If, later, they’re still hungry, they work hard at foraging. My six-foot fuschia has been plucked bare below the height of two feet, the height Miriam can jump to, as has a young apple tree. Every damp patch has been dug into by Glinda in search in search of worms.  Sand, kale, and daddy-long-legs, are all considered great delicacies by Valhalla, while my toes, the fence post, and the window ledge have all been tested, and rejected, as potential food by Baloo. When the sun shines, they alternate between sunbathing and sitting in the shade; when it rains, they sit under the garden table. They begrudge neither, simply responding to their circumstances, unconcerned about the future. Smaller birds often come to share in their bounty. Sparrows take down-feathers to line their nests, and a wide range of garden birds steal their corn. The hens see them but make no effort to prevent this wholesale theft. Why would they?

Enjoying the world as they do, they set an excellent example to us as we rush through life trying to save time to pack in more. We even watch television programmes in which people rush to make the perfect eclair or refurbish community centres.

Regretting focusing too hard on “laying up” money is a very common deathbed regret, so much so that half a dozen people have been accredited with saying “Nobody on their deathbed has ever said “I wish I had spent more time at the office””. We know it was Jesus who said, “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” Turning that around, what you put effort into shows what you treasure, so what have you treasured today that you might regret in the future?

A key message of the Psalm is that God’s presence is our security. Having, as a youngster, come through the ranks of the Boys’ Brigade and served for a short time as an Officer, I’m reminded of Will your Anchor Hold? written by Priscilla Jane Owens, which, in common with Psalm 48, contains the two parts of the Boys’ Brigade motto: Sure and Steadfast. The hymn asks some searching questions, but the chorus provides an emphatic answer:

We have an anchor that keeps the soul
steadfast and sure while the billows roll;
Fastened to the rock which cannot move,
Grounded firm and deep in the Saviour’s love!

Ultimately, this Psalm provides us with three key tools for our Christian lives: it is a prayer/song; it is in Scripture; it reminds us of hymns to sing.

Ecology is a new subject, the word itself only coming into general use in the latter half of the 20th Century.   With the increasing disconnect from religion there is a decreasing appreciation of the breadth of understanding contained in a compilation of books from one area, though across many centuries.  Based on thoughts of a New Jerusalem I have been told that no one could call themselves both Christian and ecofriendly as Christianity knows nothing about the countryside – the only future it recognises is urban.

Isaiah would have had no idea that his vision of well-grown trees cultivated by the same family, becoming a micro-ecosystem, would resonate down the millennia.  He would be aware that olives, figs and vines harboured many other species. Writing on one of the hottest days this year, the provision of shade for many to lie down is realised as a boon.  That sharing is one of the key thoughts of this passage, used in many contexts – that we lie down, share together, more than room for all. All are necessary for a complete functioning system, there is no destruction of species, no genocide, on the mountain of the Lord.

At the General Assembly of the Congregational Union of Scotland dominant voices were heard from time to time. After one rather contentious gathering, in private, my late father was encouraged to express his view. His considered opinion was that ministerial leadership had to be by consent, expressed in the phrase ‘primus inter pares’ (well he had been a Latin teacher). ‘First among equals’ allowed leadership in the Church to flourish on the understanding that it was not status which mattered, but the exercise of gifts granted by God for the good of the Church and her mission.

Jesus’ followers struggled with leadership. They were promised greatness and took as their model contemporary examples – both Jewish and Roman. Existing models of behaviour were not what Jesus had in mind at all – for them, or us. To be a servant or slave was one difficult role which he espoused – along with the title ‘friend’ of Jesus, a role very different from the imperial claim of ‘Friend of the People’.

The Church, throughout history, has drawn many differing conclusions about how leadership should be exercised. Each has its strengths and weaknesses. The leadership style of the United Reformed Church is conciliar, one which is a shared dependence of participating members seeking ‘the mind of Christ’. It stands or falls by the willingness of all to contribute what they can.  How are your gifts (and mine) being used?

As Austen Hartke notes in his recent book, Transforming (2018), taking these binaries literally is problematic. Surely as well as day and night, God created those in between times, dusk and dawn. Surely as well as darkness and light, or black and white, God created and continues to create the murky greys, dusty browns and brilliant rainbows that are apparent throughout creation. Surely as well as creating ‘male’ and ‘female’ God also created me and the hundreds of thousands of other trans and intersex people who we risk excluding with narrow interpretations of Scripture.

Literal readings of the Genesis creation narratives are certainly legitimate but, like much of Scripture, there are many different ways to read these passages; which contain beautiful, mythic, liturgical truths, that are deeper than science or fact.

Stonewall research tells us that two in five trans people have experienced a hate crime and that a similar amount have suffered discrimination or harassment (Trans Report, 2017) all because they don’t fit neatly into the binary of male and female. To what extent are narrow interpretations of Scripture at the root of their oppression? What binaries are holding you captive, and is there a more creative way to read Scripture, and to live life?