Kindness, Mercy, and Justice – Br. James Koester
Br. James Koester
Preached at the Church of St. Augustine and St. Martin, Boston, at the annual Homecoming Service.
Martin of Tours
It should come as no surprise that I have been thinking a great deal about St. Martin over the past week. In part that’s because I’m preaching today as we keep his feast. In part that’s because I have spent many hours in our archives pouring over our collection of material related to this parish. That, I admit, has been more fun than working on the sermon!
In the back of my mind, as I have been looking at old photographs and various documents, there are several questions. One is obvious. Who are some of these people? I hope when you see them, you can help answer that one. The other question is, Why Martin? Augustine, I get. We founded two parishes in South Africa: St. Philip’s and St. Cyprian’s in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, about the same time as this parish. Philip was instrumental in introducing the Ethiopian court official to the Christian faith, and Cyprian, like Augustine, was a bishop in north Africa. (It was this Philip, by the way, who was this parish’s first patron. The Sunday school room opened in 1882 on Beacon Hill was called St. Philip’s Mission. The name was later changed to St. Augustine’s.) But why Martin?
Like all early saints, Martin has several legends connected to his life. My favourite is that when the local people wanted to make him their bishop, he hid in a goose coop. The problem was that the geese’s honking gave him away! The other is the well-known story of how, upon meeting a naked beggar, he cut his cloak in half and gave a piece to the man. Later that night it was revealed in a dream, that the beggar was in fact Jesus.
So why Martin as one of the names for this parish? Is it because when someone comes to you hiding from God, you honk like mad and give them up? That would perhaps be fun, but I’m not sure worth building a reputation on. Or is it because through Martin’s patronage, you have set before you an invitation to act with kindness, mercy, and justice? As much as I love the story of the geese, my hunch is that Father Field, who was such a formative character in your early days, wanted to hold before you a way of life and faith tightly woven with these stands of kindness, mercy, and justice. And that is no accident.
One of the other traditions associated with Martin as that he believed mercy, justice, and holiness had the power to draw people into a living relationship with Jesus and not force or violence. Martin lived 1,700 years ago. Life was very different then. At the same time, it was very much the same. Then, like now, there where those who believed that force and might where the ways to achieve their goals. Martin was countercultural. He believed in kindness, mercy, and justice. It was these qualities in him which led him to cut his cloak, and for which his shrine, became known following his death.
So, what are you: a bunch of geese honking in anger? Or are you a community of kindness, a people of mercy, an oasis of justice, a place of sanctuary? There are many people today who are simply angry. That anger is all around as they use acts of force and might, and increasingly an unkind, unmerciful, and unjust legal system, to get their way. As in the days of Martin, kindness, mercy, and justice are countercultural. But so too were they in the days of Jesus: “And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did it to me’” (Matthew 25:40).
Occasions like Homecoming are wonderful times of connection and reconnection. We see friends we haven’t seen for ages. We meet new friends. We remember times past. We may cry. We will laugh. Our hearts will burst with joy. And most importantly we will remember. We will remember “those we love but see no longer.” We will remember our younger selves. We will re-member the community as we welcome new members into it. But most importantly we will remember who we are. For the Christian and the follower of Jesus that means remembering whose we are. And for us gathered here today on this Homecoming Sunday that also means remembering what we are, a people of kindness, mercy, and justice as was our patron, Martin. It was not easy being such a person then. Lord knows it is not easy to be kind, merciful, and just today, but kindness, mercy, and justice, not honking in anger, is the path of Jesus, the path of Martin, and the path we are called to walk today.