Under the Wings

Have you ever heard of the idiom, “under the wing”? The idiom means to be protected or to protect someone. The analogy here is to a hen sheltering her chicks and was drawn Scripture. We can find this Scripture in both the gospels of Matthew (23:36) and Luke (13:34). In these verses, Jesus is warning the Pharisees that the “church” had been long neglecting the voice of prophets who spoke of God’s desire “to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings”. They were unwilling to do so for selfish reasons and would rather kill the prophet that speaks such a thing.

Have you ever taken someone under your wing? Maybe you were a teacher and noticed a student who was struggling so you took the initiative to help them since it seemed like no one else would. Or maybe as an employee of a firm you notice the colleague that was struggling and decided that rather than see them be fired you would help them to succeed. Unfortunately I think far too many Christians believe in the “bootstrap” rather than the “under the wing”. The “bootstrap”, comes from the phrase “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” which originated shortly before the turn of the 20th century. It was found in a late-1800s physics schoolbook that contained the example question “Why can not a man lift himself by pulling up on his bootstraps?” So when it became a common phrase referring to socioeconomic advancement.  It was supposed to be a sarcastic comment, or to suggest that something was an impossible task to accomplishment. Eventually, however, the phrase’s commonly-accepted meaning changed, and now when we tell people to “pull themselves up by their bootstraps,” it’s suggesting that they do something that everyone should be able to do—albeit difficult if not nearly impossible.

This is not the voice of Jesus nor the prophets whom came before him. As Christians we are to help one another and to behave as God does. When we see disadvantage people we don’t turn our backs and suggest that they work harder, instead we take them under our wings and help them be better, do better, live better! This Sunday we will continue this discussion and suggests ways that we can take people under our wings rather than suggest they pull themselves up by their bootstraps.

In God’s grip,

Pastor Chuck Church