Avatar

I cannot think of the "Avatar" without thinking of its Hindu origin. I suspect that most don't make the association and I need to get over it.

Christianity Today's Leadership Journal has an interesting article titled:

Avatar and Becoming Mature in Christ

What a not-so-Christian movie says about the goal of the Christian life.

The author, John Ortberg, writes:

Sometimes we get so immersed in the X's and O's of church work that we forget to step back and ask what 's the real reason we're doing all this. Paul has great clarity on it, and is more concise than usual: "so that we may present everyone mature in Christ."

If your church is looking for a big hairy audacious goal, this will do for starters.

The scale: everyone.

The outcome: mature in Christ.

That's not common language in our day. So recently I have asked church leaders in a number of settings to take a few moments to describe what someone who is "mature in Christ" looks like. Certain words always make the list: loving, joyful, peaceful, forgiving, serving, courageous, loyal, humble, generous.

His thesis is that the heroes in Avatar (the movie) display these characteristics.

I may have to watch it when it comes out on DVD.