March 16 – Chosen

I grew up with that perennial favorite of the Christmas season, “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” and I can still remember most of the songs. A key plot point of the story is when Rudolph and friends end up on the Island of Misfit Toys. Cast off toys. Not because they are broken – they’re just a little weird. They never get chosen to be a gift for a child because they are a little bit off. 

Rudolph with his red light-bulb and the elf who really wants to be a dentist, they seem to belong here too, because they don’t fit in. So they are not chosen.

I’m guessing that just about everyone in the world, sooner or later, gets to have the experience of not being chosen. For some it comes early – elementary school. Maybe during that old ritual of choosing up teams for sports. I remember that feeling. Knowing I wasn’t going to be chosen, kind of not wanting to be chosen because I hated softball; shifting uncomfortably, waiting for the inevitable outcome.

For others it just might come in high school. When their friends in the popular crowd suddenly turn on them. In the blink of an eye, they are un-chosen. Maybe it started from a small, insignificant thing; maybe the victim never finds out what it was that caused this personal tragedy. 

As a Campus Minister, I watched with interest and concern as new freshmen worked to figure out where they belonged. There was often some evident anxiety, which they worked hard to mask, a sense of urgency. If we don’t find “our people” in the next two weeks, we will be doomed to four years of loneliness. The window of opportunity is open only briefly, to choose and be chosen.

This is a high-stakes game. Our self-worth hangs in the balance. And I think: How is this even tolerable for us? To let the whims of the crowd determine our value?

I read an article in the paper last weekend titled, “The Industrial Revolution of Shame.” The author says we have always been good at singling out certain people to become victims of shaming. I think of the woman in John’s gospel – caught in the act of adultery, dragged out into public view by a band of Pharisees. They are fully intent on shaming her, if not killing her.

That’s as old as dirt. But now, the internet allows us to bring shame on an industrial scale. You post a picture and a comment then sit back and let the machine do its work. Some unlucky soul finds himself chosen for global shaming.

Yet, the misfit toys find love in the end. They are finally loved just as they are. And the kids who are picked last for gym usually grow up to find happiness. The teens who are dumped by the popular crowd eventually find their footing, and other friends. And, hopefully, they learn something about compassion from it. Hopefully, when we grow up we figure out that there really is enough room for all of us.

And Jesus said to the men holding stones in their hands, surrounding a frightened woman, “Any one of you who is without sin, you be the first to throw your stone.” He hit the nail on the head, there. The world chooses one over another for strange reasons of its own, but this is not a reflection of worth in any meaningful way.

It’s like Jesus is saying, “The choosing stops here. I am the way by which you all – all you misfits and popular kids, goofballs and beauty queens – all of you all are chosen.”

Photo: Misfit Toys. From the TV movie Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer (1964)