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Change comes body by body, soul by soul, says Kate Braestrup

The Rev. Kate Braestrup delivers her sermon “In the Country of the Gerasenes” during the morning worship service on Sunday in the Amphitheater.
Dave Munch / photo editor
The Rev. Kate Braestrup delivers her sermon “In the Country of the Gerasenes” during the morning worship service on Sunday in the Amphitheater.

“I have some more practical advice for you,” the Rev. Kate Braestrup said at the beginning of her sermon. “If you are lost in the woods, find the biggest patch of sky you can. We will be looking for you with airplanes. Find a landmark like a large tree or rock, stay put, make a fire and leave a bit of a trace.”

Braestrup concluded her week as chaplain-in-residence at the 9:15 a.m. Friday morning worship service in the Amphitheater. Her sermon title was “Jesus’ Temptation and Ours,” and the scripture reading was Matthew 4:1-11. 

On an autumn day, 3-year old Evie, living with a foster family, took herself for a walk in the woods and got lost. Braestrup comforted Evie’s foster mother, who berated herself for not watching more closely.

“She had twigs in her hair from trying to find Evie, but they get away from us,” said Braestrup.

When grown-ups are lost in the woods, they keep moving, trying to solve their own dilemma. “Little kids,” said Braestrup, “crawl under a bush and fall asleep and let the adults worry about the situation.”

Evie’s mother asked for reassurance that Evie would be alright. Braestrup thought for a moment, because she did not want to lie. The weather was warm, there are no snakes in Maine and there were no other hazards like water or cliffs around.

“I knew Jason, a warden, was out with his K9 rescue dog Ruby, so I told Evie’s mother, ‘I think it will be OK.’ Then I prayed to God that I was right,” said Braestrup.

That day, she was right. Evie returned on Jason’s back, having asked for a piggyback ride, and Ruby pranced along beyond. For Braestrup, it was a fine and holy moment. 

One winter she was teaching a class for wardens, police and chaplains about basic critical incident stress management. There was a chaplain there who was 36 weeks pregnant, accompanying two officers from the town where Evie lived. 

Braestrup described Evie’s family as not wealthy, but the town was one of the wealthier in Maine and considered itself very progressive. So progressive, said Braestrup, that the officers had an electric police cruiser.

Braestrup asked what the vehicle was like to drive, and one of the officers sighed and replied, “It is like driving a go-cart, and if you run out of electricity you can’t just go and get a can of electricity and be on your way.”

The car had a 12-hour charge and could go about 267 miles. The problem was that the car lost some of its charge in cold weather and the two officers and their pregnant chaplain had white-knuckle adventures on their way home. 

“They would turn off the heat and only use the windshield wipers sparingly, hoping they could coast into the police station on electric fumes,” said Braestrup.

She asked the congregation why a town would do this to first responders, for people who really need to be where they need to be without any extra barriers. 

In Los Angeles, Braestrup said, the city gave electric vehicles to patrol officers but when they kept getting stranded, the cars were given to detectives. When the detectives kept getting stuck on the freeway, they gave them to the evidence technicians. “They are probably mothballed by now,” she added.

While all this was going on, the sergeant told Braestrup, the mayor and his staff continued to drive gas-powered SUVs. 

Braestrup said, “They were sincere in imposing electric cars, like people were sincere when they thought mental illness would be better treated in the community, Yet, these (lawmakers) kept sending their family with mental illness to treatment centers.”

She continued, “People thought if there was a drastic reduction in police services, there would be less violence. The issue was not about gradual change, but instant transformation. There was no evidence of evil intent; they believed in their sincerity. In a time of crisis, under the urgency of the now, in order to change the world, they tried to transform the world.”

She described the people who were making these decisions as people who wanted to do what was possible, to put power in the hands of the “right” people. 

Braestrup quoted some lyrics from “Imagine,” by John Lennon: “Imagine there’s no countries / It isn’t hard to do / Nothing to kill or die for / And no religion, too / Imagine all the people / Livin’ life in peace/ You may say I’m a dreamer / But I’m not the only one / I hope someday you’ll join us / And the world will be as one.”

But, she said, will anyone recall all the people with mental illness who died on the street to get to that vision, the violence in the community because the cops were stuck in electric cars? “We will have saved the world but at what cost?”

She told the congregation, “We all want to be saviors. Diablo tempted Jesus because Jesus has the power that we want. We want to be Jesus. Think of Miss America, who wants to bring world peace during her reign; or most politicians, who believe they are elected to transform the world.”

It is easy, Braestrup said, for clergy and congregations to convince themselves they are called to save the world. “Jesus lived in a world that needed change and Jesus’ temptation was real. If we could turn rocks into bread, the world would be under our control to create utopia.”

She cited an old theological argument — Did Jesus speak truth, or is what he said true because he said it? Was Diablo’s offer to Jesus demonic because Diablo offered it, or was divine power demonic?

“Jesus refused the offer and that should tell us something,” Braestrup said. “Jesus did not assume ultimate power with penultimate means, means that were not necessarily loving and ends that are not necessarily good.”

Even after his death, Jesus did not perfect life in Jerusalem, Judea or Samaria. “There are a lot of wannabe saviors,” Braestrup said. “Isn’t it interesting that the only person who did not have a Messiah complex was the actual Messiah?”

Agape moves transformation, slowly, stubbornly, body by body, soul by soul. 

At the end of her stress management class, an older cop remembered the days when chaplains and critical stress support were rare. “It is still not common in law enforcement, but the change in the culture has been small and incremental; there has been change in a small group in a small state,” Braestrup said. 

In not “buying into the Lennonist bliss fest,” she asked the congregation, was Jesus wrong? “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”

She cited Mother Teresa’s wisdom to do small things with great love. “Love your neighbor, especially the one with the awful bumper sticker, show up and be generous and angels will come. Thank God, thank God.”

The Rev. Mary Lee Talbot, Ph.D., a proud participant in the Young Playwrights Project in Chautauqua County schools, presided. The Rev. Lawrence, a retired New York State prison chaplain at Attica and founder/director of My Messenger Ministries, read the scripture. The prelude was “Praeludium in E minor,” by Nicolaus Bruhns, played by Joshua Stafford, director of sacred music and the Jared Jacobsen Chair for the Organist, on the Massey Memorial Organ. The Motet Choir, under the direction of Stafford and accompanied by Rees Roberts on the Massey Organ, sang “Seek ye first the Kingdom,” by Marques L. A. Garrett. The postlude was “Toccata,” from Symphony No. 5, by Charles-Marie Widor. Support for this week’s chaplaincy and services was provided by the Jackson-Carnahan Memorial Chaplaincy and the John William Tyrrell Endowment for Religion.

Tags : Jesus’ Temptation and OursKate Braestrupmorning worshipreligionWeek Five
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The author Mary Lee Talbot

Mary Lee Talbot writes the recap of the morning worship service. A life-long Chautauquan, she is a Presbyterian minister, author of Chautauqua’s Heart: 100 Years of Beauty and a history of the Chapel of the Good Shepherd. She edited The Streets Where We Live and Shalom Chautauqua. She lives in Chautauqua year-round with her Stabyhoun, Sammi.