The summer movie season is off and running with the opening of The Avengers. The movie is about the Marvel Comics superhero team created in 1963 and brings together several popular Marvel characters, including Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, and the Black Widow. These heroes all have their individual stories and enemies, but they unite to take on challenges too great for any one of them to handle alone. The church is a little bit like the The Avengers. God doesn’t expect or want us to go it alone; God wants us to be part of something bigger. In the church God’s Holy Spirit brings together all sorts of people with all sorts of stories and abilities to transform the world and make disciples of Jesus Christ. Key Scriptures: Genesis 2:18-23; Matthew 10:1-14; 1 Corinthians 12:4-13; Ephesians 6:10-17. A recent study found that 75 percent of people who see that their Facebook friends have “liked” a product click through to that product’s retail website, where more than half make a purchase. There is nothing new about impulse buying, but technology has made impulse purchasing easier than ever and has given marketers sophisticated new ways to reach potential customers. Teens, who spent more than $200 billion combined last year, are a target market; and advertisers aren’t shy about giving teens opportunities to spend money. Next week LinC talks about managing money and using it in faithful ways. We’ll draw from the wisdom of eighteenth-century Anglican priest and founder of Methodism John Wesley who said, “Having first gained all you can and secondly saved all you can, then give all you can.”
