THE PRODIGAL CITY - PART II: ORPHANHOOD TO OPENNESS

In my first installment of The Prodigal City, we looked at the journey TO orphanhood by the Prodigal Son and how similar it is to the history of our city and so many of those who live here. We are a city of orphans, who have been alienated from the Father's love and are trying every way possible to substitute for the lack of connection with God. As we continue to explore the story of the Prodigal, my hope is that we will discover the keys of restoration and adoption for this orphaned generation of San Francisco.

The Prodigal Son was raised in the lap of luxury in the Father's house but failed to perceive the privilege that he had been born into. Instead, he became resentful and restless and demanded his inheritance, essentially telling his Father, "I wish you were dead." When we perceive our lives through the eyes of pain and deprivation, we eventually give place to blame. This "victim cycle" often gives birth to a series choices that only reinforce the victimization, pain, blame and shame. In this state, the isolation and alienation of the prodigal can become almost incurable.

In the second stage of the Prodigal story, the Son had spent all his inheritance on pleasures and parties and found himself homeless and hopeless, feeding the swine for a few morsels of slop. He was almost at this incurable moment when something strange happened. The scripture tells us that "he came to himself" and he began to remember the blessings of his Father's House. In this moment of clarity his spirit began to open to the possibility that he had misperceived and misjudged his Dad. He began to process his pain without blame and soon found himself yearning again for the Father's embrace. In response, he arose and began long journey back to the Father's house and was eventually greeting by the One who had been watching and waiting for His son's return.

San Francisco is a Prodigal City filled with people who have endured much pain. Broken homes, absent fathers, dead religion, and a thousand other problems have conspired to create an orphaned generation that have flocked to our city in hope of pleasure, promotion and anonymous acceptance. The cycle of pain, blame and shame that began somewhere in the past has become a self-indulgent pattern of self-destructive behavior crying out for the love of the Father.

I believe this story is a strategy for prayer and partnership for the restoration of our city. Let's enter into the Father's heart and the Father's role as we welcome the Prodigals back to the Father's house.

THE PRODIGAL CITY - PART I

A few weeks ago, I was praying with a small group of pastors for our city when we received a strategic download from the Holy Spirit concerning the Father's Heart toward our city and the Orphan Wound that plagues so many who live here. As we prayed and shared our hearts we were struck with three clear points of understanding. First, Father loves our city and knows every single person by name. Second, the majority of the people of our city are alienated from the Heavenly Father's love due to rejection, abandonment and neglect of our natural fathers and mothers. Third, a significant key to bringing revival and transformation to our city is for God's leaders to assume responsibility to represent God's Father Heart and become spiritual "fathers and mothers" to the spiritual orphans, who live and work in the various spheres of our city.

This is the first of several articles designed to equip us to pray and position ourselves to father our city.

As we consider spiritual father and motherhood, there is perhaps no better place to start than Jesus' parable of the Prodigal Son. In this parable, the father was a wealthy landowner with two sons and many servants. One son was dedicated and dutiful, religiously obeying the father's will but secretly resenting his life. The younger son was restless and demanded his share of the inheritance. He took his portion and went far away from the father to indulge himself in pleasure and prodigal pursuits.

San Francisco is a Prodigal City. We have been raised in the lap of luxury and blessed in so many ways. We are a low point along the beautiful coast of California where the rivers release their fresh waters into an extraordinary bay with a Golden Gate that welcomes the world. Our natural harbor has been a haven and refuge for wayfarers for over two hundred years demonstrating in the natural realm a spiritual gift of welcome that continues to characterize our city. We are blessed with wonderful natural resources like water, forests and farmland, not to mention the silver and gold that marbled, "them-there hills".

San Francisco also has many of the qualities of its namesake Saint Francis, who rejected the hypocrisy of religion (although not perfectly) and began a people movement that brought justice to the poor, mercy to the downtrodden and truth to hungry hearts. Our region seems to generate world-changing, people movements such as the Beatniks, Hippies, New Agers, and more recently the Homosexual movement. We have been blessed in so many ways, it's impossible to count but instead of giving thanks to the Father for letting us share His wealth, we have become proud, self-centered and demanding. We have taken our inheritance and rejected our Father and squandered our blessings in prodigal pursuits.

Yet, just like the Prodigal Son, we have soon discovered that there is no true satisfaction or fulfillment in serving and pleasuring ourselves. We were created by the Father with a great identity and a powerful destiny. We will never be truly happy until we discover and fulfill the reason for which we were created. Let's pray that the people of our city, like the prodigal son in the story would come to their senses and recognize the foolishness of their self-inflicted orphanhood and return to the Father's house and heart.