All four of our readings today point us to the presence of God in the most unlikely places. They deal with the concept of the omnipresence of God. The idea that God is everywhere. This for us raised in a Christian world view is not difficult to accept, but to Jacob and many other religions, there was the concept that God was localised. God, as sort of a super-human, was limited by time and space. The gods rule over areas in the same way that the kings or princes rule over geographical kingdoms. Thus as one was to move from one area to the next, one had to change one's gods. (If you like, one allegiances).

It was the great revelation to Abraham, and the patriarchs that God was with them, although they saw it more in the sense of God travelling with them rather than in the sense that he was everywhere. When Ezekiel and the other exiles found themselves in Babylon, they were not only devastated in the sense of the loss of property, but in the sense of the fact that they thought they had lost their God as well. They said:

The great revelation to Ezekiel, in his early visions was that the LORD was not localised to the land of Israel, but indeed travelled with them and could be worshipped in Babylon as in Jerusalem.

It was this that led to the development of the synagogue movement and the enlightened understanding that the faith was not limited to the temple, but that God was ever-present in all places.

Now I have said it before, and no doubt I will say it again: "What we believe effects our behaviour". Our beliefs about God, our personal theology if you like, will determine how we will act. If you believed that the roof was unstable, you might not be sitting there, or at least perhaps you would wear a hard hat. Similarly, what we believe about God, will determine our way of looking at the world, and the actions that we take.

I believe that the message of story of the wheat and the weeds (or tares) is all tied up in the omnipresence of God. The parable tells us that even in the harvest field there is going to be weeds. Evil, or worthless individuals will be in midst of the faithful. This is how the enemy - the devil - works. Fear not it says, they will receive their final reward, as will the righteous, but it is for the sake of the righteous that they will be allowed to continue.

Now this is hard stuff to understand, that God will allow evil to continue rather than remove it. Evil - is not the biggest danger to the faithful, rather it is the removal of evil which in itself may be damaging. Now I am not sure I fully understand what this is about, in my mind - If Hitler had died as a child, surely the world would have been a better place?

Simply put, the answer is I don't know, but the parable that Jesus tells, assures me that God is in control. Even when the circumstances seem to indicate the opposite. But this is rather academic. Let us think about this in practical terms.

First of course, there is the sense that not all is right in the kingdom. Only at the end of time will these things actually be sorted out. The church will have those working for the evil one rather than God. I can give you a list if you like?? Well perhaps not, as it is more likely to reveal my prejudices than absolute truth. We all know the people who are seemingly working against the kingdom - yet it is easy to brand them as evil - and yet overlook the more subtle distractions that turn us from the task. As a priest, I have a rule, that everyone has the potential to be a child of light or of darkness. As such, I must take the risk that they are a child of light and seek to build their faith.

There are many stories in history about groups which have taken an exclusivist view of religion. There is the Exclusive Brethren (or the Amish) as obvious examples of pursuing an isolationist policy, but there are more dangerous things than that. In the past few decades, there is an increasing desire amongst some Christians to find the perfect church . I have lived in and around Launceston for long enough to know that these churches rise and fall periodically. I estimate, that there are around 400 Christians, who move from church to church and may will leave and move on because there is evil or sin in the place. One wonders if they understand this parable. Perhaps more of a problem is the rise of the Christian School and Home Schooling. I am all for the protection of children from evil, but the isolation of a Christian's children from the world is dangerous. First, they need to enter the world at some stage, and second, some of the most difficult kids I have experienced on camp have been those from Christian Schools ( and some of the best from seemingly Godless situations).

But I think this is more than just a word for us about church. The harvest field more often refers to the world than the church in the Gospels, and there is a very real sense that in the world there is this mixture of Good and Evil. In our daily walk, we will experience both. In as much as there are children of darkness in the church, there are children of light in seemingly evil places.

This informs us about mission. Now I am not suggesting that we all trot off to the red light districts of Kings Cross or St Kilda, but rather, that as we walk on this journey of life, that we are aware, that we may have the opportunity to find good even in the bad places.

Rather than focusing on the evil, perhaps we would better serve God by looking for the light in the dark places. God is everywhere - God is therefore here and at the pub, the casino and the racetrack - This is what Omnipresence means. Do not get me wrong, there are places where God weeps, but nevertheless he is there. As Jesus hands and feet, we can be there also, bringing the message of salvation to those who are perishing.

Let us then be encouraged to take God's light into the dark (and hopeless) places.