The Latest

The Sacrifice of Many

2020 is crazy. Consistently. Unimaginably, wait-what-now-?! crazy. Even the days that seem normal, are normal for crazy. Yesterday, for instance, was a pretty normal day. After staying up all night catching up on podcasts, I fell asleep around 7am, to wake up at the crack of noon and spend most of the day writing, with Jingle Jangle playing on a loop in the background. It was a pretty standard… Monday? Yes. Yesterday was Monday. Whatever that means. I remember when days used to feel like something. I would stand in the kitchenette at work, stirring a spoonful of honey into my tea and say things like, “I know it’s Tuesday, but it feels like a Thursday.” Now everything about that scenario feels like a fever dream. It seems absolutely unreal that I used to get up everyday and go places. Get on the subway and go places. Everyday. To work. To midtown. To Target. To dinner. To the movies. To hang out. Out. Outside. Everyday. Unreal. It sounds exhausting from here: day who-even-knows of the Coronaissance. Where everyday is any day and no day at all. And I’ve gotten so used to this new timeless indoor existence, it’s easy to forget I am being actively traumatized. We all are. Nothing about this new abnormal is normal, but a gift/trick of the human spirit is the ability to normalize almost anything.

Which is how so many of us were able to adapt to, survive, (and sometimes even thrive!) in toxic church environments for so long. I look back now and I can’t imagine volunteering so much of my time, giving so much of my energy, my talent, my hope and my faith to something that ultimately did exactly what it promised to do: it emptied me. Because great churches aren’t built on the gift and talents of a few, but on the sacrifice of many. Oof. If only I had read that correctly from the beginning…

Churches that hurt and need to change.

“Do you think it can be fixed?” If I were to create a FAQ to go along with my Dishonorable Mentions post, that would be the second most popular question. We’ll get to number one later, but my answer to both would start with a heavy sigh and “Well…” 

Do I think it can be fixed?  Do I think abusive churches can stop abusing people? Sure. With God, all things are possible, right? But do I think abusive churches will stop abusing people? ::insert Heavy sigh:: Well… not if they don’t have to. Not as long as they can keep people thinking that great churches are built on the sacrifice of many.

There’s a story that appears twice in the gospels, first in Mark 12:41-44 and then again in Luke 21:1-4: the story of the widow’s mite. Listen to the “tithes and offering” portion of any ten church services on any given Sunday and I’d bet way more than a mite that story would come up at least twice.  At least. It’s a classic. A real moneymaker. 

41 Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. 42 But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents.43 Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. 44 They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.”

Wow. What a widow. Commendable; amen? We should all be so generous. Amen? Being “better” than the rich and powerful, giving more by giving sacrificially, emptying ourselves on behalf of Jesus and his temple. Amen? Except it wasn’t his temple. In fact, in both tellings of that story, the very next passage has the disciples remarking on how great the building looked and Jesus casually mentioning that it would soon be destroyed. Imagine that: Jesus, son of a widow, watching a powerless, marginalized woman give all she had to something that he was well-known for critiquing and well-knew wouldn’t last. Why would he commend that? ::insert theological side-eye:: Well… who said he did? 

If I were to ghostwrite a three-point sermon on this passage, my three points would be:

  1. Where does Jesus situate himself? Opposite the place where the offerings were put. Hmph… Once could almost say he was opposed to what was happening. (Opposite = opposing. It works. You like it.)
  2. What does Jesus see? Rich people putting in large amounts that meant nothing to them, a poor widow putting in a small amount that meant everything to her. (Oooh. Large = nothing, small = everything. Peep that irony. You love it.)
  3. What does Jesus say?  He draws his disciples’ attention to the fact that she had put in all she had to live on. And… that’s it. Jesus has no further comment on it. He leaves it up to his followers (past and present) to know him well enough to know how he would feel about that. (Wait… critical thinking… what kind of trickery is this?!)

So you tell me. Who told you Jesus would be an advocate for someone vulnerable being completely drained by something religious? Who told you that great churches were built on the sacrifice of many? And then focused your attention on the widow instead of the many rich people who could afford give largely while sacrificing nothing? Imagine pretending to think two mites are worth more than the riches of many. Church math is dumb. And imagine thinking Jesus would be supportive of someone giving their life (all she had to live on) to something cruel enough to take it from her. Church math is abusive. And suddenly… that “sacrifice of many” hits different. It’s a double whammy. Abusive churches will take everything you sacrifice and then will gladly sacrifice you.

Which is why FAQ number one is some variation of “Aren’t you scared?” ::insert smirk:: Well… why do you ask? Why do you think I might be? What do you think might happen to me? What do you think might happen to you, if you were to speak up? How would you be sacrificed? It shouldn’t require extra bravery to say “this hurts” in a place that claims to want to see people healed and whole. It shouldn’t be dangerous to tell the truth to and about people who are supposed to be dedicated to the way, the truth and the life; but ::shhh, don’t tell anyone:: have settled on using N.D.A.s as a way to keep the truth from the light. Oop.

Since my post last week, between WordPress, Twitter, Instagram and emails, I have received close to two hundred messages. It has been both wildly encouraging and extremely devastating to realize how “normal” my experience was. And then I woke up this morning to a screenshot of the empire striking back. Badly. Like cringeworthy bad, trying to shift the focus of the narrative, from the talk of the people, to the work of the church. Let’s forget about all the toxic interactions, let go of all the offenses and forgive what the abusive will never repent of because building a great church requires sacrifice, and building a great church is what matters.  

And so be it. Because if a great church is comparable to the temple, then that tells me the church is something Jesus would be unafraid to critique and be fine with seeing destroyed if need be. Or is that too harsh? How discomforting is it to imagine Jesus being fine with a church, maybe even your church being disappeared? Is it more discomforting than imagining Jesus being fine with someone vulnerable being devastated by your church? Because we have been fine with that for as long as I can remember. We have grown used to living with church trauma and normalized abuse by labeling it as sacrifice. 

So, am I afraid? Not really. But I am a little worried that we’ll miss this moment in time and this weird 2020 chapter will end the same way it began: with abusive churches continuing to preach and practice abuse, not just as normal, but as noble. Commendable. With lead pastors and ministry middle managers lording over volunteers, keeping them off-balance with faulty theology. (Literally. If you feel hurt/tired/disillusioned/distressed/offended, it’s your fault.) Keeping them conflicted. (It’s sacrifice, it’s not’s supposed to feel good.) To keep them turning up and keep them serving. Misinformation, on tap. Year after year. A bottomless supply. I worry that the machine is too big, the programming too effective. And honestly, I get angry.  I want it to stop. And so I know I’ll keep writing until it does. To keep speaking and hoping others find ways to do the same. For the people who are on the edge and those of us who have already gone over. To remind us all that we’re not alone and what seems impossible, unlikely, even unreal today, could be the new normal tomorrow. That the megalomaniacs who seem untouchable and the megachurches that seem unstoppable could someday be a thing of the past. Can you even imagine? Me either. Which makes me think it might just be possible in 2020.


janithecat

Janice Lagata was born in California, but born for New York. A writer, fighter, igniter and matron saint of cats; smirking is her favorite. She's always up to something and you can probably find the latest thing by asking the internets for Jani the Cat and/or God Has Not Given.

4 thoughts on “The Sacrifice of Many

  1. You are a gift. Thank you for speaking light into so many of our darknesses. How about we unnormalize abuse? (insert high-five). We need lament. We need honest critique. Death-resurrection. Tension- new birth. This is how it rolls.

  2. I always love a fresh perspective and thoroughly appreciate the views that you shared! Another story came to mind about the woman at Bethany and her alabaster jar of expensive perfume (worth a year’s wages) as seen in Mark 14, Luke 7, and Matthew 26. At first I thought it was some sort of atonement for her sinfulness but Jesus viewed it as an act of “great love” and considered it a “beautiful thing” for which she’ll be known for wherever the gospel is preached. It might be a different context to spiritual abuse but perhaps similar in the rebuking of the pharisees – when they saw monetary value that could have been used to help the poor, Jesus instead honoured the woman through forgiveness for her act of love and faith. Maybe the sinful woman was rich and it wasn’t as sacrificial to her. Jesus only said, she did what she could. But maybe she gave, because she loved.

    I guess what I’m trying to say is, I pray people give out of love and not out of duty or atonement or some miscontrued theology. Coming from a place of love for Jesus will never leave you lacking. But that’s not to excuse well-meaning leaders who might tend to take advantage of that into building a great experiential church but not providing the foundations and structures necessary for the people to actually have a revelation of thy kingdom come.

  3. WWJD? What would Jesus do? Probably not be part of a mega church that failingly through second hand psychology/philosophy/twisted theology life coaches you through “sermons” and distorting bible passages to suit their means. Isn’t that called new age btw? Or point people to pastors aspiring to have mega churches as an outspoken direct goal – collecting money – of course at least 10% (and VIP-ing you if you give 20%) to support this goal more than support people in need. It doesn’t matter then if people leave church and new come as long as it’s growing. And even when leading a small church have VIP treatment and green rooms and seldom interact with the church goers. Pastors that talk badly about the members of the church because they in some ways don’t act like it is ok that it’s a part time unpaid job you should excel at without training and just respond brainlessly to the hierarchy… You are not good enough is the sentiment. Definitely not VIP. And pastors that’ll act without shame in treating people as replaceable inventories. When you leave their church say “we won’t really miss you, but your kids” and don’t care if they have a new church or not. Because if you aren’t part of our church, you might as well end up in hell. When people fail and fall in sin, cut all ties with them and not caring at all about helping them. The many stories of a pastors’ heart that is dead.

    How have such behaviors been accepted and normalized over time?!? Your writings are on point and what I have thought and felt for many years has finally come to a conclusion in my head. I will leave my church – hoping to find an authentic one that isn’t based on the mere ambitions of people for their own sake, but on what God wants for us.

    Because 2020 isn’t shallow and it’s not gonna end without what was intended for this year is done. Let true joy be what will fill us. Let all man’s work that hinders us fall down. Let us clean out the dirt, stay focused on the goal and place God’s word at its true place. And let what’s false be taken out from what was intended to be God’s holy places. Amen!

  4. Good evening Jani The Cat. My name is Carlos Velasquez.  I have been reading your stories about Hillsong Church and I want to say that I understand what you are going through because I had that experience here in Houston and Pasadena, Tx. After seen so much hypocrisy in congregations and seen leaders using the word to exploit and oppressed the believers plus I read about how the mormon leadership has amassed $ 100 billion for the second coming of Jesus, that is how they deceived their followers with lies ( The Lord our God tell us that for the lack of knowledge my people perish ) I have decided to let the world know by preaching the word and consequently open the spiritual eyes and ears of those that are in darkness following false teachings, false preachers and false prophets.  I love you in The Lord our God

    Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

The Secrets of Hillsong: An Open Letter to the Director

Hi Stacey. Well… that was something. And it feels like the polite thing to do would be to ask what happened and be open to your perspective. But I’m tired. And I don’t want to. I respect your perception of Hillsong & the Lentzs the same way you I think you respect mine: I acknowledge […]

Read More

After Hillsong

Sometimes I think about the story of the Tower of Babel. Humanity started building a tower, to build a name for themselves… so God spiced up the dialogue. It is no coincidence that the more people have begun to speak up, the more difficult it has been for institutions that have made a name for themselves to continue to build. And that is a good thing. 

Read More

Enough is Enough

Laura Lentz said straight up that her priority has been “the healing of our family.” …And that’s fine. If they want to slip into the obscurity that should have always been theirs, God bless. But when these reports come out and blanket statements are made referring to “RELENTLESS lies, accusations and hypocritical scapegoating” without having ever acknowledged the truth of how badly the everyday people and volunteers of Hillsong East Coast were failed, it minimizes the experiences of everyone involved.

Read More
%d bloggers like this: