The idea of Limbo has been up for discussion recently, the idea that there might be a special place for the souls of infants that die unbaptised that is neither heaven nor hell.

The origin of the idea is clearly in the conflict between the apparent innocence of a newborn child and the fact that we are all born into the sinful human race, and therefore can be said to be tainted from conception with original sin. Does then Christianity teach that children begin as innocents, or does it teach that we are all born in a state of sin?

In a paradoxical mystery, it is probably fair to say that it teaches both, and that our children display both innocence and the propensity to sin. The Church observes the Feast of the Holy Innocents of Bethlehem as well as holding a doctrine of Original Sin. Innocence can be seen not just in tiny children though.

I like to see in old television shows the television audience sitting quietly in their seats and clapping at something said by the panellists or contestants, and to compare this innocent and orderly behaviour with all the yelling and sometimes outrageous things being done for public consumption today.

We can say that the old shows display television's age of innocence, now long gone, though not, if faith can be applied, entirely beyond recall.

Genesis 2 depicts the paradisal age of innocence, and shows a state of innocence as well as order in man's relationship with cattle and birds and beasts of the field. Finally it shows a state of innocence in the marital relationship between man and woman.

We can see how innocence is fundamentally related to order. When innocence is lost, there has been a breach in the intended order of God's creation. The Preface to the Form of Solemnization of Matrimony in the Book of Common Prayer (1662) directs the Priest to remind all present that Holy Matrimony is an honourable estate, instituted of God in the time of man's innocence.

This is a touching thought, and the traditional dress of the bride underlines the paradisal innocence of the institution, and not just of herself.

The last section of Genesis Chapter 2 (beginning at verse 18) begins with God forming every animal from the ground, and bringing them to Adam for him to name. But the next verse of Scripture says that among all the animals not one was found to be a suitable helper for him.

The animals are not necessarily going to fit into our plans and help us achieve them. Yet it is clearly wrong for us just to kill every animal we see for no reason at all.

If God has put man in charge of the animal world, as we see here in the Scripture about God bringing the animals to Adam for him to name them, we should be in charge of it knowing that we must give  account to God for it.

So the Scripture tells us that there is an order in the way we are to live with the fauna and flora. They are not necessarily going to help us, and we are not necessarily going to be able to tame some of them, but they clearly have a place in God's scheme of things that we ought to respect.

We are responsible to God for maintaining an order in which they and we can live in the same world.
The beginning of the Epistle to the Hebrews focuses on the redeeming and purifying capacity of the Son of God, who made purification for the sins of the world by the sacrifice of the Cross and, being appointed the heir of all things, is crowned with glory and honour and is in expectation of the visible subjection of the whole creation to Himself.

In other words, we might say, the innocence that the creation was made to display, and that we need and desire, was lost, but by the power of the purification made by Jesus it is to be restored.

By taking our part in this by faith in Jesus' name, the grace of God who brought about this purification and restoration is extended to us one by one. Jesus teaches about marriage in bold, sharp terms in the Gospels, and it is therefore fitting to us in the light of this teaching to consider how we can uphold and indeed restore the innocence of the institution of marriage in our common life.

It should also be mentioned that Jesus says elsewhere that the faithfully celibate life is a sign too of the innocence and order of the Kingdom of God.

The Church herself especially in recent times has frequently succumbed to overwhelming pressures to downgrade marriage from the pinnacle to which Jesus Himself and Christian teaching in general raises it.
For those of us who are married that are engaged in a personal effort to keep our marriages at the highest level of which we are capable, it is good for us to know that God Himself calls us to this effort.

The Church traditionally and faithfully teaches that this is a special calling or vocation, and at every stage of our life there are perspectives and principles that we should adopt that will foster its fundamental innocence, and in cases where innocence has been lost or obscured, to help to redeem us from the loss and aid in the restoration.

One of the first things to note is that for marriage there is no approved substitute. Jesus says in the Gospel of St. Mark in words of utmost seriousness and import, "From the beginning of creation, 'God made them male and female.' 'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.'

So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder."

We have thought briefly about two very important sides of the order which God desires for His creation, the order of humans and animals, and the order of man and woman. But underlying the possibility of these is an even more important side of the order that God requires, even more important than the other two.

The Epistle to the Hebrews says that now ... "God has spoken to us by a Son, whom He appointed the heir of all things, through whom also He created the world." It is an even more important side to the order that God wants to see established, that His Son is recognised to be the Head of creation.

It was all created by Him and it was all created for Him. We are to relate to Jesus Christ as younger brothers to a Chief, and in the Church as parts of His Body to the Head. And God will not stop either fighting with us or supplying us with His grace, to bring about the order that He wants us to live in now in preparation for the life to come.