As someone who was ALWAYS chosen LAST for the teams in gym class, this entry brought the shame and humiliation of those moments right to the surface. In one class, the jock-ettes even argued over me, “If she’s playing for us, let her play with the other team. We’ll get more points from her that way.” Five decades later, that exclusion still hurts.
I did know the excitement of being chosen first for a team, also, for the spelling bee. Once, when the teacher selected me to be the scorekeeper to even out the numbers on the spelling teams, my team erupted with complaints, “No, don’t take her! We need her so we can win!” That felt good in the moment but did not diminish the sting from gym class. And not until today did I ever stop to think of how it felt for the student who was subsequently selected to be scorekeeper while no one objected.
In today’s verses, we learn that God had chosen the Israelites. As we are God’s people through Christ, He has chosen us, too. I know that is supposed to bring me comfort, but there’s a lot of history of the Jewish–and Christian–people that makes me wonder what it means to be God’s chosen people. In current times, what does being chosen by God look like?
Perhaps due to my personal history in gym class, today I find myself thinking more about those who are feeling excluded from God’s choosing. Why are there teams of “chosen” and “unchosen” when it comes to God’s love?
I'm sure the theologians could give us much more insight but in the little I read, that seems to be the gist of it and I like that formulation too.
What a powerful and helpful discussion this has been. It led me to do some research that I can add to the mix. From what I can find, Simon and Garfunkel did not have John Donne in mind when writing "I Am a Rock. "
The notion of the Jews as the Chosen People, potentially leaving the rest of us out, is fascinating.
This is from Wikepedia: In Judaism, "chosenness" is the belief that the Jews, via descent from the ancient Israelites, are the chosen people, i.e. selected to be in a covenant with God. The idea of the Israelites being chosen by God is found most directly in the Book of Deuteronomy[1] as the verb baḥar (בָּחַ֣ר (Hebrew)), and is alluded to elsewhere in the Hebrew Bible using other terms such as "holy people".[2] Much is written about these topics in rabbinic literature. The three largest Jewish denominations—Orthodox Judaism, Conservative Judaism and Reform Judaism—maintain the belief that the Jews have been chosen by God for a purpose. Sometimes this choice is seen as charging the Jewish people with a specific mission—to be a light unto the nations, and to exemplify the covenant with God as described in the Torah.
This view does not preclude a belief that God has a relationship with other peoples—rather, Judaism held that God had entered into a covenant with all humankind, and that Jews and non-Jews alike have a relationship with God.
There are other sources that generally say the same thing in different ways.
The God I know does not have teams and does not have favorites. For several years I have been working my way through A Course in Miracles workbook. One of the tenets there is that no one is special and everyone is special. Another is that the only problem we have is our belief in separation--from God and from each other.
Finally, it seems to me that we practice peace, service, and openness to all not just because it's a good idea, but primarily because that is what God has shown us as the way to live--in community with God and with everyone.
We often hear about being picked last for teams. My experience was just a little different. I was consistently picked NEXT to last, at least when the guy who usually got picked last was present. I wonder if he had any idea how much pain and humiliation he was sparing me by being there to take it on himself. Would it have made him feel any better to have known that? Probably not. (After all, I had been more that willing to have him suffer the fate I wished to avoid.)
These days I am trying harder to remember that everything is not about me. I am coming to believe that as individuals contemplating our worth we overestimate our separateness from each other and the rest of humanity. Words are failing me, so I googled John Donne:
"No man is an island, entire of itself, every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were."
Are there really unchosen teams? I doubt it.