Conversation Point

Faithful Servant, Child of God

Our thirty-eighth president, Gerald R. Ford, died the day after Christmas and will be buried today in Grand Rapids, Michigan, after what has become our national standard of state mourning rituals this past weekend. President Ford returned to the House of Representatives in which he served for twenty-five years, his casket resting in the Capital Rotunda for us to come and pay our respects. Two of his children, Susan and Steven, met those who mourned their father. As a fellow Midwesterner, it occurs to me that this is a common practice of our people. The funeral held yesterday at Washington's National Cathedral included four eulogies, the Marine Orchestra and a homily designed to remind us that while President Ford was a true public servant, he first served his God.

That combination, rare in any age, was quite a necessity and a relief for the American people as Mr. Ford took office near the end of the summer of 1974. President Nixon's resignation after the twists and turns of Watergate summoned us to witness this televised historic event. So did President Ford's pardon of his predecessor within one month of his taking office. At the time, many Americans wanted Nixon held responsible, accountable, even wanted his blood. President Ford knew that, but also knew that what we really needed as a country was to let go of the past, move on and heal from our wounds.

In the twenty-eight months of Mr. Ford's presidency that followed his pardoning of former President Nixon, he would lead us out of Vietnam, contribute to helping end apartheid rule in South Africa and, by participating in the Helsinki Accords, open the door through which Ronald Reagan would step to shake hands with Mikhail Gorbachov to end the Cold War. If we had been stuck back in striking back at all the wrongs Nixon had perpetrated against the country, President Ford may not have been able to do this work on our behalf. President Ford chose to extend mercy at an inconvenient time. Many people believe ti cost him the 1976 election against Jimmy Carter. Those who show mercy, especially in such public ways, do not always see mercy extend back to them, except by the hand of God.

Rev. Robert G. Certain, former President Ford's pastor at St. Margaret's Church in Palm Desert, California, in his funeral homily reflected on this mercy extended to former President Nixon, but also to another fractious situation with which they were both familiar, the debate in their own Episcopal Church over homosexual relationships. Mr. Ford did not think the issue should be splitting Episcopalians. "He asked me if we would face schism after we discussed the various issues we would consider, particularly concerns about human sexuality and the leadership of women," Rev. Certain said. "He said that he did not think they should be divisive for anyone who lived by the great commandments and the great commission to love God and to love neighbor."

Clearly, former President Ford did live by those commandments, in both his public life and personal beliefs. Who he was and how he managed his life was consistent with how he saw God as active and alive in our world. Sometimes the choices of faith do not reap the benefits, immediate or long-term, for which we would hope. But, looking back, we can see what a difference this one man made in all our lives, the life of our country and in the world because he chose to live by what he believed.

posted by Cory L. Kemp @ 10:50 PM