Document
The message of Jesus has always been profoundly countercultural, no less in our time than in his. Jesus’ most frequent and powerful teachings contrasted the kingdom of God with his society’s worship of money and power. Christians cannot help but notice the discord between the gospel message and the way in which our society reduces virtually every question to some sort of utilitarian cost benefit analysis, in which considerations of compassion, fairness, justice and equity play no role. This is true even when it comes to the life-giving substance of water, without which no life can exist on earth.
Since at least the beginning of the 20th century, our global understanding of water has been powerfully shaped and largely transformed by neocolonial and neoliberal notions. No longer is water a gift of God shared by all creation, a gift of rain and snow that gathers and flows in streams and rivers through mountains and valleys to reach the ocean and be reused once more. Instead it is an economic resource, scientifically managed and controlled, subject to “integrated water resources management,” to be harnessed as fuel for the engine of economic growth to serve the twin gods of economic efficiency and profit.
The people in many places have instinctively resisted the worst ravages of actions based on this economic paradigm. As we see in the battle against the Narmada River dams in India, people throughout the world have resisted the ecological damage and human displacement of building large dams in valleys carved by great bountiful rivers, where people naturally gathered. As we see in Latin America, the people have resisted privatization of water services, a practice that places provision of water for drinking and other domestic uses in the hands of those who seek only profit. As we see in the international affirmation of a human right to water, the people have resisted reducing water to a mere commodity to be bought and sold without consideration of its critical importance to all human beings. As we see in the struggles of people in Asia and Latin America against the environmental sins of the mining industry, people resist pollution and degradation of the aquatic ecosystems upon which we and the rest of creation depend. Through instinctive wisdom, people throughout the globe have put commodification, privatization, dams and water pollution on the water justice agenda – and many times they have stopped seemingly overwhelming political and economic forces virtually in their tracks.
The water issues that we raise are like the web of life, deeply interconnected by a coherent thread. This thread lies at the centre of the heart and soul of the Christian tradition: we seek justice for all humanity and the rest of creation, especially for God’s children who are poor, vulnerable or marginalized. We seek fulfillment of the words of Amos 5:24, “let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.”
And we seek this justice with respect to one of the most critical gifts God has given us, water. We are surrounded by our society’s very limited economic notion of water. What we need is another vision, a vision of water justice, a vision of how God’s people would act toward water in the kingdom of Heaven. How would justice and compassion towards all humanity and the rest of creation be reflected in the kingdom? What would the waters look like? How would humanity and other creatures share this perfect gift from God? Even though we understand that the kingdom is not yet and will only be realized with the help of God, we are called now to act as if the kingdom were fully present and invest our time, our money, our very lives in helping bring that kingdom to earth.
So what does paradise look like? Each of us must reflect on our own understanding, but let me share my vision. Paradise, the kingdom of God that we must seek to bring to earth, is a place where pure waters flow freely, providing water that people can drink, water that people and fish can swim in, water to nourish the riparian ecosystem, water that wildlife and farm animals can drink, water to transport people and goods, and water to provide modest amounts of power for homes and mills and irrigation for crops. God’s kingdom is a place where every creature has the water each one needs. It is a place where people live close to the water rather than waste it by moving it hundreds of miles in canals. It is a place where people seek to live in harmony with nature, growing crops that are appropriate to their climate. It is a place where wetlands are preserved and water percolates naturally into rich soil that is not compacted or paved so that flooding is limited to its natural place in the order of things. This is paradise!
As the Ecumenical Water Network of the World Council of Churches moves forward in its advocacy of water justice, as our member denominations contemplate how they will travel in pilgrimage towards water justice, and as each Christian seeks to understand what God calls us to do in our stewardship of this precious gift of God, I pray we will be guided by the Holy Spirit toward the paradise that Jesus invites us to experience.
Thoughts for reflection
1. Water has an especially prominent place in both the Hebrew and Christian scriptures because those writings came from authors living in a region where water is particularly scarce. What was the faithful response to that scarcity, or any scarcity of resources, according to our scriptures? Is the economic approach of our society to water consistent with Christian faith?
2. Water is one of the resources most vulnerable to climate change. Our communities will experience increasing droughts and increasing floods over the next few decades. How will our communities need to adjust to changing realities about water -- whether water scarcity or episodic periods of too much water? What is the role of the church in helping people adjust to these new realities? What is the role of the church in preventing any more climate change than is already inevitable?
Questions for discussion
1. What is our vision of paradise or the kingdom of God, with respect to water?
2. How does the reality in our community, country or region match with that vision?
3. What issues do we need to confront and what actions do we need to take as a faith community to bring that vision of water justice closer to earth?
Ideas for action
1. Assess whether we as a faith community and individually are good stewards of water. Covenant with one another that we will take particular steps to improve our individual and faith community’s stewardship of water.
2. Choose one of the water justice issues we want to address. Commit as a community to develop an effective strategy for addressing that issue, and take action!
* Susan Smith is Professor of Law and Director of the Certificate Program in Sustainability at the Willamette University, USA. She teaches environment law, including water law and is a water activist. She represents the United Church of Christ at the International Reference Group of the Ecumenical Water Network of the WCC.
