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“The Church of the Misfit Toys ‘R Us!”
Introduction to Scripture Much of the New Testament is comprised of letters that were sent by the apostles to newly established churches. Our reading for today comes from a letter sent to the church at Ephesus, a church composed primarily of gentiles, that is, people who were not Jewish and who apparently had little knowledge of what it meant to be part of Israel, and what the connection between them and Israel was.
Times change, culture changes, habits change, and I am proud to say that your pastor, graying around the temples though he may be, does his best to keep his hand on the pulse of those changes as well. You see, way back in the day when I was in seminary, I had a professor of preaching who emphasized that it will not do to preach a sermon about what was going on a couple thousand years ago when the Bible was written down. No, what one had to do, to quote a famous theologian who is now long gone to his eternal reward, was to “Preach with the Bible in one hand, and a newspaper in the other.” What he meant, of course, was that the preacher has to make ancient truths apply to today’s world and problems and culture, much of which is reflected in the pages of the daily newspaper. But times change, and I am a man that changes with the times, and we all know that the newspaper, much as I love it and read the Cape Cod Times cover to cover every day, is no longer what much of today’s culture turns to in terms of media. So I am here today with the Bible in one hand, and a DVD in the other. Specifically, a DVD of “Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer.” The original made for TV version, which debuted in 1964, but which has been a perennial holiday favorite ever since. If by chance you have missed it, or it has been so long since you last saw it that the details have slipped your mind, let me briefly summarize. The story expands on the basic theme which you will recall from the Christmas carol of the same name. Sam the snowman tells us the story of a young red-nosed reindeer that, after being ousted from the reindeer games because of his beaming honker, teams up with Hermey, an elf who wants to be a dentist. Fleeing the North Pole, they run into the Abominable Snowman and find a whole island of misfit toys, toys which had been abandoned because they were defective and unwanted. Rudolph vows to see if he can get Santa to help the toys, and he goes back to the North Pole on Christmas Eve. But Santa's sleigh is fogged in. But when Santa looks over Rudolph, he gets a very bright idea. What has always grabbed me about this story is the whole island of misfit toys thing. There is Charlie-in-the-box, improperly named at the factory and so consigned to the scrap heap; there is Bird Fish, a bird that swims but cannot fly; there is a cowboy who rides not a horse, but an ostrich; there is a train with square wheels; and so on. But even Rudolph and Hermey are misfits – Rudolph because of his red nose, Hermey because instead of making toys at Santa’s workshop he wants to be a dentist. The real question, the important question, is not whether the children will get their toys on a foggy Christmas Eve, but whether the misfits -- misfit toys, and misfit reindeer and elf -- will remain exiled and outcast. This, Paul tells the Ephesians, is at the heart of God’s plan for them and for all Gentiles, for all people who were not Jews. For at one time, these people were “aliens from the commonwealth of Israel” – that is, they were outside the bounds of God’s chosen people; once they were strangers to the covenants of promise – strangers being the opposite of citizens, and therefore non-persons in the commonwealth of God. Even worse, they were “without God in the world”, and had no hope. The Ephesians, the Gentiles, were all misfits, in exile, outcast. “But now”, Paul tells them, “in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ…. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God.” Elsewhere, in his letter to the Galatians, Paul again makes the point that in Christ and in the church there are to be no splits along socioeconomic, gender, or ethnic lines, or any other line that humanity is always so willing to draw to separate us the insiders from those we would consign to the island of misfit toys. He writes, “There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:28) Now there is one humanity, for through Christ all have access in one Spirit to the Father. Friends, we are not so unlike that church at Ephesus so long ago; we are not so different in nature and character from the inhabitants of Rudolph’s island of the misfit toys. Many of us, in our own ways, are strangers and aliens. This congregation is full of “formers” – former Roman Catholics, former Episcopalians, former Presbyterians, former never-went-to-church-at-all. We have many folk here who know first-hand what it is like to be marginalized, pushed aside, kept out. Some of you may remember that moment some five or six years ago when two women came to worship one Sunday, and during the time of welcoming stood up and said that they had come to this church because they had been rejected by a former church because of their sexual orientation, but then saw a television commercial, put out by our denomination, that emphasized that God welcomes all the people. And while we had not, as of that time, started a formal process of determining whether or not we would be that inclusive, you did indeed welcome them, receive them with open arms, and by your willingness to be open to them demonstrate that you have heard Christ’s call to bring near all who were once far away. The Good News for us, a church of the living misfit toys, is that through Jesus Christ a home with God has been made for us. Here we are all welcome, here we are all embraced by Jesus’ outstretched arms. Here rock-ribbed Republican sits in a pew with a die-hard Democrat, here a veteran of World War II lifts his voice in song with a Vietnam-era war protestor, here business executive sets off a mission project with a mom on welfare struggling to make the rent, here a member of 50 plus years shares insights at Bible Study with a twenty-something newcomer to the faith, here the confirmation class includes youth who have been here since the crib/toddler room and friends who call another congregation their home. Here we are all welcomed, and here we respond to the call to live out that welcome by welcoming others. And yet, we know that living out this welcome of all is something that we continually must work at. Indeed, when Rudolph was first aired on television, many viewers complained that Santa was not seen fulfilling his promise to include the misfit toys in his annual delivery. The producers thought the story was the delivery of toys to children on a foggy night; many viewers thought otherwise, and for them the story revolved around the misfit toys. In reaction, a new scene for subsequent rebroadcasts was produced with Santa, with red-nosed Rudolph in the lead, making his first stop at the island to pick up the toys. We, as well, would do well to keep our eyes on the prize, to remember that living out God’s inclusive welcome of us, by welcoming others, is not incidental to what church is all about. It is at the very core of who, by the grace of God, we are. No longer strangers or aliens, but citizens with the saints, and members of the household of God. One in the Spirit, and one in the Lord. Amen.
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