By The Rev. Dr. Carl Grosse

Years ago, I received a t-shirt declaring I was from the Island of Misfit Toys. The people who gave it to me clearly saw something about me that suggested the shirt was a good fit in more ways than one. You know the reference, of course; it’s from the classic 1964 Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. I’m not sure if the people saw me as a specific toy, like the caboose with square wheels or the elephant with polka dots. I still have the shirt.

So much of God’s guidance tells us to treat people on the margins with care. You will always have them, people who aren’t in the normal distribution. Torah teaches us to make sure they have food, clothing and shelter. We’re also taught that should anyone mistreat or abuse or exploit them, they should have the same justice as a general or king. God even watches over them and will hold us accountable if we fail to uphold the standards of treatment God has set. It’s fair to ask how we’ve done in this department.

It’s also no accident that in the gospel accounts of Christmas, misfits take center stage. Childless old people, a young fiancée with a strange pregnancy, nondescript shepherds, and the biggest misfit of all: a King born not in the normal palace, but in a small house in a backwater town and put in a feed trough for his bassinette. The Jesus story holds on to this line of attention to misfits, from His unusual mix of recruits to His varied social contacts. He knows who He is, but He’s not tribal or cliquish about it. In fact, it’s because He knows that He is true to how God wants people on the margins treated. 

There’s a big difference between treating those less fortunate as projects to be worked on versus regarding them as fellow human beings like you. Misfit toys need to be loved by a child just like “normal” toys. Reindeer with red noses are still reindeer. Dentist elves are just as elvish as toy-making elves. The world doesn’t often play this way, which is why we have starvation and wars and poverty and crime. If playing God’s way makes me a misfit in the world’s eyes, so be it. I’m following the King of them all.