Document
Prologue:
Celebratory Life of Water...
Water is life and it is a basic human right When Water is denied, life is petrified
Water is a Gift from God, a source of life
Water has a life in it, sustaining the whole of humanity
The amount of water in and on the earth is a symbol of abundance
People are yelling, the health condition is dwindling
The children, young and elderly people are suffering
When people die due to scarcity of water,
The profound meaning of abundance becomes synonymous with death In all aspects of our life form, water is there...
The source of life and a cause of death
Water from womb to tomb, from stream to seas In form of cloud to a fiend typhoon
It dampens the earth and irrigates our farms Blessing our living souls, cleansing our sins Healing the wounds, quenching our thirst Giving energy to our clenched fist
In a very prayerful hand, the water is in our vein
From our heart to our tears,
The water of hope, love and peace blesses our life with gentleness
Our faith becomes real on our acts to give life for the others
At the epoch of confusion in our lives, the consequential miseries comes in
The least brethren in the society become a prey for the greedy
Let the steadfast meaning of liturgy transform the circumstances towards peace: based on justice.
Pilgrimage of Water Justice: A Liturgical Celebration
Contextualization
In the Philippine context, the mainline Protestant churches, the Roman Catholics, independents, evangelicals and the Pentecostals were worshiping together during the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (2013-2014). The liturgical guide was translated by the local committee to the local dialects and languages understood by the people. Furthermore, in order to contextualize the celebration, the pressing issues of the people were incorporated into the liturgy. One of the major concerns was “Water and Justice”. In the liturgical service, the water was symbolized as a source of life and a basic right. It is an essential element for the fullness of life (John 10:10). In the litany of prayers, the issue of water was depicted in the local and global context.
Today, there are still many countries that are fighting over territories, and the bodies of water are being divided over and over again. Ironically, in this age of post-colonialism, the call for peace is still an agenda of many of those countries. The idealism of peace and justice has lost its meaning due to the negative impact of structural adjustment programmes which are responsible for turning water into a commodity rather than a basic necessity to survive. Our biblical discourses will not make any sense if we are not able to discern the relationship of the water issue to other social issues.
In some practical aspects of church celebrations, the faithful communities are content to encapsulate the concerns of water into the form of a litany of prayers, when it comes to solemnizing a baptism or in celebrating the holy “blessings of water” during a theophany in some Christian traditions, while the rest of the liturgy focuses on the romanticized concepts of spirituality. The members of the church are experiencing this celebration of water in the liturgy in our Sunday services. This is like attending a worship service for one hour & thirty minutes and forgetting the realities of the world. Meanwhile, the other 166.5 hours of our lives per week is devoted to being a part of what the highly commoditized and commercialized world wants. Being followers of Christ, let us embrace the biblical affirmations and journey with God’s Word and engage ourselves in the holistic and transformative act. Let us reflect upon ways in which the holistic approach of understanding the Bible can lead worshippers to discern more deeply the church’s missions and acts of compassion. Let us explore possibilities of how the liturgical celebrations can be a continuing pilgrimage in understanding the context of water issues with a just-peace perspective!
Epilogue:
Water never stops, and it is always in search of a space to occupy the available spaces or create new spaces to fill! Likewise, let the water advocates among believers try to combine the biblical affirmations with our social actions. When we worship God, let us give thanks to God for the abundant blessings God has given to us in the form of this beautiful creation of nature, particularly water. Let us bring in the elements of nature like the water in our worship resources to reiterate its spiritual significance and draw inspiration from our Lord Jesus Christ who is offering us the “fountain of life” and inviting us to drink from him to find eternal life. But let us also look at the issues of injustice that is linked to the physical water, and its accessibility, denied to many. Let us explore the possibilities of how our celebration can empower the people fighting for their rights? (Luke 4:18-24).
Thoughts for reflections
The Liturgical Services: The Process of Transformation
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Are we being transformed when we are attending a liturgical service? (2 Cor. 5: v17)
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How do our liturgical services empower our communities in search of safe drinking water?
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What will be our reflective thoughts and critical actions in addressing the structural evils causing death to millions of people? (Joel 2:28-29) (Micah 3:8) (Mat 5:13-17)
Questions for discussion
The Asking and Sharing of Water: The Shared Experiences of Empowerment that Challenge Power Relations
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What did Jesus experience in conversation with the Samaritan Woman (John 4:1- 41)?
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How do the stories of crucifixion sharpen the meanings of the “living water”?
Ideas for action
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Prepare a liturgy on the theme of water, inspired by many liturgical resources available on the internet, including the EWN website.
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Talk to your pastors to dedicate a special Sunday, say on 22 March which is World Water Day, and follow a specially prepared liturgy on the theme of water, its spiritual and physical significance in our lives.
* Professor Rommel F. Linatoc is the Christian Conference of Asia representative to the International Reference Group of the Ecumenical Water Network of WCC. He is currently the executive secretary for Christian Unity and Ecumenical Relations at the National Council of Churches in the Philippines, and also a creative director of various church-based liturgical cultural groups and community-based theatre groups.
