My Day with Joel...Yes... Joel Osteen.

Sermons: Lord teach us to pray.

Did he dupe me? Have I been lied to by the ecclesiastically righteous, the established denominational leadership? Have I picked and chosen the sound bites that reinforced my snarky expectations of a televangelist?

He is not careful with the words that you want him to be careful with.

He is careful with the words of condemnation and proclaims clearly that there is no condemnation in Christ Jesus.  Maybe you’re just jealous.  Matthew 20:15

So, as many people do, I have a lot of impressions about televangelists and Joel Osteen.  This is especially true of Episcopalians and mainline protestants who feel the tightening of the belt and withering fruit on the dry branch. While we clamor for 100 or scrape to break the 200-barrier, Joel has thousands of people locked up in captivity; tens of thousands of people come to listen live and millions watch on television. 

I never get a day where I can randomly go to any church I choose.  I’ve visited all the big Episcopal churches in Houston, so where will I go..?  (Lightbulb) Lakewood! I’m going to the Oasis of Love and the den of “The Prosperity Gospel!”

The following is my experience of a onetime visit:

9:35 AM

Parking Lot, not a lot of signage from the parking garage to the building; however what we called The Summit (currently Lakewood Church) is a big building so it’s hard to miss. The Sunday school hour is lightly attended by adults (at least in this area of the building - remember it is a stadium with a wrap-around concourse.  There are numerous people to ask for help; although they don’t always know the location of the adult Sunday school class. They sent me to the right floor and I was on time.

10:00 AM

At first Sunday school was reinforcing my expectations about money and the church.  It was team taught by a husband and wife.  It was akin to a four week financial seminar series.  This Sunday was addressing Auto and Homeowners’ Insurance.  It was useful information but not a bible study.  They never asked for money or hinted in that direction.  It occurred to me that seminars like this would be useful for working folks.  After 35 minutes I was ready to get out and explore, but I sat too close to the front.  (Next time I’ll remember to sit in the back of the room.)

10:50 AM 
On the way to worship I was greeted by an usher. I'm sure I looked lost.  With a small flyer he shook my hand and told me about the men’s weekday bible study Maximizing Manhood (or something like that.)  But!  He looked me straight in the eye and said, "This will transform you; and it will transform your whole family."  Hmm. That sounds great.  I like transformation.  I might even go to it.  In this instance and others in worship there is a strong identification with traditional gender discipleship and family organization.  I think they treat traditional labels as normative.  Female, Male, Mother Father Children—Wife, Husband.

Restrooms: as clean as Buc-ees and not at all pretentious. I’m an architect*; I notice these things.

People: The diversity of the Kingdom of God.  I see God’s children of many colors, and it reflects the diversity of the city of Houston.  African, African - American, Hispanic, Indian, and Anglo faces dressed from casual to coat and tie.  There are very few oriental Asians which is a surprise for the diversity of Houston. I could speculate, but I won’t.  I see single moms bringing their sons, single dads bringing their daughters, families of many types.  That’s what I see.

Interior worship space: It’s very lovely.  The size of a concert arena but clean and warm. Homey.  My godmother and mother worked here in the 70s/80s.  I used to watch the Ringling Brothers every year and other events.  My first concert was the BeeGees (cameo by John Travolta) The concrete aisles and rows are now carpeted.  It makes the atmosphere warmer, inviting. Getting a seat at 10:58 AM was easy.  There are a lot of seats.

11:00 AM Order of Worship

Intro Prayer

Music/brief musician testimony

Music

Victoria’s teaching

Music/prayer teams/offering (testimony)-going toward ministry to people with special needs at home and abroad (just like in any other church---so don’t judge)

Music

Joel

Victoria and Joel—Benediction Numbers 6:.24-26

My Experience and Reflections

Victoria and Joel step out.  There is an opening call to prayer and to putting aside all the troubles and strife at home, in the workplace, in current and past relationships.  Be a new creation today in this moment. There is acknowledgement of pain, sadness, suffering, but allow yourself to put that away; be joyful in God’s goodness.  Hmmm, sounds like a psalm.

Music

I’m mindful to let go of judgement and pre-conceived impressions.  I want to take this in for what it is.  I’m a quiet Episcopalian.  I would never choose this for my worship experience, however that doesn’t mean that God won’t be here.  I’m mindful of Elijah when he flees to Horeb.  He waits for God first in the wind, then the earthquake, then the fire.  But God was not in them.  Then a sheer silence and Elijah heard the Voice.  I Kings 19:11-13  Yes God was in the silence, but it doesn’t mean he can’t be in the earthquake. While the first bits of uplifting music is being played some stand and sing and gyrate.  I stand and look around to see some people sitting, listening.  And I think, “These must be the Episcopalians that haven’t found us yet.”

I push away those thoughts and try to engage in the worship through singing.  The songs are unfamiliar, lack the poetry and theological depth of hymnody, but it’s sung with joyful voices all around.  That is enough.  God is here.  The lyrics are published on the big tv screens but are difficult to read because the musicians' faces take up most of the screen.  I struggled to sing all but two songs throughout the morning.  The first time I sung was in the opening set; it was a soft ballad and a somewhat traditional piece.  The second time I sung was around the offertory.  It’s content was about the cross as God’s final act of redemption.  It was repetitive but spirited.

There is some ethnic diversity on the stage but very little.  The choir is more representative of the congregation.

Victoria

She offered an encouraging message. She has an old school Houstonian drawl that wasn’t too distracting, and she had several syntax gaffs which reminded me of Appalachian speak.  But when you’re used to the Queen’s English it’s hard not to notice that.  The main thrust of her message was for us to get ourselves out-of-the-way so that God can use us to bless others!  A while back I heard her make a very unorthodox statement that fed the accusation of Prosperity Gospel; however nothing she said today pointed toward the idea that faithfulness equals economic wealth.  That’s good.  And I must say that words have exited my mouth that didn’t really capture my intent.  I usually catch and correct myself right away.  So, cut her some slack jack.

More loud music J

To this point the little 10-year-old boy, sitting next to me with his father, has been quietly asking for 5 minutes, “I’m ready to go.  Can we go?”  So much for loud music appealing to the youth…

12:00 PM ish

Offertory

While music is being played, there is an invitation to pray with a partner in each section.  This is for whatever needs you may have. There was also a wonderful testimony of a man whose autistic son was struggling to speak.  After a great deal of prayer, the 5-year-old, during bed-time prayers, picked up his bible and recited the Lakewood pre-sermon statement of faith.

This is my Bible. I am what it says I am. I can do what it says I can do. Today, I will be taught the Word of God. Etc. **

For the parents of the boy it was a great break-through and the story is uplifting. It did not intend to suggest that his autism was cured, but rather the boy spoke for the first time in a long time.  It was meaningful and witnessed the tremendous presence of God in little moments.  It reminded me of how I was born deaf and how, through prayer, my hearing was restored. Now, only if God could make my leg grow back… That's a joke. 

12:10 PM

Joel

This is what you’ve been waiting for.  At first glance, I thought the room increased in population.  If it did it was only slight.  Based on previous comments in the morning I have a sense that Joel acknowledges that there is a great deal of suffering in people’s lives.  But he rejects victimhood mentality.  What happened to you before doesn’t have to shape your future.  He stresses the sense of new creation in each person when he or she becomes a believer in Jesus.  And so, your life should reflect that new creation. 

What I think I hear most is that the life should reflect faithful trust in God to care for you.  And that your relationship with God through Jesus will empower you to live a new life.  And that new life will help you engage your neighbors in the world in a godly way.  (Like Jesus did.)

While referencing a few texts he retells the stories of Joseph and the birth of Manasseh , Ruth and Boaz, and Job.  In each story there is a cycle of pain followed by birth or blessing that is realized in their lives.  God is the source of their blessings and restorations.  After betrayal by his brothers, false arrest and imprisonment by his master, Joseph chooses to see God’s goodness in these catastrophes.  And Joseph chooses to see that God used these evil things to save and redeem his people.  And Manasseh is born. 

(THIS IS ME TALKING:  Mainline Christians say the same thing.  “It’s Good Friday but Easter’s coming!!!”  Our gospel is retelling Jesus’ suffering and death but his resurrection makes it all worth following God.  These are our words of hope that keep us going.)

Back to Joel:

Joel didn’t shy away from the birth pangs analogy.  According to Joel, Job suffers for 9 months before he is restored with a "double portion."  Isaiah 61.7

ME INTERPRETING: 

Joel is inviting people into a mindset akin to the father’s love in the Prodigal Son. Luke 15.11-32   While our eyes are on the sinful son and the depth of the father’s love toward him we have ignored the love the father has for his older son: “everything that I have is yours.” What Joel is offering to believers is the idea that they are not merely the repentant younger brother, but are also heirs and recipients (now; in this life) of the riches of God’s love.

There’s the problem, “Riches.” “Prosperity”  When we hear or think of “rich” or “prosper” we naturally think of temporal, economic, financial reward.  But I must say that at no time did Joel promise these things for the people’s faithfulness.

In fact Joel never once promised financial or economic prosperity;  rather he spoke of intangible rewards for faithfulness such as a positive outlook on health, spiritual life, and relationships.  In the metaphor of Jericho the foolishness of walking around this wall for 7 long days is absurd yet faithful.  And at some point in this drudgery and misery God is going to tear down these walls.

Joel is claiming to have God’s promises in this life.  Hmmph.  “The Kingdom of Heaven has come near to you; The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.  Matthew 10.7

He’s very clear that you will hit bumps in the road in this life.  You will and have suffered; you or your loved one might get cancer and die.  You may struggle through divorce.  But these things do not separate you from what belongs to you as God’s child.  Can power and principalities separate us from the love God in Christ Jesus?  Romans 8:39

He proclaims the ethos of the Kingdom of Heaven in this life.  Today, Joel said very little that I would argue against.  His exegesis, if at all present, was concealed in his story-telling.  His story-telling and application were meaningful.  The first time I preached in seminary in Sewanee the New Testament professor told me, “That was a very good exegetical sermon…”  So much for exegesis.  While I've come to appreciate his comment I think, life application is more meaningful to God's children.

Where then does all this vitriol toward Joel come from?  I have to admit that mine came from prooftexts, snippets, and an anti-televangelism pre-disposition.  And simply, it's nurtured by envy.  We know what the psalmist says about that.

Joel is not careful with the words he uses to describe prosperity.  And people with envy in their hearts are quick to pounce on him because he has money but more so, he has people.  It’s easier to critique him as a charlatan and be envious of him for what appears to be temporal success.

He’s a decent teacher and story teller.  I don’t think that he could have built Lakewood from the ground up as his father did, but he has had the right gifts to bring God's congregation where it is today.  God has given Joel the pastorate of Lakewood Church, perhaps those of us who have been critical of Joel should wrestle with God over our envy for his generosity to Joel.  Matthew 20:1-16

And guess what?  Unlike Jim Bakker or Jimmy Swaggart, there’s been no scandal that Joel has slept around or embezzled money.  His critics only accuse him of soft selling the gospel for profit.  Will they still hear "Prosperity Gospel?"  Probably.  Today he talked about sin, repentance, Jesus dying for us, and the promises God has for his children.  There was nothing said in worship today that I wouldn’t have said except perhaps in a different way.

Would I go back?  If I wasn’t committed to the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion, if sacramental ministry and liturgy were offered, yeah. I’d go back.

Epilogue

As is the case with most non-liturgical churches they don’t read a lot of scripture in worship.  That’s relegated to private devotion and bible study.  There was no indication of the Lord’s Supper; but much was offered regarding baptism.

Corollary

I followed up today (Monday) with a phone call to the church office.  Communion is offered prior to worship in the New Beginnings room every Sunday. I really would have liked to have known this. Also, funerals are held in the “Chapel” on level 3.  

 *architect…by education not licensed

** This is my Bible. I am what it says I am. I can do what it says I can do. Today, I will be taught the Word of God. I boldly confess: My mind is alert, My heart is receptive. I will never be the same. I am about to receive The incorruptible, indestructible, Ever-living seed of the Word of God. I will never be the same . Never, never, never. I will never be the same. In Jesus name. Amen.

(this is the confession prior to Joel's sermon.)