#Hopetimism

 What's this #HOPETIMISM thing all about?

In a conversation I had with a Muslim man as we discussed how to stem the continual wave of hate and violence, I asked this 80 year old man...
Me: Sometimes as a pastor I ask the question, "What can I do? What difference can I make in a world filled with violence, hate, and fear?"
His response: There was once a great forest fire. It was ripping through the trees and the terrain leaving a wake of destruction behind it. One afternoon a lone bird swooped down to a lake and gathered a single drop of water in his beak. Looking from the trees around the lake the other birds started to laugh at her. What are you going to do with that single drop of water. You can't put out a forest fire with a single drop of water. Then the bird said, "You are right. But someday I am going to face the creator of all water. And he will ask me, 'What did you do with your drop of water.'" I won't be held accountable for the fire, only my failure to use whatever small drop of water I have to impact the fire." At that the other birds looked at one another realizing they too would be held accountable, flocks swooped down at once gathered water in their beaks and together put out parts of the fire.
You ask what you can do. Do whatever you can with your drop of water!

What does it mean though?

Hopetimism isn't a "thing" or an "activity" or even an "event."  Hopetimism is a movement.  It's a movement of HOPE.  We define it in a very simple way...

"A Hopetimist is one who believe that though the world is not as it should be, God is busy, at work making it as it ought to be."
We believe God is at work in this world.  He doesn't abandon what he loves.  He's a tenaciously loving, passionately redemptive, wonderfully restorative God who works in this world, calling it back to His good intentions.  YES, we make messes.  HOWEVER, we believe God is greater than our messes. 

What's a #Hopetimist then?

A #Hopetimist is an agent of Hope, one who joins God in this beautifully redemptive work in this world.  A #hopetimist is one that takes their little drop of water, like the story above shares, and uses it for good, in whatever way, whereever, and among whoever needs it.  They find ways to do, in Mother Theresa's words, "little things with great love!"  For a #hopetimist there are NO lost causes.  God is able through the actions of his agents of Hope to do immeasurably more than anything we could hope or imagine.  

Pastor Jeff Stark