Thinking of the situation over the last few months with Menlo Church (see this article for what seems like a pretty reasonable summary), and also just the general tendency of a lot of church leaders to cover up things that might seem incriminating rather than actually search for truth and try to do the right thing by their people. This goes, of course, far beyond the particulars of Menlo Church and the Ortberg family. (Their story, by the way, is still unfolding, with a new investigation announced yesterday.)
Thinking of the people who are the most vulnerable when churches and church leaders don’t do the right thing―in this particular case, children and LGBTQ+ people, as well as all the church members who put their trust in the church’s leadership and feel betrayed―and praying for comfort and strength for them in this time, including the courage to cut ties if need be.
Also, in case you needed a little gratuitous Greeking out, I mean to use “apocalypse” in its original Greek sense, which is a revelation―a revealing of things that were hidden.
Blow Up the Shelter (Apocalypse) blow up the shelter blow up the lies apocalypse it’s time to show that it was never safe that there was never any hiding from a changing world and who exactly wants to hide from changes that are good? blow up the megachurch abuse blow up their cover-ups apocalypse it’s time to show the stench that lies within the clammy muck stuck on the underside of shiny shells so tear it down why not? and what precisely do you fear? and did you think God’s people would keep standing here like little lambs who do not know you slaughter them? did you think they would keep circling up like wagons to defend you while you slit their children’s throats? blow up the iron-fisted secrecy blow up the blind obedience apocalypse it’s time to show the blood of children hear their cries break open all the closed church doors why wouldn’t we? what do we have to lose? it’s time to show our scars our filth our infestations let the surgeons do their work apocalypse or would we rather dig a hole and wait as if there were a normal worth returning to bury our heads under this sand and fester underground and die?