The Ledger

TORN WINGS STILL FLY

By Jennifer Greene-Sullivan

This week, while teaching rhetorical appeals through Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. ‘s “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” I found myself confronting the very complacency he challenged.

Writing from jail on scraps of paper, King challenged fellow clergymen who criticized his demonstrations against segregation. His argument was not merely that injustice existed, but that those who recognized it often preferred the comfort of doing nothing rather than the discomfort of doing what was right.

Ultimately, I wondered: has the American Church become comfortable doing the same?

Have we torn down the walls of legal segregation only to build new ones within the Body of Christ? Do we welcome those who look different, worship differently, or come from another side of town? Or have we become so consumed with ourselves that we blow hot air on our own mirrors, admiring our reflections while our neighbors suffer?

There is no room for segregation or complacency in a Body that Christ died to unite.

Complacency isn’t always ignorance. Sometimes it is recognizing a need, knowing we can respond, and choosing the comfort of doing nothing.

Have we made idols of our comfort, traditions, and programs?

Programs don’t save souls. Jesus does!

I am not against handing out candy or serving meals, but if outreach never becomes relationship, Gospel witness, or discipleship, have we confused activity with ministry?

Hurt people hurt people, but redeemed people love their neighbors.

Redeemed people stand up for the voiceless. Redeemed people vote their convictions. Redeemed people feed the hungry and care for the dying. Redeemed people walk out of their comfort zones and give to the less fortunate.

Redeemed people do better!

We are called to be the hands and feet of Jesus, not the sit-and-get people packing a pew.

We pray for financial breakthroughs, but are we willing to become someone else’s breakthrough? We pray for radical revival, but are we willing to let it loose in our hearts, homes, and streets? Or would we rather remain protected inside a false cocoon of comfortable Christianity?

In Ezekiel 37, God commanded the prophet to speak to a valley of dry bones. Ezekiel obeyed. The bones came together, but they remained lifeless until God breathed life into them.

The prophet spoke. God gave life.

So here I am, calling out to the Body of Christ:

DRY BONES, COME ALIVE! GET UP AND MOVE!

We have sat on our comfortable pews long enough. The lost are beyond our sanctuary doors. We are the Church, not a building or denomination, but the redeemed Body of Christ called to move!

While looking back at King’s letter, he challenged religious leaders who wanted justice to wait for a more convenient time.

But love cannot wait for convenience. Neither can obedience.

“Let the redeemed of the LORD say so,” declares Psalm 107:2.

Say so with your words. Say so with your generosity. Say so with your feet.

There are broken people waiting for someone to show them the love of Jesus, and sometimes all it takes is one redeemed soul willing to step outside the comfort of a pew and help another discover that even torn wings can still fly.

So, Church, why are we waiting? 

Will you be a pew sitter or a purpose getter?