Rebuild, Repair, Revive
“The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon me, for the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to comfort the brokenhearted and to proclaim that captives will be released and prisoners will be freed… To all who mourn in Israel, he will give a crown of beauty for ashes, a joyous blessing instead of mourning, festive praise instead of despair. In their righteousness, they will be like great oaks that the Lord has planted for his own glory. They will rebuild the ancient ruins, repairing cities destroyed long ago. They will revive them, though they have been deserted for many generations.” Isaiah 61:1-4
If you’ve been watching the news for the past year or so, you know San Francisco is in a strange state right now. There are narratives of crime, recession, vacancy, and hopelessness.
And yet, God is at work here. The other day, I was out with one of my high school seniors for our weekly one-on-one discipleship time. I was mentally prepared to walk her through some of the newest headlines and closures happening in our City. We often talk about the importance of being Christ-centered, Spirit-filled, faithful witnesses in our very secular City. One thing led to another and she blurted out, “Gabby! I’m excited for what God is going to do next in San Francisco!” And something hit me for the first time: I had been praying Isaiah 61 over those we serve in our neighborhood and the next generation, but I had limited it to a very spiritual way. God is actually going to be rebuilding, repairing, and reviving the City of San Francisco in a very physical way. This conversation made me excited and I realized that God isn’t afraid of a ghost town on Market Street because He is the God who turns deserts into gardens and seas into highways! I believe that the community, those who didn’t have the option to leave the City when everyone else did because of financial insecurity, will be the ones to rebuild it.
In Alan Mallach’s book, The Divided City: Poverty & Prosperity in Urban America, this (secular) economist and city planner writes, “The problem today is that the cities have largely stopped being places of opportunity where poor people come to change their lives and that today’s poor and their children remain poor, locked out of the opportunities the cities offer. The most pressing question facing the cities is whether that can change, and whether, as they continue to revive, they can once again become the places of hope and opportunity they once were.” This could have been written right along the same lines as Isaiah 61! As San Francisco rebuilds, will it become a place of hope and opportunity for the poor and the poor’s children? Will Christians and our churches work toward justice for the most vulnerable in San Francisco? Will we be a faithful witness to love and care for the most vulnerable in our City? Will we work alongside the community that has been rooted here for decades or try to bulldoze in with our ideas? These are the questions that keep me up at night.
As we look back to Isaiah 61:3-4, it is clear that Isaiah emphasizes the poor, the captive, the prisoner, and the vulnerable will be the ones to be planted for the Lord’s glory, to rebuild, to repair, and to revive the City. Lord, let it be. Let us be a community that comes alongside and supports the rebuilding, the repairing, and the revival.
By Gabby Alzate, Executive Director