January 2, 2007
By Mary Frances Schjonberg

The Rev. Dr. Robert G. Certain, rector of St. Margaret's Episcopal Church in Palm Desert, California, said during his homily that "on St. Stephen's Day 2006, Jesus said to Gerald Ford, ‘Welcome home, good and faithful servant.'"

About 3,000 people, including the United States' three living former presidents, attended the portion of the state funeral conducted at the cathedral for Ford, who died December 26 at his California home at the age of 93. A state funeral often has many elements, including times during which the coffin lies in repose for public and private viewing, and often lasts a number of days.

The service used the Rite One Burial Office from the 1979 Book of Common Prayer. Ford's son John read the Old Testament lesson (Isaiah 40:28-31) and his daughter Susan Ford Bales read the Epistle lesson (James 1:19-25).

The service included tributes by former president George H.W. Bush, former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, former NBC Television news anchor Tom Brokaw, and President George W. Bush.

During his homily, Certain said that Ford "as a statesman, churchman, and family man" was a man of "deep faith and constant prayer."

"With confidence in the God who created, redeemed, and sustained him, his abiding mantra was Proverbs 3:5–6: ‘With all your heart you must trust the Lord and not your own judgment. Always let him lead you, and he will clear the road for you to follow.' With that proverb in mind, President Ford found clarity for the road he walked; and he gave us a clear example to follow in our own lives.

"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."

Certain recounted a conversation he had with Ford shortly before attending the Episcopal Church's 75th General Convention in June 2006 in Columbus, Ohio. "President Ford's concern was for the church he loved," Certain said.

"He asked me if we would face schism," Certain continued. "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 and the Great Commission to love God and neighbor. He then asked me to work for reconciliation within the Church. I assured him I would, just as he had worked for reconciliation within the nation thirty years ago."

Among Ford's reconciliation efforts were the pardon of Richard Nixon, the president he succeeded, from all wrongdoing in the Watergate break-in and cover-up, and issuing conditional amnesty to those who had fled the United States rather than be drafted to fight in the Vietnam War.

Certain, who will retire from St. Margaret's on January 7, is a former U.S. Air Force pilot. He spent 100 days as a prisoner in North Vietnam from December 1972 to March 1973 after his plane was shot down, and also served for 15 years as a chaplain in the Air Force, both active duty and Reserves. His new ministry after retirement will be with soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. During the January 2 service, he wore a cross, what appeared to be Air Force bombardier wings, and military service and medal ribbons pinned to his tippet.

Prior to Certain's homily, the four men who offered tributes to Ford came to the Cathedral's lectern. The senior Bush, first to speak, placed his right hand on Ford's coffin as he passed it and bowed his head. He told the congregation that God had plainly spared Ford's life during World War II and during two presidential assassination attempts.

"In the end, we are all God's children," Bush said. "And on this bittersweet day we can take solace that the Lord has come and taken this good man by the hand and led him home to heaven." Kissinger began his tribute by noting that "according to an ancient tradition, God preserves humanity despite its many transgressions because at any one period there exist 10 just individuals who, without being aware of their role, redeem mankind."

"Gerald Ford was such a man," Kissinger said, noting Ford's involvement in the end of the Vietnam War, his role in shaping the Helsinki European Security Conference's adoption of a human-rights standard thought to have hastened the fall of the Soviet Union, his work to bring majority rule to southern Africa, his insistence on nuclear-arms reduction, the establishment of the International Energy Agency and his role in founding an annual economic summit meeting of the industrialized democracies.

"Propelled into the presidency by a sequence of unpredictable events, he had an impact so profound it's rightly to be considered providential," Kissinger said.

Brokaw, who said Ford had asked him last year to speak at his funeral, said Ford knew who he was and what values he had brought with him to the White House.

Once in the White House, Brokaw said, Ford "stayed true to form, never believing that he was suddenly wiser and infallible because he drank his morning coffee from a cup with a presidential seal."

In the final tribute, Bush praised Ford, calling him an affable man who was a "rock of stability" during a turbulent time in United States history.

"And when he put his hand on his family Bible to take a presidential oath of office, he brought grace to a moment of great doubt," Bush said.

The officiating clergy for the service at National Cathedral, in addition to Certain, were Diocese of Washington Bishop John Chane and Cathedral Dean Samuel Lloyd.

Frank Griswold, the recently retired 25th Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, joined Jewish, Islamic, Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox, Orthodox representatives at the service.

Just before and while the service was conducted, the Washington Post newspaper's website featured a question-and-answer session with Alex Baumgarten and John Johnson, international and domestic policy analysts with the Episcopal Church's Office of Government Relations in Washington, D.C. and the Rev. Canon Rosemari Sullivan, former Episcopal Church executive officer and secretary of General Convention and current rector of St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Rock Creek Parish in Washington, D.C., as well as Donald Ritchie, associate historian of the U.S. Senate.

They answered emailed questions from readers and offered narration and analysis until after the service concluded.

Episcopal News Service
The Rev. Mary Frances Schjonberg is national correspondent for the Episcopal News Service.