In the UK it is midsummer - wind - and then rain and sun alternating! But the new standard rose in my garden in West London is raising buds on huge stems suitable for making bouquets. In other ways it has also been a busy July; I mention five 'incidents' which are all linked in some way.
In London there was the announcement from the British Library, that the re-integrated text of the oldest full copy of the New Testament and most of the Old Testament can now be seen on the internet - the 4th century manuscript, Codex Sinaiticus - in Greek, of course!
Then some of our fellow brother and sister Christians in London in the same week were announcing their watchword of 'biblical orthodoxy' to the world.
There was the 500th commemoration of the birth of John Calvin, (10 July 1509 - 27 May 1564], the uncompromising protestant reformer in Geneva who held to the doctrine of the total depravity of humankind unless released by the sufferings of Jesus, based on Augustine's theology of original sin.
In California, the American Episcopal Church declared that despite the pressure being put on them to renounce the ordination of gay people, clergy and laity have "acknowledged that God has called and may call any individual in the church to any ordained ministry in the Episcopal Church, in accordance with the discernment process set forth in the Constitution and Canons of the church." .
Finally, today, Tom Wright, bishop of Durham has written to the Times of London - "Granted, the [American Episcopal Church's] resolution indicates a strong willingness to remain within the Anglican Communion. But saying we want to stay in, but we insist on rewriting the rules, is cynical double-think. We should not be fooled."

It is really quite strange that the texts of Scripture which witness to faith in God and in Jesus should have become, as it were, the tools of a legalistic view of life with God! 'Law' and lawyers have always been necessary to resolve disputes between us and to draw up codes of good practice in society. But one of the most striking things about Jesus' ministry as we have it recorded in the gospels is that he strenuously defended his right to mix with those whom the Law regarded as outcasts and to reject the 'nit-picking' of the religious lawyers of his own times.

Today it would seem that to defend one's convictions it is essential that one must be able to appeal to Scripture, and to the traditions of the churches, as if they were legally binding upon the Christian who puts her faith in the Lord of life. Then positions become polarised and factions become 'enemies' of one another. There is much in the history of the churches which today, to say the least, are unattractive to the onlooker on Christian faith and life.

The twelfth century was not a time of 'liberalism' in society or in the Christian church. The latter was innovating towards the control of the church over the whole of medieaval life. But the prayer of abbot Aelred, spoken not in the Latin of church but in his own twelfth century English, reveals a trust in the gospel which shines as a light in the darkness - For crist luve - which his biographer says that Aelred repeatedly spoke as he lay dying. This echoes the heart of the rule of Benedict for monks - To prefer nothing to the love of Christ.

One is aware of the dangers of making a breach in one's commitment of love as a Christian when confronted with others who hold different views, especially if they are views which do not appear to be in accord with reasonable belief. I was very much aware of this when I wrote Worship as Believing - researching a renewed theology of Eucharist! So it is quite a challenge to keep holding out the hand of friendship and humility and love. That prayer of abbot Aelred's could be the sort of prayer we need to be breathing today ...

For the love of Christ controls us, because we are convinced that one has died for all; therefore all have died. And he died for all, that those who live might live no longer for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once regarded Christ from a human point of view, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if any one is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.[2 Corinthians 5:14-19]