Remembering Gerard R. Ford and the Pardon of Baptism

This past week was full of remembrances for the 38th President of the United States: Gerard R. Ford. I remember the night he became president after the resignation of Richard Nixon. I was in Michigan for a summer family reunion -- my mother’s side of the family is all from Michigan and a branch of the clan came from Grand Rapids, Ford’s hometown. My relatives were extremely proud that one of their own had become President, even though he was not elected by the people. In 1974 when Gerald Ford assumed the presidency the nation was gripped by scandal in the aftermath of Watergate, economic recession and fatigue and doubt about our standing in the world in wake of the formal end of war in Viet Nam. Ford knew that he did earn the votes of the country, but when he assumed power he asked for the nation's prayers.

In the context of today’s celebration of holy baptism on this the Feast of the baptism of Jesus, I would like to talk to you this morning about what we learned this week of the role that faith played in the life of this very public man, what his apparent views were on the state of our Episcopal Church, and how we as Christians might consider the meaning of the word that dominated Ford’s presidency and the news coverage of his death: pardon. To some ears, this sermon may sound like a quasi-civics lesson, but my intent is to try to shine light on a few aspects of a man most children and young people -- all of us really -- could do well to emulate.

As people of the Book, we look to the words of scripture to guide us and inspire our thinking and imaginations, believing that in these words contain all things necessary for our salvation. We turn to them with a fuller spirit when we are confused, disheartened, afraid, and alone and needing comfort that only God can give. In the course of living our lives, you are I are often asked to do things we do not want to do and face difficult choices we would rather avoid and delay. Part of growing is learning that for our own sake and those who depend upon us, we have to carry on, make choices and deal with the consequences. How does God help us? How might we pray and what might God say in response? From Isaiah 43: Thus says the Lord: Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned. Because you are precious in my sight and honored, and I love you.

These words from Isaiah reveal what God spoke to a people who longed to return to their homeland after the long exile, but they are also words that God offers to us today. These words can encourage a single parent with her hands full, guide a refugee fleeing war or an immigrant looking for a better life, comfort a teen wrestling with his or her identity and future, they can even sustain an untested new president. These are words we should whisper in the ears of children on their baptism and find ways to remind them through their lives.

On this day that we celebrate the baptism of Jesus and a renewal of our baptismal vows, it is a good time to pause and reflect on how lives can be lived when guided by the promises we make in those vows. Promises to resist evil, proclaim the Good News, seek and serve Christ in all persons, and strive for justice and peace. No one is perfect, and the former President who was remembered this past week would be the first to admit that about himself, yet I was struck by the words of the Rev. Robert G. Certain, rector of St. Margaret’s in Palm Desert, California who served as a pastor to the Fords for nearly a decade. Fr. Certain preached before a packed National Cathedral, “Gerald Ford, in his public life and his private life, was a man who was quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger. He was humble and meek, a man who cared deeply for the good and well-being of others, and always placed us first. He was a man who sought the image of God in each and every person, who respected their God-given dignity, who worked all his life for justice and peace on earth; a man who let the light of Christ shine brightly in his life.” Gerald Ford was a Christian man, a man who lived his life in accordance with the virtues of the Beatitudes. For us, he will continue to serve as an example of how to live as a man of faith, a man of the nation, a man for the world.

Today’s politicians are often prodded by consultants to speak more openly about their faith. The public remembrances over this past week showed the world the private side of the former President: he was a faithful long-time member of the Episcopal Church. During the funeral at the National Cathedral in Washington, which is the seat of both the Bishop of Washington and our Presiding Bishop, the service came entirely out of our Book of Common Prayer. On Wednesday, the final service was held at Grace Episcopal Church in East Grand Rapids, the church where the Fords were married and from which both his parents were buried.

I was struck also by these revealing comments from the presidential pastor for the entire world to hear. Fr. Certain: “Early this past summer, as I prepared to leave for the General Convention of the Episcopal Church, President Ford’s concern was for the church he loved. 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, he said he did not think they should be divisive for anyone who lived by the Great Commandments to love God and neighbor. He then asked me to work for reconciliation within the Church.”

In Grand Rapids at the final funeral service on Wednesday, it was former President Jimmy Carter who returned to these previously private views of the current challenges of our church. He said that both he and Ford tried to achieve reconciliation within their denominations. “We took to heart the admonition of the apostle Paul that Christians should not be divided over seemingly important, but tangential issues, including sexual preferences and the role of women in the church. We both felt that Episcopalians, Baptists and others should live together in harmony with the adequate and common belief that we are saved by the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ.”

There is another aspect of the Fords' life that bears some attention in the context of baptism. The bulk of the commentary leading up to the funeral centered on the central act of the Ford presidency: The word pardon was heard again and again. A pardon is forgiveness of a crime and the penalty associated with it. In the case of the infamous pardon after Watergate, was the pardon of Nixon an under-the-table deal -- a quid pro quo? Was it a good or bad idea at the time for the nation? Did Ford ever regret issuing it later in life, for many believed it cost him the election to Jimmy Carter? These are his actual words from 1974: I, Gerald R. Ford, have granted a full, free, and absolute pardon unto Richard Nixon for all offenses against the United States which he, Richard Nixon, has committed or may have committed or taken part in during the period from 1969 through 1974. It was widely reported that President Ford carried in his wallet a scrap of a 1915 Supreme Court ruling. A pardon, the excerpt said, “carries an imputation of guilt,” and acceptance of a pardon is “a confession of it.” Once pardoned, a person can never be tried again for the same crime again. It is permanent.

In the service of Baptism, touching the water the priest prays: “Now sanctify this water, we pray you, by the power of your Holy Spirit, that those who here are cleansed from sin and born again may continue for ever in the risen life of Jesus Christ our Savior.” When we are baptized the slate is wiped clean: past mistakes, bad decisions and aimless journeys. It gets a little tricky with young children of course, but we baptize them nevertheless even though the only thing they could ever be accused of is being born into a broken world in need of salvation. Like it or not, just being born into the human family makes each person open to temptation and in need of God’s reassurance and care. In this way, baptism is an unconditional pardon for all who pass under its waters. When we pass through the waters, Christ is with us, and when we walk though fire we will not be burned.

If we take away nothing else or nothing more from each and every baptism service we attend, it is this: God uses these moments to remind us of something that the world makes it so easy for us to forget: We are God’s children, we are loved, and with us God is well pleased.