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I remember the first time I saw the movie Avatar. I was absolutely mesmerized!
I wasn’t exactly sure what it was though, because everyone I talked to about it
thought it was an ok, or really good movie, and I’m over here raving about it, saying
it’s possibly one of the best movies of all time. So I decided to do something I haven’t
done since Rocky V, I went back to the theater to see it a second time!

What was it about this movie? The 3D? The cinematography? The story? The acting?
I think all of these were superb, but what it all centered around was the community
of the Navi people. The way they did life together. It was so intriguing to me, almost
heavenly.

Ok, I know I’m getting a little lame now. But this was how I felt. It was as if I was
seeing a picture of what eternity could be like when God’s people are in community
together.

The word of God speaks plainly at times of what life will be like once we’re in our
eternal state. Obviously no more sin, no more sorrow, no more suffering, Revelation
21:4, 8, and 27. Obviously we will worship our King for eternity, Revelation 7. But
there’s more than this. We will be in community with one another, and community
with Christ. Together we will see Him face to face. We will serve Him. And being the
good Master that He is, He will serve us, Luke 12:37. We will also be given tasks, and
responsibilities. And we will labor together, in community.

Can you imagine? Working and using our gifts in community and it not being about
getting ahead, or making lots of money, or storing up treasures here? This is the
vision of the community portion of Common Thread. I’ll talk about where Common
Thread comes from in part three of this blog trilogy, but this community, this life
together, this element that so drew me in to the movie has become a driving force in
my life through the mercy of God. To gather a community of believers who desire to
do life together in a much more truer sense than our culture deems suitable.

We were created to be in communion not only with Christ, but also with one
another. The Bible makes it crystal clear that we are strong together, and we are
weak alone. We see it in almost every other aspect of life. If we want to get in shape,
we try to find one or two people to join us in this effort. If we want to win in sports,
everyone knows there is no “I” in team. I mean, even girls go to the bathroom
together! But when it comes to life, we’ve been deceived that secluding ourselves
from community is the status quo.

Look, I’m not an idealist by nature, and I’m not delusional, well, most of the time.
But Christ is preparing us for a kingdom that, according to His word, is shaping up
to look a lot different than how we do life now. The Common Thread Community is
a small effort to begin to paint a picture of what the Kingdom, the Holy City/New

Jerusalem is going to look like. Remember, God said, it is not good for man to be
alone. If the Creator of everything deems something “not good”, I’m going with Him.