We live in interesting times; I was fascinated to read that the new Pope is about to abolish Limbo.  This wonderful word Limbo is understood to be the place where the souls of unbaptised children were to be found.  A Vatican commission of theologians is recommending that the doctrine of Limbo be replaced by a more compassionate doctrine that all children who die, do so "in the hope of eternal salvation".

It would be very difficult from Holy Scripture (which contains all that is necessary for our salvation) to justify Limbo or indeed Purgatory, although one can see why such theological hypotheses arose - for who of us is worthy to enter Heaven, into the nearer presence of God without some form of purgation?  However, as far as Scripture is concerned we find there only two states of being after death - Heaven or Hell.  Heaven is the state of union with God while Hell is separation from God.

Even if the Pope does abolish Limbo I will continue to find it to be a fascinating word.  It comes from the Latin word limbus, meaning a hem, an edge or a boundary.  In my travels I have been to many places which I would describe as liminal or border places - Walsingham, Durham, Lindisfarne, Iona, the Sea of Galilee, to name but a few.  There are certain places where heaven all but touches earth, where the boundary between this world and the next is gossamer thin.  George MacLeod, the founder of the Iona Community described Iona as "a thin place where only tissue paper separates the material from the spiritual".

But we don't have to go very far to encounter these liminal places - all we have to do is to enter our two lovely parish churches to be upon the very threshold of heaven.  All Saints' and St. Mary's have stood witness to Christ for over 800 years.   Whenever I stand at the altar or at the font of our two churches I feel privileged to be on the very edge of that which separates this world from the next, the boundary is indeed "tissue" thin.  One can feel the very presence of the Living God in these two holy places where prayer has been offered, through Christ, for centuries.

I know that I am not alone in feeling Christ's presence in the places where God's people meet for worship.

It strikes me that there are many "liminal" people in our two villages.  People who are searching, people who are longing for and desperately searching for some greater meaning to life; people who are on the edge or the verge of a deeper commitment to Christ.  Being a priest in the Church of England I encounter many people who are on the fringe of a greater or a stronger faith - at baptisms, weddings and funerals.  I long for those who are on the threshold to be brave enough to take that step of faith and be welcomed more fully into the Household of God.  If you feel yourself to be on the border of faith I would prayerfully encourage you to take that life-changing - life-enhancing - life-enriching step and come closer to Christ - who simply longs to enfold you in His loving arms and welcome you home.  Take that single step and come nearer to the Lord who loves you and yearns for your companionship in the Household of Faith.  May 2006 be a year of greater commitment to Jesus and a year of further growth for Christ's Church.  May His kingdom come - "on earth as it is in heaven ".
 

With Prayerful Blessings,

FATHER DAVID