Joel and Victoria Osteen Announce Their Resignation from Church to Focus On New Initiative
This must be an April Fool's Joke in August!
(PEOPLE) - Victoria Osteen and Joel Osteen appeared on Oprah's TV show today to announce their resignation as pastors of Lakewood Church. Their televised sermons are seen by over 7 million viewers weekly and over 20 million monthly in over 100 countries. The Osteens announced they invested $10.5 million and have been working closely with the new company for over 2 years on development of an all-natural skin care line.
Joel and Victoria explained their decision to stop working on the TV series was tough but they truly believe that their work with their skin care product will make a bigger difference in the world.
This story is dated today, the feast of the Transfiguration. Is this serious? I guess this is one of the magazines with the weird stores that I pass in the grocery lane.
Whether it is "true" or not, it sure is funny seeing it on this day. Maybe it is how the Osteens view transfiguration? Maybe it is better for consumers for them to make their living by selling this product than by what they are selling now.
I celebrated Transfiguration with the local Orthodox Church. I always liked this feast and usually celebrate with them when it is on a weekday.
This priest's homilies are always focused on the basics of liturgy in down to earth terms.
What did it mean that Jesus was transfigured? He wasn't just the guy next door.
What does it means for us? Yes, we by baptism have been invited to transfiguration?
Is it easy? No. Think of your marriage, how it started out with the wedding ceremony, the crowns of the Byzantine wedding, etc. But it soon became very difficult. But we are still invited to transfigure our marriages. Not just our marriages, but all our relationships even with our enemies.
Is this impossible. No. It is the dogma of the church that this happens in this world in the lives of the saints.
My personal philosophy has always been optimistic realism. Face reality but think optimistically about the future. Maybe that is this priest's philosophy? Maybe it is some of what I like about the Orthodox church?
Any thoughts or stories about transfiguration, either cosmetic, or real in your experience or that of others?
I was glad the Transfiguration fell on a Sunday this year. It is one of my favorite feast days. Our pastor focused on it as a glimpse into heaven, and a revelation of the Trinity.
ReplyDeleteThere's a lot of nice artwork of the Transfiguration. My favorite is the altarpiece by Titian at the church of San Salvador in Venice ... painting
ReplyDeleteWhat I wanna know is whether the Osteens transfigured a whole lot of money they earned tax free into a cosmetics biz. Cagey. I'm gonna start my own Church--tithing essential!--launder the money, and use it to start my knitting emporium.
ReplyDeleteThey sound like crooks.
Let's see, Father talked about an unfinished picture by Rubens (Raphael?) in which the Transfiguration occurs on a mountain while the rest of the apostles are trying to cure someone in the valley. He talked about our need for "mountain moments" when we meet Jesus thru prayer and the sacraments so we can do God's work in the workaday.
The Osteens are a cruel joke on their followers. As our parents all told us: a fool and his money are soon parted.
DeleteI prefer this: When you are dead you don’t know that you are dead. It is only difficult for others.
It is the same when you are stupid.
I can't find anything about the Osteens turning in their Bibles for aloe. They often end up in fake news, like anybody who got their Rolls-Royce from God to go with a bad comb-over, and they apparently have been having a fight with a skin care product. ("Pope incensed by Vatican's incense supplier, cancels contract"?) I've been wondering since last November, when I did my own stint as Moses, how they got Charlton Heston's face to glow when he came down the mountain. I am suspecting vegetable oil. I suspect Jean knows the answer to that one.
ReplyDeleteAs for the feast today, the homily was about the little flashes of God we get in daily life, They are there. What you let them do to you is up to you. So, probably, it was with Peter, James and John. What struck me in the reading this time is the one line Peter has in the story that no one preaches on: "Lord, it i good that we are here." I don't think he could have been more precise than he was with that "good."
About the fake news, I don't think you can count on anything you see in the stuff at the supermarket circumstances. Or the sidebars on Facebook. They keep trying to kill off poor Betty White. Or get Princess Kate pregnant with triplets. Wonder if the Globe is still running Bat Baby stories? (His mom felt this fluttering feeling all during pregnancy).
DeleteI've got to turn off auto-correct, I meant check stands, not circumstances
DeleteMmm, bat baby. And the pregnant boy. I miss teaching Mass Communications. Always fun to make the kids buy a tabloid at the supermarket and parse the stories.
DeleteI think Charlton Heston's face was glowing in the reflected glory of Yul Brenner's bald head. So let it be written. So let it be done.
Well, then at least tell me what they used to get that hank of hair to stick on his bald head.
DeleteSpirit gum. It's also what held Rudolph Valentino's ears back so they didn't stick out like Alfred E. Newman. He reportedly had surery to correct the problem later on.
DeleteIf you're planning in rocking that pharaoh hank, you can get spirit gum online for about $4 an ounce. Not sure where to get the gold lame culottes, though. I bet Liberace would have known ...
Hard to believe I'm three years older than Yul ever got to be, thanks to his smoking. Definitely one of the most distinctive actors ever, though he seemed to be one of those actors who mostly portrayed himself, as opposed to a chameleon like Philip Seymour Hoffman.
ReplyDeleteHmm, well, if you're Yul Brenner, you don't need to play anyone else.
ReplyDeleteHis son told a story about his tolerance of pain. After a water skiing accident, he had an open gash in his famous skull. He then proceeded to the fishing tackle box, took a hook and some line, and proceeded to sew himself up without a whimper.
ReplyDeleteOne of my girlfriends had an, um, "artistic interest" in Yul Brynner (note correct spelling, my bad). He made up a lot of interesting myths about himself. All of which she read avidly. And her a Graham Greene scholar with a Ph.D. and everything.
ReplyDeleteAw, even Ph.D's deserve a little healthy foolishness now and then.
ReplyDeleteI liked Brenner in The King and I. I used to sing that song to the cats ..."Shall we dance on a bright cloud of music, shall we fly?" :)
ReplyDeleteMy cats never liked dancing :-(
DeleteThey can be so picky :)
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