“Look, I will stand before you there on the rock in Horeb; you will strike the rock with your staff, and water will come out of it, so that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.” (Eodus 17:6)
Many years ago, I was flying out of Tokyo’s Haneda airport (Narita had not yet been built), and realized that the end of the runway was right at the beginning of Tokyo Bay. Looking down, what swirled under the plane really was not water, but an incredible industrial sludge, every shade of the red and orange spectrum. I remember thinking the plane could land in that stuff and never sink. Today, Tokyo Bay is so clean that one can fish in it again.
Three years ago I went to live in Corner Brook, Newfoundland, to have a different ministry experience in a different part of the country. There is a spring, along the highway outside Steady Brook, which flows year-round; the water is sweet, cold, and so clean and pure that it does not go bad. I would drive to the spring, and fill up large containers – enough to last three months. It was cleaner than the water out of the tap, which often was under ‘boil water’ orders. I never used the city water for drinking. Many people filled their containers at the spring, and it was there I met a man from Quebec, who comes once a year on his vacation, fills up all the containers he can in the back of his pickup truck. He swears it’s the best water on the planet. I would agree.
Any old Star Trek junkies here? I am. In the very first series, a being on another planet – made of rock – referred to humans as “ugly bags of mostly water.” Scientists are convinced that no life can exist anywhere unless there is water. I am not sure if they are right, but I am sure that no life can exist on *this* planet without water. Yet we treat our water as if it’s a never-ending commodity, dumping garbage and industrial waste into it; fracking our ground and in the process poisoning water; siphoning it off and selling it, trying to make money. We have to filter even our tap water. Take away water, the earth dies. Poison the water, the earth dies. We humans almost have a Moses complex, as if we can just strike a rock and more water will pour out, clean and ready to use.
I am sure I am preaching to the converted here – but to me clean and safe water is a human right, along with food, shelter, education and health care. It’s the one basic right, I think – because the right to water is the right to life. So we pray in this morning, for the waters of the earth.
“We give our love and thanks to all water in the world. We pray that all races in the world will have clean water. We pray for the people in the north, south, east, and west. All life begins with water. It protects and nurtures us in the womb. We also protect and nurture the water of Mother Earth. Our bodies are mostly water. Water runs through our body like the rivers and the lakes run through Mother Earth. We respect all of Creation and are grateful for the water. It nourishes the trees, plants, animals, birds, fish and insects. Water is healing and falls from the sky to heal Mother Earth, just as our tears of laughter and sadness heal our spirit. We give our love and thanks to Grandmother Moon and the elements of earth, air, fire and water. Together they bring balance and harmony to Mother Earth. We give our love and thanks. Miigwetch.”
