“May the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O God, my strength and my redeemer. Amen”
Matthew 18:12-14
I was sent an email by someone who has attended this church on and off for many years; it was a sermon preached by the very first ordained woman in MCC and the first woman elder in our denomination, Rev. Elder Freda Smith. The first time it was preached it became a classic. She’s known for this famous sermon and I’m honored to share my version of it with you today. It’s called, Purple Grass.
“Once upon a time, but not so very long ago, there lived a small lamb in a small valley that was watched over by what he thought to be a kind and good shepherd.
This lamb was most unremarkable; he had white fleece, just like the other lambs. He talked as did the rest, he came out to feed when told and returned to the stables with the others. He played and frolicked with the other lambs and generally obeyed his elders. He didn’t wander off by himself, nor did he try to bully others. In most ways, he fit in quite well. There was just one difference; a small, inconsequential difference in his young mind.
He liked purple grass.
In this valley there was lots of green grass, clover and hay for which the flock was most grateful and ate to their fill. Plenty for all. There was also a small patch of purple grass not far down the path which the others avoided. But our lamb loved the purple grass for as long as he could remember. For as long as he could remember he didn’t care much for the green grass, so when he was hungry he would trot off to his special patch to eat to his small heart’s content.
This worried the little lamb’s mother, who thought this was wrong. She didn’t want her lamb to be different, and believed no good would ever come of it. In fact, the only time the little lamb spoke back to his mother was when she tried to force him to eat the green grass as the other lambs did. No one had yet noticed the difference, and she was terrified of what would happen when they did. Finally, she went to the flock elder and pleaded with him to speak to her son and convince him to return to the flock and eat the green grass like everyone else.
So the flock elder went up to the small lamb while he was eating his purple grass and said to him, “You must stop eating that disgusting purple grass immediately and return right now to the green grass before others notice you’re doing wrong.” The elder also told him that the purple grass was poison.
The little lamb looked up at the elder and asked how he knew it was poison and disgusting; had he tried it? At this, the flock elder puffed out his chest and said, “Of course, I haven’t tried it! I don’t need to taste the purple grass to know it’s disgusting and poison!” But the little lamb knew it wasn’t disgusting to him, and he had been eating the purple grass for as long as he could remember and never became ill, so it couldn’t be poison, (which he said quietly under his breath to the elder as he went back to chewing his purple grass.
With this the flock elder stomped away, followed quickly by the lamb’s mother, now with tears filling her eyes. They sought out the flock sheriff and told her what the little lamb had been doing and what he had said to them. The flock sheriff raised herself up and said, “He did, did he. Well, we’ll see about that!” as she bounded down to the small patch of purple grass.
She stood herself towering over the little lamb and with her booming voice said, “Now see here, little lamb. You must stop this at once! This is against all the rules! What if everyone stopped eating the green grass and started eating the purple grass; soon there would be none left and the flock would end! Don’t you see what this is doing to your beloved mother?” At this, the little lamb looked from the sheriff to his mother and felt sad for the tears she was crying and he lowered his head. After a few moments of deep thought, he looked at the sheriff and quietly replied, “Sheriff, I am very sorry my mother is sad, but why should there be a rule against my eating purple grass? I am the only one doing it. No other lamb or sheep has shown any interest in eating my purple grass, so how does it put the flock in danger?” With this, the sheriff gave a snort of rage and began shoving the little lamb back to the green grass where he belonged. And every time the little lamb tried to go back, the sheriff and the flock elder chased him, biting him to force him to return.
After this went on for some time, the flock priest took notice and came over to see what was going on. After the little lamb’s mother, the flock elder, and the flock sheriff told him their part in this. Then the little lamb quietly defended himself. The priest listened, then thought for a moment before he placed a paw on the shoulder of the little lamb and spoke with all his assumed wisdom, “But what of the shepherd, my little lamb? Does he not love you? Do you not love him in return? Why, by eating the purple grass you are spitting in his face by going against everything he has tried to teach you. Why, my boy, if you continue this, he will have no choice but to no longer love you and will cast you out of the flock. He might even butcher you and eat you to be rid of you. Now I ask you again, do you love the shepherd?”
The poor little lamb fell back as though struck with a rod. Of course, he loved the shepherd! v
He never imagined his eating purple grass would cause the shepherd to not love him and after lots of prayer and thinking, decided he would no longer go near the patch of purple grass.
True to his word, the next morning the little lamb left the stables and with the flock went out to the field of green grass the shepherd directed them to. And as if to tempt him, this field was much closer to his beloved patch of purple grass. But he ignored it as best he could and watched as his fellow flock ate contentedly upon the green grass.
He looked at the green grass and then back to the flock and then the purple grass; back and forth for what must have been half the morning. Other lambs were beginning to notice. Some were asking if he felt alright or if something was wrong. A few even offered to share their green grass. The bullies started taunting him about the purple grass and how he didn’t fit in, that he didn’t belong in a ‘decent’ flock and how the shepherd would soon butcher him for being different.
This went on until finally he reached down and grabbed a big mouthful of green grass. It tasted foul and foreign. He chewed as best as he could but the more he chewed the worse it tasted. Finally, he could barely swallow what to him was a terrible, horrible mass which immediately caused his stomach to churn as soon as it hit. He looked down, trying to build the courage to take another bite hoping it would get better. He took another bite and immediately spat the noxious concoction from his mouth. He knew this was wrong! He looked up and saw the shepherd running toward him and he felt filled with a terrible, uncontrollable fear; he gave out a sickening cry and ran; he didn’t knew where to, he just ran.
He soon reached the steep slopes of the mountain and did his best to climb, anywhere just to get away. Slipping and cutting himself on the journey.
He reached a ledge and paused to catch his breath. And then he heard a growl which sent shivers through his every fiber. He looked down and saw a hungry wolf climbing after him. Looking for a way of escape, but there was none to be found, the slope became vertical above him and to each side; he had unwittingly climbed into a trap! Without thinking, he called out for help; he called out to the shepherd to come and save him!
Just then, he heard a loud yelp, followed by the unmistakable sounds of a desperate fight. The little lamb helplessly looked over the ledge and saw the shepherd fighting the wolf with his staff, forcing the wolf to seek its own retreat.
Once satisfied the wolf was no longer a danger, the shepherd looked up and saw the little lamb peeking over the ledge. The shepherd held out his arms and called for him to come to him. But the driving fear again filled the little lamb. He then fearfully backed away and cowered against the slope.
A moment later, the little lamb saw his shepherd climbing onto the ledge to stand before him, who also was covered with cuts and scrapes from the climb, along with the fresh wounds from his fight with the hungry wolf. The lamb pulled even further back into the ledge, and the shepherd asked him, “Why do you pull away from me? Why do you fear me so?” And the little lamb blurted out, “Because you hate me!” Now it was the loving shepherd who pulled back as if struck. After a moment, the little lamb could no longer control himself as he ran into the shepherd’s arms and cried out everything; about the purple grass, and how he hurt his mother and what the elder, the sheriff, and the priest said; and how he just couldn’t bring himself to eat the green grass. Finally, he stopped to take in a breath. Then the little lamb looked into the smiling face of the shepherd with amazement as he realized something, it suddenly dawned on him, and said, “But you fought a wolf to save me?
The shepherd gave a hearty laugh as he cradled the lamb and said, “I would fight a hundred, a thousand wolves to save you! My poor little lamb, I don’t care one bit if you like green grass or purple or blue or amber for that matter! Didn’t you notice that I moved the flock, just this morning, closer to the purple patch so that you wouldn’t be so far apart from the rest of the flock? I will love you always and never allow anyone to convince you otherwise or allow them to come between us. Every member of my flock is different from the rest, and I love the differences. Now come, my little lamb,” he said as he lifted the little lamb over his broad shoulders, “It will be dark soon, and I must have a few words with the elder, sheriff and the priest of the flock.”
And so it was, the very next day, the little lamb was eating at the purple patch. But this time he wasn’t alone, a very few of his fellow lambs including the sheriff, now knowing the shepherd didn’t mind, admitted they like purple grass too!”
Rev. Dan Koeshall is the senior pastor at The Metropolitan Community Church (The Met), 2633 Denver Street, San Diego, California, themetchurch.org. Services every Sunday at 9 and 11 a.m.
