Every time we gather to worship God, we include in our worship the prayers of the people. While these prayers are never limited by what is in the Book of Common Prayer, we are fortunate to have printed in the prayer book six different forms we may use. Here at St. Andrew’s, we vary the form of the Prayers of the People on a seasonal basis. At this point during the season of Pentecost, we are using Form VI. Later this morning, when we celebrate the Sacrament of Holy Baptism, we will use a form of the Prayers of the People written especially for that service.

And if you look through any of the forms of the Prayers of the People, you will note that we pray under the headings of six subjects. We pray for the universal church, that is, Christians in all denominations, for the United States and those in authority, for the welfare of the world, that is for all human beings and the very planet we inhabit, for the particular concerns we have here at St. Andrew’s, for all those who suffer and for those in trouble, and finally, for the departed. The Prayers of the People, in other words, covers every, and all, of the bases.

Inherent in our Prayers of the People is the recognition that there is good and evil in the world; that there are good people and bad people in the world, and that suffering and hope exist side by side as part of human life the world over.

It seems to me that that is the thinking underlining our parable from Matthew’s gospel today – the Parable of the Weeds Among the Wheat. Jesus paints an easy-to-visualize portrait of good and evil, good and bad people, and suffering and hope using the images of weeds and wheat mixed up together in the same garden, with good and evil literally entwined like the intertwined roots of weeds and wheat growing in the same garden.

There’s the garden that is the world, with dramatic examples every day of good and evil, good people and bad people, suffering and hope. We can look at the news headlines from any day in any century in any place in any part of the world to see the truth that weeds and wheat, good and bad, exist side by side. In recent weeks we’ve included in our Prayers of the People intercessions on behalf of the young adults in the car in which Emmy Brancato was killed – a car rammed by a drunk driver with both alcohol and narcotics in his system. We’ve said our prayers on behalf of the victims of the horrific bombing in London last week, and for their families. We’ve said our prayers for the survival of the little girl whose brother and mother were brutally murdered by a pedophile. Weeds among the wheat, day in and day in, week in and week out.

There’s also the garden that is the Church, and Matthew specifically wanted the members of Christian communities to pay particular attention to the fact that the Church is not immune to evil. In Christian communities the world over there are dramatic examples of good and evil, good people and bad people, suffering and hope day in and day out. We can look at church newsletter headlines from any day in any century in any place in any part of the world to see the truth that weeds and wheat, good and bad, exist side by side, often sharing the same pew.

What Jesus challenges us to do (“Let anyone with ears listen”, he says) is to remember that we are not ultimately responsible for the weeds – it is not our job to judge, to exact revenge, and to return evil with evil. Sometimes, or maybe most of the time, this is extraordinarily difficult for us. Jesus says, “Let both of them (the weeds and wheat) grow together until the harvest; and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, ‘Collect the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned…’” And ultimately, “the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father…”

As one of the commentaries I read put it: “The message here is one of patience and tolerance in dealing with others, which is especially important in our world today, as we suffer from so much unresolved conflict and division. We must guard against distinguishing good from evil prematurely; premature judgment kills growth. Life is ambiguous, and motives are often difficult to discern. Wheat and weeds can look alike; and if you pull up one, you may risk damaging the other.”

There’s something else too – and perhaps this may help us the most with Jesus’ injunction not to take matters of judgment into our own hands. The real truth – the honest to God heart of the matter is that you and I are composed of both “wheat” and “weeds”. The “weeds” are not just people “out there” – there are weeds and wheat growing within us. We have both good and evil within us; we are – all of us – a combination of saint and sinner.

Perhaps we think we don’t have any evil within us… But what is evil if not words said to another in spite and anger, caring and kindness unreciprocated, forgiveness and mercy withheld, and compassion denied? All of us have within us the power to choose good and the power to choose evil. Every one of us is both weed and wheat - that is the truth and we know it. It’s why there’s not a Sunday that goes by that we don’t have something to name when it comes time to confess our sins.

This morning we are celebrating the sacrament of baptism for Erik Holden. This little guy is being brought by his parents and brother, his godparents and grandparents to be made a member of the Church – to be marked – indelibly and irrevocably – as belonging to Jesus. What are we to make of the good news/bad news of today’s gospel, especially on a happy occasion like a day of baptism? In a world of saints and sinners, good and evil, weeds and wheat all mixed together among us and within us, what hope is there for little Erik Holden?

In fact, there is plenty of hope. The hope lies in the fact that his parents want, more than anything, for Erik to grow up learning right from wrong, learning to choose the good over the bad, and learning that his only hope in living a good and meaningful life is to find all good and to find all meaning in God. Rob and Laura want Erik to grow up learning that God the Father wants us to be in loving relationship with Him, God the Son teaches us the way to be close to God and to each other, and God the Holy Spirit gives us the strength to make good choices, to be moral people, and to be God’s instruments of love and peace to each other and to the world.

And Erik’s parents know, as we do, that that requires staying close to the Church. We’re not here this morning because we’re congratulating ourselves on being so much better than everybody else. We’re not here because we’re good and everybody else is bad. We’re not here as the saintly ones, having barred all the sinners from entering in the church doors.

We’re here because we know we’re part saint and part sinner. We’re here because we need God as Father, God as Son, and God as Spirit to love us, to forgive us, to help us, to challenge us, and to strengthen us. We’re here because without God, there is no health in us (as the old prayer says), there is no happiness in us, and there is no hope for us.

May we offer to God today our prayers on behalf of saints and sinners the world over, ourselves included. May we offer to God our profound thanks that despite everything, God loves us, forgives us, helps us, challenges us, and strengthens us. And finally, may we offer to God today our profound thanks for the new life of Erik Holden, and commit ourselves to helping him and helping each other grow day by day into the loving people God has created us to be. For all these things…

“In peace, we pray to you, Lord God.”

Amen.