If you get bored during the sermon (which of course is a contradiction in terms) you can turn to your Hymn Book and hook up No. 25 or No. 456. You will see that the words were written by one J. (Joachim) Neander (1650-80). Herr Neander was a German who decided to live as a hermit in a cave in a remote valley which eventually became known by his name - Neander's Valley, or Neanderthal. Later on, some skeletal remains taken from the place where Neander chose to sit and brood proved to be our remote ancestor (or so we thought): Neanderthal Man.

Now, however, thanks to DNA tests carried out on a tiny portion of Neanderthal Man, we discover he wasn't Man at all. He wasn't our ancestor; he was stuck in an ape-like cul-de-sac and was destined to peter out. For our real ancestors we have to go to Africa. Neanderthal Man seems to have been a galumphing creature according to conjectural reconstructions, so we may be relieved to discover that 'he' is not in our line after all.

As we muse on this, however, we may ask the question: if humans are born from evolution and not literally 'just like that' as in Genesis 1, at what point did God look down from heaven and, seeing his developing creatures, say: "Aha! This is now not an ape - this is a human!" and instil into that creature the essential component for full humanity - a soul? Was it the first display of a certain talent or artistry, the first revelation of a certain ability of memory, or compassion, or conscience, or love . . . or what? We must remember that animals display these things (except that it is hard to say animals have consciences; if a puppy cringes when it has piddled on the carpet it is because it remembers that Master has got cross about this before). In fact, animal lovers will be pleased to know that the great Franciscan St. Bonaventure could not accept that animals had no souls and saw them equipped with little ones, which God could still save. And where are the boundaries of that in the animal kingdom - can you have a redeemable gerbil??

If we must guard our souls from sin, it looks as though we must also guard them against uncouth and 'primitive' behaviour. And what are the boundaries of that? Might the use of mobile phones on trains, wearing baseball caps back to front, or wolfing down hamburgers in the street turn out to be soul-destroying?? Well, there's always a chance. DS