Our Hope Tree’s New Home!

In just about two weeks, our Eagle Rock Hope Tree will have a new home in the courtyard of St. Barnabas Episcopal Church (2109 Chickasaw Avenue) in Eagle Rock, California! Join us on Sunday, August 14th at 9 AM when the tree will be unveiled to the public. Our Hope Tree will feature more than 400 raw, unedited hopes that we have personally listened to in the Eagle Rock community from neighbors of all ages and backgrounds. Anyone and everyone is be invited to add their own hope to the tree and, of course, read through all of the hopes of their community so they can learn and grow.

Also at 9 AM, you’ll also get a chance to hear from Sam Lundquist, the Founder of The Hope Chronicles, who will be sharing his vision and some wonderful stories from the past year of the project.

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Our Hope Tree Recap!

Thank you to everyone who came to our first Hope Tree event in the Eagle Rock neighborhood of Los Angeles!

This project really began a year ago when dozens of humble and curious Community Listeners set foot onto the sidewalks of their own neighborhood to ask friends, family, and strangers one question: What do you hope for?

Conversation after conversation taught them new things about their neighbors. Listening changed them. The heart of their community was opened up.

Just 12 months later… what an marvelous sight to see those 300 raw, honest, REAL hopes from REAL neighbors in Eagle Rock playfully fluttering in the breeze of one of the community’s most beautiful parks.

This was absolutely breathtaking.

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A Hope Tree

Join us Friday, June 17th from 4 PM – Sunset at Yosemite Park for our humble Hope Tree, a collection of more than 200 hopes from our neighbors in Eagle Rock, California.

The Story

In May 2010, fifty Community Listeners spent an afternoon in Eagle Rock, California asking their neighbors about their hopes, their hearts, and their lives.

We talked to more than 200 people from every walk of life. Small children. Grandparents. A few friends. More strangers. Folks just passing by. Lifelong residents.

This was a chance to for a community to come together to listen, learn, change, and grow. Each and every conversation was important, and they all started with one simple question: “What do you hope for?”

For three hours, we listened and wrote down our neighbors’ responses. We heard simple hopes: that more people would sing and share music, that people would respect one another, that children could succeed at school. We heard deep hopes: that a nephew would be returned to a family, that a man could get off the street, that a struggling neighborhood would see things turn around. Beautifully simple and yet tremendously deep, for three hours our ears were tuned to nothing but hope. And we walked away amazed at how listening to our neighbors’ words transformed us.

The Tree

On June 17th, we are excited to share with you the 200 hopes from these Eagle Rock neighbors with our first ever Hope Tree so that you too can be transformed. Hanging from our Hope Tree will be hundreds of leaves, each a window into the hopeful heart of one of the people we spoke with. Plus, you’ll get a chance to hang your own hope on the tree.

After the event, this entire collection of hopes will be compiled and distributed to every school, non-profit, civic organization, and house of worship in Eagle Rock with the invitation to reflect, absorb, and learn from what their neighbors are saying. This will be the first time this community has received a collective picture of what their neighborhood is hoping for.

Join us for this event and a chance to watch a small community to share their biggest hopes.

— The Hope Chronicles Team

Host a Community Listening Event!

This year, we have already gotten off to an incredible start with our most recent event at APB Charter High in Los Angeles… and we would love nothing more than to make that happen again and again. If you’re a club, organization, business, school group, or house of worship, we would love to partner with you and put together a Community Listening event perfectly tailored to your community.

Click here to find out how you can listen, learn, change, and grow—all because of one simple question.

Our First Ever Hope Gallery

A Far Bigger Picture

Here’s a special note from our Community Listener Grace from Pasadena, California who attended Big Sunday’s Spooky Saturday event. You can find more stories from Spooky Saturday and Big Sunday here.

For a long time now, I’ve had a complicated relationship with hope. I think if most of us are honest, we will admit that we have days — sometimes weeks, months, even years — when hope seems to be nothing more than a Pollyanna stand-in for self-delusion. As we get older, we watch as the dreams we were taught to believe in turn to dust, leaving nothing behind but a shadow that chills us to the core. Stuff happens to us that wasn’t in the original plan; in spite of our best efforts, life refuses to follow our carefully crafted scripts.

The world is full of broken hearts. What’s the point of hope?

I’m not sure I have an answer. But I have a story.

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Hope for the Holidays!

Are you traveling this holiday season?

Spending time with family and friends?

This holiday season celebrate peace, understanding, family, and togetherness by taking a moment to discover the unheard hopes of friends, family, neighbors, and strangers in your life with a holiday Hope Journal.

Click here to get your free Hope Journal!

Big Sunday’s Spooky Saturday

We love working with Big Sunday!

Last month, we spent an entire Saturday over at Big Sunday headquarters for Spooky Saturday event, an extra special Halloween party for kids and families from HomeSafe and Keen LA. More than 120 volunteers helped during the day with face-painting, family portraits, “trunk or treating,” an amazing haunted house, plus more candy than you could even imagine. Watch the video below for more of an inside look at the day’s happenings.

Learn more about upcoming Big Sunday events at bigsunday.org.

It Should Be Important

Rounding out our first round of student blogs, here are the final five stories from our Community Listener/Creative Writing crew from Ánimo High School in South Los Angeles.

Take a look at how these incredible students have been changed by the simple act of listening to the people around them.

Irma’s Story

Irma's Personal Hope (Click to Enlarge)

Before my first interview, before I even started this amazing project, I never really took the time to wonder what the word “hope” meant to me or to anyone for that matter. It was merely a simple, useless word. Ha, was I wrong! Yes, I was completely wrong!

When I asked myself, what do you hope for? I debated on the answer for several minutes because I never thought about what I hope for in life. I never stopped to think about the millions of possibilities in the world that I could want. That I could have. So before I answered the question, I thought about the word hope, alone. I then asked my older sister, who I thought was wiser than me for some reason, but she did not know what it was either.

In the end, we were like “Oh, yeah, to hope is to want something you will never have! Or to want something that may be impossible to get.”

I did not like this answer, though. It was too harsh (haha), very untrue, and very simple. I debated on the answer for quite a while before I wrote it in my journal. “I hope for the truth.” There is obviously more to it, but this is what I long for. The word hope does not mean what I cannot have, but what I can give and what I would like to receive. For me, honesty is my biggest hope because a lot of people all around the world lie everyday. Sometimes unconsciously, but the lie is still there. I’ve had a great experience with my best friend. He did something horrible, which hurt me, but he was honest about it and he told me, which made me look up to him even more than I ever have. He knew his mistakes, and admitted it. If everyone was honest, the mistake would not be washed away, but instead razed and confronted.

While I interviewed people, they looked at me, when I ask them the question ‘What do you hope for?’, like if I was going to laugh at them at any time. At first, they were not sure of what to say. I was extremely content with this because they took their time to answer the question. It seemed like the really cared about the answer, and they did not want to say anything less important to them. I was excited to know that I was not the only person who debated on what their hope was. I was also surprised that some people hope for the simplest things, even if it’s just some guitar. These things are really important to them. Somehow, I felt it should be important to me too. Just because I know them.

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“Already Eye-Opening”

Here’s our final round of personal stories from our newest Community Listeners from Ánimo High School in South Los Angeles.

Take a moment and read how these incredible students have been changed by the simple act of listening to the people around them.

Yesenia's Personal Hope (Click to Enlarge)

When I first thought about the word “hope” I thought about the things I wanted to achieve but were a far off goal. I wanted material objects; I wanted something better for myself. The thing that kept me going was this “hope”.

As I started this project I realized the amazing responses from my fellow classmates. Many of them wanted peace in the world, others just wished happiness in others lives.  I realized how unselfish my classmates were, how I was the opposite. I’m not saying it is a bad thing to hope something better for yourself, I was just saying how I had expected my classmates to primarily want something for themselves, in their lives.

Later, when I read over my Hope Journal, I was really inspired by their hopes. “I hope for peace.” “I hope for equality.” “I hope for peoples’ happiness in life.” These were a few of the hopes that stuck with me, and I truly felt like I had learned a lot from the students in my school. This was only the beginning of The Hope Chronicles project, already eye-opening, and I can only imagine what is to come from our neighboring community.

[Read Yesenia's Hope Journal]

More stories after the jump…

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More Stories from Ánimo HS

Here are some more personal stories from our newest Community Listeners from Ánimo High School in South Los Angeles.

Take a look at how these incredible students have been changed by the simple act of listening to the people around them.

Susana's Hope (Click to Enlarge)

I had this conversation with my sister who is 9 years old about what she hopes for.

I asked her, “What do you hope for?”

She said, “What do you mean?”

“Well, what do you want to accomplish in this life?”

She then thought about it and walked away. I thought that she didn’t understand what I was talking about. Then, she came back and looked at me if I said something wrong, and she said “What do you think?”

I didn’t say anything because, well, I didn’t know.

For a while we sat there and she said, “Well, I want to live a happy life where I could help animals and have a lot of money so mom and dad don’t have to work anymore.”

She then told me how hard she sees my parents work and when they come home they are too tired and don’t have time to play with her. If she works then she could give them money so they do not have to work anymore. This really stood out for me because she knows that my parents work, and she understands that they are too tired to play with her. This showed me that when my parents don’t work she tries to be with them as much as possible and helps them out in any way she can.

I see my sister differently because she does have like real dreams of her own, and they are not the hopes of a girl who just wants to own something. She does not think of being selfish. I now see that she is a person that wants to help out instead of just having things for herself.

[Read Susanna's Journal]

Read more stories below…

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Blogs from Ánimo HS

All this week, we’ve been featuring the Hope Journals from our newest Community Listeners from Ánimo High School in South Los Angeles. To complement those journals, we’ve asked the students to share a bit about their experience. At The Hope Chronicles, we seek to share two very interconnected stories: the honest hopes of the people around us and the stories of how our Community Listeners personally change after hearing these hopes. Here’s an eye-opening look at what’s going on in the minds of these students.

Kimberley’s Story:

I believe the Hope Chronicles have helped me become more aware of society. This project has help me understand how even the strongest looking people have selfless hopes and dreams. I have also come to realize that society has good intentions, and people are actually crying out for help. The Hope Chronicles have made me have a better understanding of hope. I used to feel that looking out for yourself was important, but looking out for your community is also essential. In order to prosper, you must have a bright environment, and The Hope Chronicles is a way to give my community a voice in order to someday acquire change.

[Read Kimberley's Journal]

Read more stories after the jump.
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Introducing Ánimo High School!

Journal Artwork by Heather, 18 from Ánimo HS

We are so excited to introduce our newest Hope Chronicles Community Listeners, the creative writing students at Ánimo Pat Brown High School, a GreenDot Charter school in South Los Angeles! Each of these wonderfully talented and artistic students will be spending the next few months passing around Hope Journals to family, friends, strangers, and neighbors in the Florence-Firestone neighborhood of LA. Already in just the past three weeks, hundreds of conversations have been had and dozens of  stories have been gathered.

Starting today, we’ll be sharing these hopes on the site among our other, regular updates. Plus, each Friday the students themselves will be sharing their own personal stories of how they’ve been changed by conversation with journal entries, short stories, creative writing, and poetry that we’ll be showcasing the Hope Chronicles Blog.

So, take some time and enjoy the amazing hopes that these students are collecting from their neighbors as they grow and change because of the community around them.

- October 25: Jesús and America
- October 26: Carolina and Diana
- October 28: Kimberley
- October 29: Blogs from Diana, Kimberley, and America
- November 1: Clarisa
- November 2: Deborah and Susana
- November 4: Heather
- November 5: Blogs from Susana, Deborah, and Heather
- November 8: Justine
- November 9: Yesenia
- November 10: Miriam and Flora
- November 10: Blogs from Yesenia, Yazmin, Justine, and Becca
- November 11: Eva
- November 12: Blogs from Irma, Carolina, Itzel, Selvin, and Juan

Check out the full Ánimo Archives here.

An Orange Blast

From our Community Listener Sam Lundquist:

For the first time since this project began, I lost a Hope Journal.

A week ago, I flew from LA to Nashville. As I’ve done for months now, I readied my journal. Prepped and primed with stickers, business cards, and my seat number, I passed it to the person next to me, and it made its grand voyage toward the back of the plane. I know it made it back there because I had coworkers planted throughout to make sure it would get passed along.

The flight ended… And no journal. I dug through seat back pockets, crawled on dirty airplane carpet, and searched in the sticky, peanut-crumb crevices between seats. Nothing. The journal was nowhere to be found.

So, for my flight back home to Los Angeles, I had nothing. No magic book to pass to my fellow passengers. No easy conversation starters.

Thankfully, I met Dan.

Dan had taken Seat 14E, a middle seat on the right half of the plane. I had the window seat because, for whatever reason, I have to lean to the right. I slept for the first hour and a half of the four hour flight, and awoke only after the Southwest flight attendants had come through the aisle with their grab bag of snack food. Shucks, I just missed it!

I pulled out my iPhone ready to kick back and listen to some music when Dan spotted it.

“Is that the iPhone 4?” he said.

It was. Thank you, Apple, for making products that are cool enough to bring people together. What would we do without you?

I handed it to him, and he pulled out his old iPhone with its industrial strength rubber case. That thing could have taken heavy fire and still survived. I learned later that it probably had.

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A Lost Book!

Hey Everyone!

Yesterday, we passed out a Hope Journal on a Southwest Flight from Los Angeles, California to Nashville, Tennessee, and we never got it back! If you have any idea where it is, or accidentally took it with you, please email us at hope@thehopechronicles.org.

If you wrote in the journal and would still like to be a part of the project, you can email us or leave a comment. We’ll make sure your hope gets posted on the site soon!

Thanks!

The Hope Chronicles Team

More Than The Weather

I met Sam, the Hope Chronicles founder, at my coworker’s bachelor party.

We talked about hope.

Sam shared with me a bit about his project, The Hope Chronicles, and I was instantly intrigued with the idea. Later that night, I went home and checked out all of the videos posted. It was inspiring and entertaining.  Honestly, I cringed a few times too.

It hit me that these were real people. They weren’t actors. They were like people at work, in the store, or in my group of friends who had bigger cares than their favorite sports team, the weather forecast, or rehashing last night’s episode of the Jersey Shore.  It bothered me that because of my self-centeredness I didn’t know the hopes of even my close friends.

That night I wrote, “I hope to place others needs above my comfort, prosperity, and security.”

I want to care more about people than to talk about the weather.

With that, I brought a Flip Camera with me on an already scheduled trip to Washington, DC to collect some hopes. Walking up to total strangers and asking them what they hoped was pretty scary in itself.  My introduction kind of evolved into the first sentence out of my mouth being, “No, I’m not asking you to buy anything.”

My trip being three or four months ago I still remember those folks I talked to, and I think about them often.  I remember sitting with a man on a bench talking about his community. Another bench of tourists, and I talked about Christ for a while. I ate overpriced hot dogs with two elderly ladies on the mall. I latched on a family on a tour of the Bureau of Printing and Engraving. By the way, that’s a lame DC tour.  Skip it.  I don’t think they’ve changed it since 1970. Some people I asked if they would go on camera. Others I just hung out with for a bit. By listening, our responses, prayers, and concerns for that individual are informed.

It was a pretty interesting day, and it was a trip that was different than waiting in line at the Smithsonian to look at some old stuff.

What stuck with me after that trip was the last “hope” that I collected outside of the Jefferson Memorial. She said something along the lines of your hope not having to be something huge like you yourself curing cancer. It can be something small like a smile that might encourage someone who is curing cancer.

I took from her statement that even during the routine and mundane seasons of our life, we still live purposefully. I believe that comes from something serving something way bigger than ourselves.

I want to care more about people than to talk about the weather.

- From our Community Listener Eric Dunlap

Colors of Hope.

Take a listen to “Colors of Hope,” a little ditty our friend Chad Hines wrote for our Urban Plunge Community Listening event in May 2010. Enjoy!

Surprises and Shamelessness

Hello world!

I love to hear what people hope for. I think if we listened more and talked less (almost an impossible task for me and my big mouth) that the world really would be a better place. Cliché or not, it really has to be true. I even think we would be shocked to find out what even our closest friends and family hope for.

Click here to read Bethany's hope.

Being a community listener has been rewarding. I passed out the journals in the Red Cross classes that I teach, as well as to my family and friends. I enjoyed reading them and I hope you do too. I was surprised that people shamelessly put down a hope for world peace. It’s such a “beauty queen” (no offense here… since you beauty queens are awesome too), thing to write but they honestly really want it and to be completely true, I do too.

I challenge you to ask the people you care about what they hope for.

It’s going to be worth the listen.

- Bethany Cox

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Read the hopes Bethany gathered from North Carolina:

August 2: Peace, Cures, Dreams

August 4: Heaven

August 5: Yin and Yang

Potato Chips.

From Community Listener Sam Lundquist on a flight from Los Angeles to Toronto:

I am writing this at 36,000 feet—flying high above the Rocky Mountains. Below me, I see a steady curtain of wispy clouds that are slowly dissipating as we move further and further east. I’m glad that I wrangled customer service into giving me a window seat. I can’t help but be entranced by this view.

But more than that, I’m finding it impossible to get over the joy in the eyes of the man sitting next to me on American Airlines Flight 1586 to Toronto.

He just can’t stop smiling.

And that inspires me.

I sat down, and we started making small talk. He very graciously agreed to help me start  circulating a Hope Journal on the plane (as of this writing, I have yet to actually read what he wrote). He told me a bit about the church he attended in Inglewood, which happened to be called Hope Church. He asked if I was affiliated with them; I said no. Once we were in the air, the snack and beverage cart rolled around, and he bought a bag of Sun Chips and offered me half the bag.

Frankly, I think that’s pretty great.

Not just because I got some chips out of the deal, but because it’s honest kindness.

Let’s try to do that, live that, be that more… Shall we?

Save Hope Gardens!

Our Community Listeners Brian and Starr joined us during our event at Urban Plunge 2010. They came back with this story:

Hi Friends —

A few weeks ago, we did a service project with an organization called Door of Hope. Door of Hope is a transitional housing program for homeless families. We did a service project there last year as well and it is an amazing place of refuge for homeless families with no place else to turn. Anyhow, after our time there we participated in something called a Hope Walk. A Hope Walk consists of going into the community (we were in Pasadena that afternoon), meeting people, and asking them what there hope is- for the day, for the year, or just in general. Then depending on how the encounter goes, this would open up conversation, a time of prayer, or just a friendly exchange before parting ways. Brian and I ventured out together on our Hope Walk and saw a couple about to cross the street. We decided that these would be the first people we would meet and talk to. After they crossed the street, Brian approached them and asked if we could borrow a moment of their time. He then noticed the jacket that the gentleman was wearing… it had a Union Rescue Mission logo on it.  Brian asked if he was affiliated with the mission, and it just so happened that he was Andy Bales, CEO of the Union Rescue Mission. “Wow,” we thought, “what a coincidence.” We asked him what his hope was and he immediately answered that one of the URM facilities, ‘Hope Gardens’ was in jeopardy of being shut down and that they needed to raise $2.8 million by June 30th in order to keep it open. So that was his hope…that the money would be raised and Hope Gardens could stay open. We prayed for him and the fundraising efforts there on the corner, and the rest of the day we were amazed that out of all people we could’ve met, that we met someone whose entire life is centered around homelessness, fighting it, changing it, preventing it, and transforming the lives of people who experience it. By the way, Hope Gardens is a transitional housing program for homeless families. Just like the Door of Hope where we had spent the day.

So now you know what we know. Hope Gardens needs to raise $2.8 million by June 30th in order to stay open. To date, they have raised $1,715,875 which means that they still need another $1,084,125. That’s a lot of money. In a little amount of time. But God can do it. And he can do it through us, so Brian and I are doing what we can do…which is reach out to you and ask for help. We figure that if everyone we know donates $10 to the cause, and everyone YOU know, donates $10 to the cause, then before we know it, the money will be raised. Hope Gardens will be saved. And families will be kept from going back to the streets.

1) Click here: http://www.urm.org/ and donate $10. Donations are currently being matched by an anonymous donor.

Thank You!
Brian and Starr

Neighbors In Maasailand

Our Community Listener Nadine lives and works in Arusha, Tanzania, literally on the other side of the planet from our home in Los Angeles. She’s lived there for years in fact. Spending her time creating music and making films with local Tanzanians, including dozens of the Maasai people.

During one of her most recent trips to Simanjiro, East Africa, Nadine brought along a little camera, and for the first time, she asked some of her closest Maasai friends about their hopes.

Education. Healthy families. Change to our community. Food. Laughter. Music.

Simple, universal hopes that we hear over and over again—but given such new meaning when we hear them coming from the lips of the Maasai.

Click here to see all of our stories from the Maasai to date.

Nadine met her Maasai friends years ago, and she was immediately struck by their songs. Songs of joy, songs of hope, and songs of new life. She shares their incredible, inspiring, and life-changing stories—and her own story of hope and transformation—in her photobook, En-kátá: A Time for Singing.

60% of the profits from the sale of this book will be used to build a school for the children of Maasailand in Tanzania. For the first time, thanks to you and others like you, these children will have access to quality education. It’s a big step forward, and it’s not being imposed from the outside – the school is being built and run by the Maasai themselves.

We hope you enjoy the stories of this week. We hope the Maasai change you, lift you up, and you, too, can hear their singing.

Urban Plunge 2010

Click to see photos from Urban Plunge 2010 — All Images Copyright © 2010 Madison Garcia Photography

Love and serve the city.

That was the call to nearly 250 volunteers from across the Los Angeles metro area on May 22, 2010.

All morning, teams from communities all over LA joined Christian Assembly Church for their biggest outreach event of the year. Volunteers scattered to locations all over the city to serve at more than 20 local schools, shelters, and other non-profit organizations—an event very similar to Big Sunday Weekend.

Then, these teams partnered with us to participate in our largest Hope Chronicles event to date—listening to the hopes and stories of more than 1000 Los Angeles neighbors and getting to know their communities a whole lot better.

Click here to see all of our Urban Plunge Stories to date.

Starting today through Thursday, June 3rd, we’ll be sharing stories from Urban Plunge with you. Every day, we’ll have a new Hope Conversation video from a community in Los Angeles. From Skid Row to the University of Southern California, Downtown Burbank to the Flower District, these conversations offer a glimpse into the hearts of people all over the city.

Plus, you’ll get a chance to hear from the dozens of Urban Plunge participants themselves—telling their stories about what they saw, how they’ve been changed, and how they are beginning to serve their city in a brand new way.

Finally, we can’t wait until Friday when we’ll be introducing an interactive hope map where you browse through the more than 1000 hopes collected from Los Angeles neighbors.

It’s a completely new way to see what a neighborhood thinks, knows, and feels.

Get ready for an amazing week.

You Should Become a Community Listener

From our Community Listener Sarah, who joined us for Big Sunday Weekend 2010 by collecting hopes at Inner-City Arts and 24th Street School in Los Angeles, California:

I parked my car in front of 24th Street School in Los Angeles. I held the paper in my hand and read it over, over, and over again. My script for the day:

*Ask them to say the following on camera:
“Hi my name is ___________.”
“On Big Sunday I did ___________.”
“An interesting thing that happened today was ___________.”

*Now, tell them a little about The Hope Chronicles.
Ask: “What is your hope?”

A child could have memorized it. I mean, “Hi, my name is_______” for Christ’s sake, but as I sat in my car, it was like trying to decipher binary code, or as if I was asked to memorize the Declaration of Independence. I only mention this now to explain what I was up against, sitting in my car–me against my brain; it is a tricky thing. I, for one, never know who will in fact win.

Luckily for everyone involved, I got out of the car and met Tanya Russell first; a mother, a volunteer, at the 24th Street School ‘Welcome’ table. I explained, awkwardly, that I wanted to interview some community leaders. Her eyes widened, she smiled like a puffy white cloud against a deep blue sky. In one moment, my introversion faded. She led me through the crowds of teachers, students, community activists, families with their little children wearing Big Sunday shirts hanging below their knees–through the nearly four acres of gardens, wheel barrows filled with mulch, weaving around rows of freshly planted veggies, and small teams working together, toiling the land. The bright LA sun watching from above.

Breathless, Tanya held out her hand, “Here is our community garden leader.” She was wearing a straw hat with a black ribbon carefully tied around its crown, dark Ray Ban style sunglasses, and a pearl necklace. She spoke quickly, joyfully, about her hopes for the garden, stopping only to welcome families as they walked by. She was just as you would want a community garden organizer to be: spirited, playfully organized, like a brightly color coded file cabinet. But when it came time to interview her on camera, she raised her voice, and laughed, “Oh No!”

Watch Sarah’s Visit to 24th Street School:

Later in the day, at Inner City Arts, I met an elderly woman who introduced me to her daughter, a 20 year volunteer. She lead me around tables with families painting, laughing, vibrant drumming music playing in the background. She spoke openly about her hopes for herself, and the city, she explained, “Inner City Arts is like an oasis in a very poor area of LA, but it does not exclude, it is open for all.” After listening for a while, I suddenly realized I hadn’t videotaped her at all, and said, “I am so sorry, can you repeat some of that for the camera?” She replied, “Oh no, I’d better not.”

Watch Sarah’s Visit to Inner-City Arts:

After I finished my day, interviewing 15 to 20 people in the two locations, I found this to be a common tension. In many ways it was the video camera, which disarmed my own inhibitions, giving access to their beautiful stories of hope. However, by its very nature, the device also shifts away the intimacy of conversations.

This is where my not so creative title comes in: “You Should Become a Community Listener.”

On that day, I learned that this one question: “What is your hope?” is a way to open a door. But I found it is the moments in between the footage, face to face, when that door leads to hallways, to kitchens and living rooms, and it is there where reticence seems to fade, and the real conversations begin; where they can also begin for you.

“Be Gracious To Me”

From Jess, a member of Christian Assembly Church, a Hope Chronicles partner:

For whatever reason, I’ve always assumed that Eagle Rock, California is a tight-knit community that sets the bar for how neighbors, different ethnic groups and generations of people should live together. So on Sunday afternoon, as my partner and I set out, I was surprised to hear the comments and responses to our question about “hope”.

After talking to two people we ran into on our way to a local neighborhood, and getting mostly negative feedback and a cold shoulder, we felt compelled to make our way to the tall blue house at the top of the street. A small lady answered the door, whom we later found out was Russian Orthodox and not interested in getting more prayer after her time at church that morning, but rather asked that we’d think about getting a group from Christian Assembly to intiate a block party on her street, in an effort to bring her and her neighbors closer together. She said that after a few years of being there, she still didn’t know who the family across the street was and that Eagle Rock can be a lonely place.

We may have been the first strangers within two feet of her doorstep that took time to see how her day was, no sale’s-pitch, no scam, just a reason to have hope.

“Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted.” Psalm 25:16

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See what other groups from Christian Assembly Church discovered last month in these videos:

> “That’s a Big Question”
> “I Pray Everyday for My Neighbors”
> “Get Off The Street and Get a Job”
> “Earthquakes and Volcanoes”