Portland is a place where everyone closes their eyes and crosses their fingers and hopes for a better community. They keep it small and local, and usually they think if they just make great coffee, it's the best thing for the neighborhood.
The local church is the hope of the world, and its future rests primarily in the hands of its leaders.
When hope is not pinned wriggling onto a shiny image or expectation, it sometimes floats forth and opens like one of those fluted Japanese blossoms, flimsy and spastic, bright and warm. This almost always seems to happen in community.
I think a lot of people get hope through civic organizations and through their churches.
We were facing a situation where some preachers have completely alienated themselves from the everyday concerns of the ordinary Muslim. Despite the fact that there are social issues that local preachers are in the best position to address because of the huge influence they wield, particularly in rural areas, they simply were not doing so. We did not want them to preach hellfire but rather to restore hope for Muslims.
When we accept dismissive judgments of our community we stop having generous hope for it. We cease to be capable of serving its best interests.
The worst nightmare for al Qaeda is to come into a community that feels supported and has hope.
I really do believe if there is hope in the world, then it is to be found within our own communities with our own neighbors, and within our own homes and families.
