Christians Assemble!

Of all the movies that have come out this summer, the one that has taken the world by storm is the superhero blockbuster, Avengers: Endgame. This action-packed, superhero-stuffed, popcorn-eating thriller brings together nearly every main character seen in any Marvel superhero movie up to this point. It certainly brings a lot to the big screen and it certainly could fit the bill for an action movie to discuss this week as we continue our series, “At the Movies,” where we discover our faith front and center on the red carpet. However, seeing as this movie is not one that can be checked out somewhere other than the theater (although this won’t be the case much longer), and also that I preached on this movie a couple months back, I instead would like to look at the Avengers series as a whole – as this is the 4th Avengers movie that has been released.

So, as we continue to study our faith on the big screen, I would like to look at the whole concept of The Avengers. (And I am specifically talking about the actual Avengers films, not other movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe where there are lots of crossovers of characters.) The Avengers are a group of superheroes that are brought together to save the world. While they do go off and live their own lives from time to time, fighting their own share of "bad guys" separately, whenever some big threat comes to light, they all come back together to save the world. (We go from change the world last week to save the world this week!) And when they come together, they certainly have moments where they don’t act as a team or they just don’t get along. But in the end, to save the world, they remember that it is more important to work together.

This is really an image for us as a church community. We are a part of the Body of Christ. And this means that each one of us is an equally important part. Each member of The Avengers has something that they are really good at – better than the others. And to defeat the “bad guys” and save the world, they need to remember that each of their skills is needed. When they focus on this truth and stop working against each other, then the world is saved. Well, as the Body of Christ, we must do the same. We need to work for the community, rather than ourselves. It takes each one of us with our gifts and skills to be what we need to be. This is a message we have talked about many times before, but it is one which goes well to be reminded of. So, as we strive to be the Church we want to be, let us remember Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 12 and come together as one Body of Christ. Christians, assemble!!!