscape of hiv in

africa and it was a major commitment he forged with the world health organization and others making partners and he and laura bush did so much for that and frankly there has been a great difficulty getting the money for that reauthorized in this current congress, even under joe biden. it was saving the lives literally of 25 million people in africa and there is a great question as to whether those people will now ditch it and will have fatal consequences without their medication. eleanor, you know so much about carter's legacy and how it is continuing through habitat for humanity. a couple from georgia, jimmy and rosalynn carter, you met with them shortly after they left the white house. they became the leaders of habitat. they put it on the map. all around the globe, right.

>> okay. >> talk to us, eleanor, about that because you went with them on one of their constructions. >> they became the face for habitat for humanity and in the late '80s my husband and i did habitat for humanity week in atlanta. we stayed in the dorms and in the morning you bust out to the work site and i looked out the window of the bus and it was early, 7:00 a.m., and there was jimmy carter jogging to get to the worksite. and he was harder working than anybody else. he was probably then in his early 60s, i would guess. he went up onto the roof and was fearless about that. it was hard work.

they would set aside 40 minutes in the middle of the day for a lot of people that were there to get their books signed and he would sit there and he would not even look up. he would write j carter, j carter. a lot of people were disappointed. they were hoping to get more personal comments. they were lucky they didn't get the auto pen. carter was so relentless on himself and on others to get things done and listening to jerry ford's son talk about the plane ride back from cairo to the white house, which he shared with president ford, the gossip that came out of that, all of the people on the plane of course wanted a picture with the president and they would come up one at a time and carter said, well, can't they come up like four at a time? it would move much weaker.

he was tone deaf when it came to the schmoozing of washington. one of his first efforts, he said the tax code in this country was a disgrace to the human race and when he took office one of the things he tried to abolish was the tax deduction for what was known as the three martini lunch and. that created such a backlash. i remember one very prominent washington columnist said the new president didn't understand the alcohol before a luncheon was important for conduct to business as the fertilizer was on his peanut crops. so he didn't start off on a good foot and washington really resisted him and he wrote in his

story he got along better with members of the republican party and conservative democrats than he did with the ruling liberal wing of the white house then, which was waiting for ted kennedy to run for president and of course, ted kennedy did not challenge carter. he didn't get very far and of course, he never fulfilled his dream to be president but was very able. i don't want to leave that on a negative note, but to watch the service today and to see the incredible outpouring of tributes for this one term president, i think the point has been driven home many times now about his character and his decency. more important to jimmy carter and his feelings about his legacy was the second look he's

getting at his presidency. stu eisen who delivered one of the eulogies the domestic policy chief in the white house, when he left the white house january 1981, he had a hundred legal pads with notes on both sides of the paper and it took him a number of years but his book that was published several years ago now was the beginning of a very determined and strategic effort to get jimmy carter a second look for what he had accomplished as president. a very much-deserved second look, i may add. there were a lot of cultural differences between this southern president, a one term governor, a peanut farmer. how did he ever get to be president? and he capsulized that and got

the biggest laugh today in the service saying he is still trying to figure out how someone from plains, georgia could be president of the united states and it is a remarkable story. carter wanted to be remembered for what he accomplished and what he tried to accomplish and i loved jason carter's comment that he is the first millennial president because he alerted everybody to climate change, number one, and number two, he regulated the beer industry to get craft beers. carter was a man ahead of his times in many ways and i wish successors heeded him more specifically on climate change and you cannot not watch the funeral today and wonder what president-elect trump is taking. i hope it made an impression on him. it was nice to see these

political heavyweights together and exchanging some friendly banter perhaps. and looking at this funeral service and wondering what they're going to do different and what the country might do different when they receive him, so -- >> and eugene robinson, jonathan alter is still with me, and jane, former california congresswoman, of course, and most importantly the current chair of the national defense strategy. she served as deputy secretary of the cabinet and carter's administration. you served with him. from out here as cold as it is, such a warm and beautiful and personal service. what struck you, jane? >> the carter grandchildren.

when garth brooks saying, it was cereal. i also thought joe biden did extremely well and jerry ford's son, steve, and mondeaux's son were good. it was perfect. jimmy carter may have hated the pomp but he would have loved the message. >> he designed this himself and he wanted this tribute to the presidency and the transfer of power and the successions. also, stuart eisenstat struck me. it was a beautiful eulogy. jimmy carter, the renaissance man. >> i agree with that. stu and i met as college

interns in the '60s, if you can imagine that. carter was the right choice for this and wrote a book about this and i agree. i should have mentioned him as well. i thought he was excellent. i don't think there were any mistakes and certainly biden's message was aimed at a certain person in the room and i thought that was fine but that certain person in the room stuck through the whole service and it was interesting to see him talk to obama and to see others move away from him. >> donald trump and barack obama talked very jovially with exchanges. there was no more than a handshake between mike pence and donald trump. >> i got a kiss from mike pence. he is an old friend and we served five terms together in the white house. absolutely.

the message shouldn't be missed, not just the pomp and circumstance but the fact our country transitions power and honors presidents who came before. it wouldn't have been done better than it was done today. >> speaking of that, the music. jonathan alter is with us and wrote the carter biography pointed out that not only is every selection meaningful to jimmy carter, imagine john lennon, john denver, but i was wondering about the selection by wagner in the end. jonathan, jump in here. what can you tell us about the meaning of that? >> many people know that jimmy carter was protege to the father of the nuclear navy and colin powell said that's what won the cold war because the

soviets did not have them and jimmy carter was right there and almost didn't get hired based on his very harsh interview. one of the questions he was asked, what kind of music you listen to? carter mentioned the music he loved. and he said, which movement? >> [ laughter ] >> he drilled down into the sand carter hadn't answered the questions properly, history would be different. >> the motorcade, by the way, has just driven past the washington monument. it is extraordinary thinking of jimmy carter leaving washington for the last time. when he came to washington out of georgia, you know, he was described as a peanut farmer.

his staff in georgia were friends and advisors and they were ridiculed by some in congress, even some democrats. there was tension initially. >> and robert byrd too, majority leader in the senate. eugene robinson, you were in washington those years as well and the tension among democrats was pronounced. it is the kind of tension between aggressive democrats that we see resurrected at times and even to this day. >> absolutely. i came to washington to work for the post in 1980 so right at the end of the carter years and in fact, that was the year of course ted kennedy challenged president carter for the

democratic nomination and he failed at the end of the convention in new york. there was this famous scene of carter wandering the podium trying to find ted kennedy to shake his hand so he could have that image of party unity and kennedy away from him to avoid giving him that and really, the first national political story i ever wrote for the post was about the split between kennedy and the liberals and carter and the moderate democrats. you know, it is ironic we see him leave washington for the last time. you could legitimately ask if jimmy carter ever really was of

washington. i doubt he ever thought of himself as being of washington. he came in as an outsider and proud of it. >> and jonathan alter, talk for a moment about what eugene was just describing. >> well, jimmy carter wasn't just an outsider. he was an outsider who disdained politics. he didn't think of himself as a politician and while he was a superb retail politician, that is what got him elected, great and small groups so savvy about how to get elected president. he thought once you got there you should stop looking at everything through a political

lens and try to do the right thing as you saw. that cost him dearly because as we know a lot of times, you know, the right thing is not politically popular, so people told him, you know, if you bomb iran, you will win the election. but he said it'll kill the hostages. i will not do it. or the panama canal treaties. he said we have to do this now or we will have a war. we have to do it. not all the time. i mean, sometimes he played the angles to try to get reelected but most of the time he was trying to look to history and to be a visionary leader rather than a successful one. >> joining us now is the ceo of the carter center.

while you were in this beautiful service and coming over here to join us we have been talking so much about the carter center and how it defined the legacy both in and out of the white house because it was a continuation of jimmy and rosalynn carter's paid. they believe in the service, inhumanity, human rights, global health. it really cemented the importance of his presidency as well as his post-presidency. >> it did. as we heard inside the eulogies all of the discussion that he and rosalynn carter's in the white house. they spend four years in the white house. years of global citizens. after they were involuntarily retired from the white house to establish the carter center and to continue doing that kind of public service work as humanitarians was really important to them. >> what is the future of the

carter center now? i know there is a commitment to sustaining in the future and jason carter has been so involved in that, the grandson who spoke so eloquently and humorously about jimmy carter, the man. >> as the oldest grandson, jason is the chairman of the board of trustees and for us it has been this opportunity the president and misses carter were intentional. they knew this day would come. he wanted to make sure that he has a founder led an organization he was establishing also a founder based organization to continue leadership and the legacy he and mrs. carter put forward. >> thank you so much, paige alexander. thank you for all of the service you do. >> thank you. it is his legacy we all have to live up to now. >> you know so well the work of the carter center from virgin atlanta.

expand on all it has been doing around the world. >> well, you know, as paige just said, the mission will continue. jimmy carter has been a fixture in the georgia-pacific fabric and international civic fabric. and as we heard from paige, jason carter continues, his eldest grandson, the error of his legacy. gerald ford will continue to be involved. the carter center is the heart of atlanta's civic community. but also with its global mission, it will continue. to me, this entire service has been a reminder of washington finally giving jimmy carter and the work he has done the respect he has so long deserved. as we heard over and over again, washington and jimmy carter never saw eye to eye.

he did not warm to the ways of d.c. which is why this was such a unique moment, but it's also a georgia moment today, right? we heard from a funeral, from jason carter, from stuart eizenstat. of course, his remains will return to his beloved hometown and that is a reminder that georgia is where he made that legacy and that is where he will remain. >> five minutes until the end of show. and joining me now is the one and only chris matthews, former speech writer and msnbc host of course joining us now. >> it is >> it is an honor to be part of history and to witness part of it but you were inside witnessing it firsthand, so tell me about it. >> it was so great to hear held the chief when we walked in because that was not something carter wanted to play. he did not want the imperial

presidency. amazing grace i heard for the first time in a black church in jersey the last week of the campaign and i thought it was so beautiful because the black community stuck with carter when other people and other places politically. the loyalty there. i thought young's speech was so great today. >> yes, it was. >> carter had an african a american student room with him. carter had grown up in a white minority community in planes. >> his father was a segregationist but when he went to annapolis, he stood up for the only black shipman and when he became governor, his first speech was to say the era of segregation is over. >> and the army and the navy, carter said it was the first

time he thought there was something wrong with jim crow and it finally clicked in him. separate but equal is not equal, it's not fair, and we have got to change it. it was revolutionary. he came to this church and sanctified civil rights and i'm so glad andy young got to give this speech. >> andy young was his u.n. ambassador and i talked to andy young back in september when carter organized that rock 'n roll concert in advance of his birthday, which was wonderful. jonathan alter, in the closing minutes of our time here today, our very cold time, the allman brothers, the other rock stars who were his friends before and throughout the 1976 campaign -- yeah. they campaigned with him and

stuck with him through thick and thin. you know, bans came out to honor him. an incredible concert in atlanta. >> there are these strains in the 1970s when he was both governor and president that were very influential. it was a better time in many ways and his political failures were a reflection of the challenges of the '70s, but there was continuity. andy young as he explained to me when i was writing my book, he was instructed by jimmy carter who became the u.n. ambassador to say to the rest of the world, what can we do for you? until then it had been what can you as smaller countries do for us? young said this was a transformative change.

human rights policies, the continuation and the globalization of the movement. this eventually had a lot to do with the end of the soviet union and promotion of democracy. >> let me say word about women's rights because that often gets overlooked. he supported the e.r.a. and his belief over human rights and women's rights. one of his left speeches was to talk about how important empowering women would be for improving the lives of people around the world and i think of the legacy as we see joint base andrews and special e mission 39 one of the air force one taking him to plains. it is a continuum from the 1970s from a peanut farmer in plains who became the 39th president of the united states.

the honor guard awaiting his motorcade after the funeral wrapped up 25 minutes ago. i am here with jonathan alter and chris matthews. i want to thank all of our guests and that does it for this special edition of andrea mitchell reports. "chris jansing reports" starts right now. jansing, we are following several major stories today. including the motorcade we are watching. there it is on your right. it is taking president jimmy carter on his ntfinal journey home. that will include the plane you're seeing. special air mission 39. his grandson today, describing his life as a love story. the plane waiting to