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7336511
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Remarks of the President at the Seventh General Convention of the American Lutheran Church [Ford Speech or Statement]
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7336511
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Remarks of the President at the Seventh General Convention of the American Lutheran Church [Ford Speech or Statement]
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White House Press Releases (Ford Administration)
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1974-10-10
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1974
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Digitized from Box 3 of the White House Press Releases at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
OCTOBER 10, 1974
OFFICE OF THE WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY
(Detroit, Michigan)
THE WHITE HOUSE
REMARKS OF THE PRESIDENT
AT THE
SEVENTH GENERAL CONVENTION OF THE
AMERICAN LUTHERAN CHURCH
COBO HALL
7:17 P.M. EDT
Dr. Preuss, delegates to the Seventh General
Convention of the American Lutheran Church, and friends:
I am deeply indebted to and most grateful
for the extremely warm welcome and the wonderful oppor-
tunity to meet with all of you just for a few minutes
here this evening.
I would like to address my remarks, if I
might, not only to those who are here, but also to the
more than 2 million 500 thousand Lutherans each of
you represent in this gathering here tonight, and the
more than 9 million Lutherans in the United States,
our homeland.
Very honestly and frankly, I am very moved
by the theme of the American Lutheran Church, this
convention, both as a President and as a Christian.
Ministering to a hungry world would serve,
in my judgment, as a very stimulating, a very
enthusiastic call to any assembly of committed people.
I think all of us recognize that the world
hungers not only today but yesterday and tomorrow for
food. And as I look at the facts and the figures
in the office I presently hold, I think even more
will be needed in the future.
Equally -- perhaps more importantly -- is
the need, as I see it, for spiritual sustenance.
Your President, Dr. David Preuss, said it so well in his
report to the convention, and let me quote, if I might:
"Bread is a little word designed to
describe only the loaves we place in our mouth. It
signifies the answer to all our deep human needs.
It points beyond the loaf and the kernel of wheat to
the Almighty, ministering in love to a hungry world."
MORE
(OVER)
Page 2
As I entered this room, I was taken by the
simple but the very dramatic backdrop that has been
provided by the Seventh American Lutheran Church
General Convention -- a child, a mother, a native
mother with child, a couple, all looking hopefully
toward the light that grows from the bread and the
cup, the wheat and the grape.
I think the facts are that we all yearn
to feed the starving, and when I say that, I mean all
Americans. We all thirst for those who are living out
their lives in desperation. We all want to win the
fight against inflation, maintain peace, and assure
justice for all people.
The lesson, I think, is that of every
Sabbath, for everyone to hear in our churches and our
synagogues, as Americans we must live it.
I am hopeful that we will be able to
continue America's humane tradition, your theme of
administering to the hungry, to the hungry in all 130
or more nations throughout the world, and as I have told
the American people, sacrifices will be required.
Our lifestyles to some extent must be adjusted
if we are to remain a source of strength for all peoples
in all nations throughout the world. And if I could
make one plea here tonight, I would like it to be in
this context.
I ask for your help in making that possible
for all peoples throughout all the world.
Each and every one of us yearn to feed the
starving. We all thirst for those living out their
lives in some desperation, and there are literally
thousands and millions that are doing that. We all
want to do these things that are good for everybody.
But may I say just one word in a somewhat
or slightly different tack. I note that the convention
will be talking about the Bicentennial, and aren't
we proud that our Nation is about to celebrate its
200th anniversary, two centuries of freedom and
liberty for all people. And I must say that I have been
greatly impressed with the originality reflected in
the title that you at this convention have used, "The
Commission on the Third Century of the American Life,"
and I commend you, Dr. Preuss, and all of you here at
this convention for that.
MORE
Page 3
The understandable emphasis, I think, in
the past has been what we recognize has been good for
America, but it is my judgment, if I could offer just
a bit of advice, that instead of looking at the past
in toto, we should connect our great traditions and
achievements of the past with what we can do in the
future.
We must, as a Nation, build from the past
and move forward to the future.
I thank you. I congratulate you. I am
deeply grateful for the warm reception and the
opportunity to just say hello, to commend you and to
encourage you for a most successful convention, and
all the wonderful things that -- I know from the friends
that I have, my former colleagues in the Congress,
Congressman Al Quie, and others -- to do what is good
for America, what is wonderful for the world.
I thank you and I urge -- because I know
it is true -- you will have God's blessings.
Thank you very much.
END
(7:25 P.M. EDT)