June comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb ... does it apply the other way round too? Anyway, summer has begun, and we wonder whether it will be a “BBQ summer” or a total wash out, or maybe something in between … something positively “English”.

I wonder what “English” means to you? There’s been a lot of discussion about our nation over recent weeks and months, and I guess there will continue to be as we look towards the Scottish referendum; will they go or will they stay!? When on holiday last year I bought a towel from a man on Settle Market; he sounded broad Bradford, but looked more Islamabad … and yet he was as English as me. It’s certainly not the colour of one’s skin that determines one’s nationality.

And the language we use? Well, English is apparently a mixture of Latin, Norman French, modern French, Anglo Saxon, other languages … including, of course, Indian (Hindi) – where would we be without verandas, pyjamas, shampoo and curry? No, language doesn’t seem to be the principal determinant either. Where you were born? Does that matter? Well I am a Man of Kent, a proud southerner, and an Englishman. But I am jolly glad that Mo Farah, who was born in Somalia, considers himself to be British and ran for “his” country in the Olympics.

Is that the point then? We are nationals of the country in which we feel we belong – the country that accepts us and values us, and rejoices in the gifts and skills we have to offer in its service.

At the end of the day the nationality debate will be meaningless ; we are temporary residents here on earth – just passing through. We are all Citizens of Heaven, regardless of the colour of our skin, the language we speak, the country in which we live, or the passport of which we are bearers. We are Brothers and Sisters in Christ, and we are Human Beings all equally deserving of love, care, respect, and a fair shot at life here on earth. The divisions we so eagerly erect probably matter very little in God’s eyes.