Sermon: Embrace the Mint (AKA The Tent Is Mightier than the House)

Sunday, October 20, 2024
Spirit of Hope Lutheran Church, Lincoln, NE
Twenty-Second Sunday after Pentecost
(narrative lectionary)
watch this service online (reading starts around 24:54; sermon starts around 30:10)

Reading: 2 Samuel 7:1-17

My first call as a pastor, as many of you know, was to St. John’s Lutheran Church up in Schuyler, NE. I was there for about five years, and during that time, I lived in their parsonage – it was a nice little three-bedroom ranch-style house with an attached garage (so luxurious!). 

But probably my favorite part about the house was actually the backyard. It was a nice, big backyard, fenced in all around, with a clothesline and a little concrete patio. There were all kinds of plants back there – trees and flowers and little shrubs and grasses – and they had all been planted by someone who clearly… had no idea what they were doing.

I learned from the property folks at St. John’s that, apparently, it was a previous pastor’s wife who had planted most of what was back there. And what this woman lacked in landscaping or gardening knowhow, she more than made up for in enthusiasm! There were shrubs plunked down here and there in random places, sometimes just planted directly into the lawn. There were a pair of crabapple trees planted so close together it was impossible to tell where one tree ended and the other began. There was this squat little evergreen tree planted just far enough from the fence that there was space for grass to grow, but too close to get a mower back in there.

But one of the most notable features in the backyard was a patch of mint planted closer to the house. Now, real quick, where are my gardeners in here? – raise your hands. What is the one thing you should never do when planting mint? (Plant it directly into the ground.) And why is that? (Because it will spread everywhere.)

I have no idea how much mint this person originally planted, but by the time I lived there, the mint had filled and overflowed the entire flowerbed, swallowed up at least one sprinkler head, and had almost taken over a whole corner of the yard – it had even crept under the fence and started invading my neighbor’s perfectly manicured flowerbeds on the other side.

But as much of a nuisance as the mint was, I have to admit that I kind of loved it. Everywhere the mint grew, it was absolutely buzzing with life. It would draw in butterflies by the dozens, bumblebees and fireflies; even a family of rabbits that took up residence in it. When it rained, you could step outside and smell the fresh scent of mint in the air. I would even pick bunches of it sometimes and use it to make tea, or the occasional mojito. 

Mint is a wonderful plant, but it can quickly get out of control. Even if you plant it in its own bed, mint will find a way to escape containment. Because, at the end of the day, mint’s gonna mint. 

It’s kind of an odd comparison to make, but to me, there is something about this wild nature of mint that reflects a bit of the wild nature of God. Like mint, God is also not a fan of staying put in one place – and that’s something we see very clearly in our reading for today.

In the beginning of this reading, we find King David and the prophet Nathan having a conversation. David is finally done fighting to establish the kingdom – thanks be to God (literally). And now it seems like David’s got a lot of time on his hands. So he goes to Nathan and tells him all about this ambitious plan he’s come up with to build a temple for the ark of God (AKA God’s presence on earth). 

See, David’s got his own ideas about what God wants and about where God should live. He looks at his own elaborate palace and assumes that, of course, God would want something at least as fancy as that! David’s intentions are good, but his plan leaves something to be desired. In effect, it’s basically his way of trying to contain God – and surprise surprise, God ain’t having it.

God comes to Nathan and is like, “Dude, seriously, a house? When did I ever give you or any of your ancestors the idea that I wanted you to build me a house?? I am famously a tent and tabernacle kind of God. It’s right there in the scriptures! There are over a dozen chapters in Exodus alone dedicated to describing every last tiny detail of how the tabernacle should be built. That is what I want.”

This may seem like a strange hill to die on, but God has good reasons for objecting to David’s plan. First and foremost, it matters that the dwelling place of God is mobile. As God says to Nathan, “I have been moving about in a tent and a tabernacle… among all the people of Israel… and I have been with you wherever you went.” 

God doesn’t want to be cloistered away in some brick-and-mortar building, no matter how fancy it is. God wants to be like that mint in my backyard: growing wild and free, springing up in unexpected places, nurturing new life, filling the world with the fragrance of God. 

What God wants most is to be among God’s people – that’s all the dwelling place God needs. God even says to David, “Look, I don’t need you to build me a house; in fact, I’m gonna make a house out of you!” And God means it! Because God goes with God’s people wherever they go, not just in their midst, but in their very hearts.

God has never been the type to sit back and watch from a distance as we go about our lives. God is all up in our business. God is near to us, often showing up where we least expect it. God goes with us to share in our joys and our griefs, to carry us through our struggles and our sufferings, to shower us with love and mercy, and to keep on surprising us with new possibilities and new life. 

I know from experience how true this is – and I imagine many of you do, too. Twelve years ago, I was amazed and very surprised when I first realized I was being called into ministry. That was not at all what I had imagined for my life. And truthfully, it’s been a bit of a roller coaster, but God has been with me every step of the way. This vocation makes me feel alive with the Spirit, even in the hard times; it calls on every part of me, and I can’t imagine having chosen to do anything else with my life.

And, of course, God continues to surprise me. All the time. I mean, a year ago, I was standing in this same spot, insisting to you all that I was only here temporarily. And now here I am – and once again, I am happy to have been wrong about what God had planned for me. 

When I was your transitional pastor, I got to be part of your discernment process about what’s next for Spirit of Hope. So I know that there are all kinds of exciting opportunities and possibilities to which God might be calling us. And I also know that there are some aspects of that discernment that may not be what you would have imagined for yourselves – especially calling a pastor half-time rather than full-time (and maybe especially calling this particular pastor, haha). It’s new territory for me too, to be honest.

But to me, this seems like the kind of new beginning that’s got God’s fingerprints all over it. I can feel God’s Spirit all up in this, buzzing with life, calling us all into whatever wild and wonderful path it is that God has planned for us. I’m through with guessing – I’m just glad to be along for the ride!

So as we enter into this new chapter, I want to encourage you all: embrace the mint. Let your hearts be swept up in God’s wild and loving and surprising presence. And let’s look forward with hope and imagination to what lies ahead, knowing that God will be with us, wherever we go.