What good is it to me, he says, if Mary is full of grace and I am not also full of grace? What good is it to me for the creator to give birth to his Son if I do not also give birth to him in my time and my culture?

A more contemporary writer continues the thought and sets up our meditation today about nativity and incarnation, a meditation made especially poignant with the death of our beloved parishioner and former President, Gerald Ford:

"Christmas celebrates the dawn of the Light of the World. The powers of darkness are overcome by his coming to share our life. The long reign of sin is ended and grace has been poured out upon the earth. The Sun of Justice has arisen, and evil is vanquished."

This is the truth of the Nativity and a partial truth about Christmas, which we began to celebrate one short week ago. Our writer continues:

"Perhaps the hardest thing to remember about Christmas is this: it celebrates the incarnation, not just the nativity. The incarnation is an on-going process of salvation, while the nativity is the once-for-all historical event of Bethlehem. We do not really celebrate Christ's "birthday," remembering something that happened a long time ago. We celebrate the stupendous fact of the incarnation."

Incarnation: the truth revealed in the Gospel according to John: "And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father's only son, full of grace and truth." (John 1:14)

God and human joined in one being, a baby, Jesus of Nazareth —"true God of true God" we profess, "who for us and for our salvation …came down from heaven: by the power of the Holy Spirit he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary, and was made man." Incarnation, God and Man united, deity and humanity united in Jesus. But our writer has one more point to make, an important point, the point of this homily:

"We celebrate the stupendous fact of the incarnation. And God continues to take flesh in our midst, in the men and women and children who form his body today. And the birth we celebrate is not just the past historical event but Christ's continuing birth in his members, accomplished by the power of the Spirit through the waters of baptism. … What we celebrate is our redemption in Christ and the transformation of all creation by the presence of the divine in our midst."

Nativity is celebrated in the Scriptures we read on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day; it is celebrated in the songs we sing, the art that helps us picture the "event in Bethlehem." And it is good to celebrate the Nativity, the Birth of Jesus.

But as December 26th dawned it was the Incarnation, God taking on our own flesh that became our focus. And when January 26th, or May 26th or July 26th dawns, it will be important to remember the Christmas season understanding that "God continues to take flesh in our midst, in the men and women and children who form his body today. And the birth we celebrate [in the heat of summer or the cool of autumn or the beauty of spring] is not just the past historical event but Christ's continuing birth in his members, accomplished by the power of the Spirit through the waters of baptism."

This week, in our parish and this week in our nation, we were taught a valuable lesson about incarnation, that "on-going process of salvation." We had a wonderful opportunity to learn something about incarnation as we paused to think about a life well lived, as we slowed down to remember the life and service of Gerald R. Ford as we commended him to God.

Nativity: remembering and celebrating a blessed event that occurred one starry night long ago. Incarnation: a joining of God and Human in the flesh of Jesus AND a joining of God and you and me by the power of Holy Spirit in that wonderful and messy mystery we call Baptism which creates the Church, the Body of Christ.

As I thought about President Ford I thought about the Presidential Pardon extended to Richard Nixon. I thought about the political, personal, and spiritual difficulties President Ford had to wrestle with. And, I have thought about that act against the backdrop of our faith and our responsibilities that begin in baptism.

St. Paul reminds us in the letter to the Galatians that "when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son … so that we might receive adoption as children. And because [we] are children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" So [we] are no longer a slave but a child, and if a child then also an heir, through God. (Galatians 4:6-7) We are a child, an heir, and we are to give birth to the Son in our time and culture, even as Mary did long ago in Bethlehem.

According to our Outline of Faith, Gerald Ford, child of God and heir of the Kingdom, had certain responsibilities as a faithful layman in the Episcopal Church. In fact the ministry of lay persons, including those who become President, is "to represent Christ and his Church; to bear witness to him wherever they may be and, according to the gifts given them, to carry on Christ's work of reconciliation in the world; and to take their place in the life, worship, and governance of the Church."

This is the mystery of the Church, this is the mystery of Incarnation, this is how Gerald Ford lived, this is what I hope you will remember on this First Sunday after Christmas in 2006.

As our President, Gerald Ford lived up to and lived into his Baptismal Covenant. As our neighbor in the Coachella Valley, Gerald Ford lived up to and lived into his Baptismal Covenant. As a member of the Episcopal Church, as a member of this Episcopal Church, Gerald Ford represented Christ and his Church by what he said and what he did. Gerald Ford preached the gospel with his whole life (he didn’t have to be wordy and preachy); he bore witness to Christ in the Oval Office, on the golf course, in the community, in the Presidential pew right here at St. Margaret’s.

The gifts given Gerald Ford were many, including the gift of leadership and he used these gifts, right up to the end, to "carry on Christ’s work of reconciliation in the world." His pardon, still being debated by political scientists and pundits of varying viewpoints, was above all a grace-filled and gracious act in the example of Jesus Christ, who from the cross prayed that his tormentors would be forgiven. Gerald Ford would probably be the first to comment that he wasn’t any saint, still, he lived, as best he could, the promises of his Baptismal Covenant. He led by example.

I give thanks for the Episcopal congregations before St. Margaret’s that helped to form and shape and nurture the faith of Gerald Ford, as a child, as a teen, as a young adult, as a Naval Officer, as a public servant, as President of this Nation. I give thanks to you who today help this parish form and shape and nurture the faith of our children and teens, our young adults and older adults; I give thanks to you who this weekend have allowed, by your continuing support of this parish, a nation to begin grieving: with the promise of new life given by God in the Resurrection and Ascension of Jesus; I give thanks for you who this weekend were with me as I baptized two children beginning their life in Christ alongside us—as ambassadors of Christ, as ministers of reconciliation.

In the spirit of Christ, true God and true Man, in the example set by our brother in faith, Gerald Ford, let us pray:

Lord of light — shine on us;

Lord of peace — dwell in us;

Lord of might — [strengthen] us;

Lord of love — enfold us;

Lord of wisdom — enlighten us.

Then Lord, let us go out as your witnesses, in obedience to your command; to share the good news of your mighty love for us in the gift of your Son, our Saviour, Jesus Christ. Amen.