Theme of the Year: Looking Forward

The 2025-2026 theme of the year is LOOKING FORWARD with eternal hope. It comes from Jeremiah 29:11: “I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord. Plans to prosper you and to give you a future and a hope.” I invite you to reflect on the future and our future hope.

Infinite hope
 

In a world filled with instability, anxiety, and noise, what does it mean to move forward with hope?

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at the 11th Annual Southern Christian Leadership Conference in Atlanta, Georgia, on August 16th, 1967, gave a speech called, Where Do We Go From Here. In it, he said: “We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.”

Infinite hope. What is infinite hope? It’s not wishful thinking. Finite hope can be lost. Infinite hope is not limited by circumstances. Infinite hope lasts forever. It renews itself. It's a hope rooted in reality. One that expects disappointment, yet refuses despair.

It is a hope rooted in Truth, yet pointing to something more. It points to an eternal, personal God with a plan and purpose for our lives. A hope that overcomes. A hope that brings vision and purpose. A hope that fosters courage over fear. 

When culture is racked by anxiety, fear, lack of direction, and meaning, eternal hope is a valuable resource for a life of abundance. 

Hope doesn’t deny hardship. It defies it.

It looks beyond what’s temporary—a closed door, a hard semester, a setback—and sets its eyes on what is eternal. And that’s what gives it power. Real hope doesn’t just help you deal with hard circumstances; it helps you build a life of vision, meaning, and purpose. It develops courage and boldness. Eternal hope is a gift centered in God.

I love what C.S. Lewis wrote in Mere Christianity on the topic of Hope. He said:

“If you read history, you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were those who thought most of the next. The Apostles themselves, who set on foot the conversion of the Roman Empire, the great men who built up the Middle Ages, the English Evangelicals who abolished the Slave Trade, all left their mark on Earth, precisely because their minds were occupied with Heaven.”

In other words, the best way to be fully present in this world is to live with a vision of the next.

Hope isn’t a retreat from reality; it’s what empowers you to engage it. As we enter this school year and begin to work, study, learn, compete, and create, let us Look Forward in hope as we live fully present to those around us.

INTENTIONAL COMMUNITY

That brings me to something Mr. Roberson said last June during his Senior Dinner address, something that bears repeating, and I encourage you to carry with you.

He said we aren’t accountable merely to an idea, but to a person.

That’s profound. Because the person you are becoming, and the person you are responsible to, isn’t just you. It’s your neighbor. Your classmate. Your teacher. Your parent. And ultimately, it’s God. We are beautifully connected.

We don’t view people simply as individuals with preferences and personalities. Others are not to be solely tolerated, but cherished. Why? Because we see them as what they are: valuable, dignified, immortal image-bearers of the living God.

If that’s true, and it is, then your growth, flourishing, and calling aren’t just about independence or dependence. It’s about inter-dependence.

You are responsible to others, your community, ancestors, history, and most importantly, God. Those responsibilities and connections are not obstacles that weigh you down. They are not burdens to manage or obligations to resent. They are the greatest of gifts. They don’t limit your freedom, they free you and are vehicles to help you become your true self, act boldly, and think broadly.

Too often, we think of accountability and connection in negative terms, as rules or constraints. But connection isn’t a cage; accountability and connection actually provide freedom. They are gifts to be opened and used. When we receive a gift, like connection, we don’t leave it or set it aside. We open it, marvel at it, and play with it. Imagine opening your gifts on Christmas morning and then just walking away. Gifts are meant to be incorporated into our lives.

Connection is the way God designed things.

In Genesis, God looked at the first human being alone and said, “It is not good for man to be alone.” From the very beginning, we were made for relationships.

A recent demographic study in Western Europe found an increasing percentage of Europeans dying alone, without families and friends. They are unconnected and unaccountable. In 2018, the UK appointed a Minister of Loneliness. In Sweden, 50% of households consist of one person. 

God has given us an antidote to this epidemic of disconnection and loneliness - Himself. In Him, we are never alone. If you look up the word alone in the heavenly dictionary, you won’t find it; it's not there because the concept of loneliness does not exist in heaven.

He has also given us each other. 

The more you embrace inner dependence, the more you flourish. You’ll gain wisdom, insight, support, and perspective, people to fall back on, and walk forward with, people to count on all the time. 

You can do a lot alone. But you can do far more, and go much farther, when you stay connected. 

Hope and connection are something to grab hold of and embrace. Make them your life's work, and the rest will follow. Hope and connection do not come in a “material thing,” an idea, or a dream, but are rooted in a person, the person of Christ.

Last year, we gathered together to Look Back on Pacifica's history. We honored those who gave us our start, we remembered the foundational values Pacifica was built on, and we gave thanks to God for how far we have come. This year, we invite you to come alongside us as we focus on Looking Forward to new chapters, exciting growth, and, most importantly, the Hope of eternity.