An extravagant hope
Thanks to my good friend Colin for these words, especially the last line, which he passed on to me.
Those who would transform a nation or the world
cannot do so by breeding and captaining discontent
or by demonstrating reasonableness and desirability
of the intended changes
or by coercing people into a new way of life.
They must know how to kindle and fan an extravagant hope.
(Eric Hoeffer, The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements, New York, 1951, p 18.)
To kindle and fan an extravagant hope seems to me a pretty good description of the task of pastoral ministry.
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