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In this season of repentance, the Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance (EAA) encourages us to reflect on the fact that more than one third of the food produced on this planet for human consumption - the daily bread for which we pray and with which we are graciously and abundantly gifted - is wasted; not through natural disasters, but through our own disgracefully negligent stewardship of this gift. 

You probably have heard of the "ecological footprint" or the "carbon footprint". Did you know there is also a "water footprint"? For example, the average water footprint of a single hamburger is 2400 litres and it takes about 4100 litres of water to produce a simple cotton t-shirt. In everything we consume, water is an essential element.

Water is a key element of biological, meteorological, ecological, economic and political reality. It also has a deeply spiritual meaning in the world's religious traditions, including Christianity. Water plays a vital role in the beliefs, stories and practices of all religious traditions.

Water is the lifeblood of the planet as well as the economy. In the Bible, it is one of the symbols for God's generosity and blessing, for healing and liberation. Yet in today's economy, we often do not share water generously and with compassion. It is being appropriated and becomes a bone of contention. 

In these verses the psalmist describes a situation of danger that leads him to cry out to God for God’s protection and salvation. 

What is being described is not a passing situation. It has been happening for some time, and thus the cry to God as well. Hence God’s actions have resulted in joy, thanksgiving and praise. 

Throughout history civilizations have flourished wherever there has been a source of water, whilst others have faded away or collapsed due to scarcity of water resources. People have fought and died for even small patches of water.

Water is the source and powerhouse of life. Without it the earth would be an arid desert, where life would be impossible because of famine and drought. Even though we know that it can be the cause of death (through floods, drowning and water-borne diseases), water is generally seen and appreciated for the advantages and benefits that it brings to the life of living beings.

The psalmist once declared, “The Earth is the Lord’s, and all that is in it” (Psalm 24:1). From generation to generation, we have a lifespan to enjoy and steward God’s Earth. However, in recent decades, industries that unsustainably extract from God’s Earth have been spinning out of control. Their actions challenge God's sovereignty over the gifts that were created for sharing by  all Creation and for all generations. Extractive and other industries have been privatizing the natural gifts of God’s Earth and have excluded local communities from sharing in these gifts.

Since primordial times, people have struggled for basic natural resources, including water which is such a crucial element of life. We find examples of this struggle throughout the Bible. For instance, the biblical story in Exodus 15:22-27 tells how the Israelites searched for clean water to be able to survive after crossing the Red Sea into the wilderness. They arrive at a place called Marah – Hebrew for “bitterness” – where they find water but discover that it is not fit for drinking. 

The Bible begins with the story of creation by God, with the Genesis of the Earth. Before the creation of humankind, God creates the heaven and the earth; he then separates the earth from water which he called “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas” (Genesis 1:9). God then plants a garden and puts humankind in the middle of this garden to live there and to cultivate the land and take care of it and his creation (Genesis 2:15). Land is the place where humankind is invited to live and called upon to be its stewards.

The streams and themes of these Seven Weeks of Lent and of these Seven Weeks for Water flow together as Lent draws to its conclusion. The Seven Weeks of Water during Lent recall the final seven weeks of preparation for candidates for Christian Initiation in the early church, culminating in the waters of the baptismal pool and the bread and the cup of the eucharistic table at Easter. 

For most Christian traditions, the drama enacted by Jesus at the Last Supper focuses on the simple elements of bread and wine, and the not-so-simple mystery of the body of Christ made present in the world as the church gathers to reenact that final meal.  Yet before Jesus offered his disciples the bread and cup, he enacted another drama that has gone nearly forgotten in many churches—he poured water into a basin and knelt down to wash their feet.

Nipe maji ninywe, maji ya uzima Yesu akasema mmesha yapata…(give me water to drink, the living water, Jesus said you already have it…), thus goes a famous Swahili song that captures the need and great desire for water in Kenya. Many are still pleading – give us water;  how can we get water?

Water has always been an instrument of both death and life.  In the beginning the Spirit of God moved over the water, calling forth creation and life. Death came upon the earth in the form of a massive flood during Noah’s time.  Hagar found a well in the wilderness that became saving water for her and her child Ishmael. Life and death, dying and rising, water and Spirit are foundational to the life of faith we share as baptized children of God.

In Holy Tradition and in the Liturgy of the Eastern Orthodox Churches water has a profound symbolic presence. Water in the sacrament of baptism is intimately related to the Feast of the Theophany. Celebrated on 6 January, Theophany (from the Greek theophania, meaning "appearance or manifestation of God to the world"), is one of the Great Feasts of the Orthodox Church.

Jesus’s baptism by John in the River Jordan is a fundamental image invoked at virtually every Christian baptism today. But Jesus’s baptism by John could not have been without embarrassment for the first Christians.  John, after all, was seen by many at that time as a rival to Jesus.   There were those who believed that John was God’s last word of revelation to humanity and there are groups who hold such beliefs to this day.  Thus, Jesus coming to John for baptism could have served to substantiate the claims of John’s followers.

My parish church features a large baptismal font where infants and adults alike are baptized. During Sunday liturgies for most of the year, the soft sounds of flowing water provide a peaceful backdrop during moments of silence and prayer and remind us of our baptism. 

Jesus uses water as an effective and surprising channel to demonstrate the central aspect of his vision for the disciples' ministry. According to John's gospel the Last Supper took place in an undisclosed and secret room, in order for Jesus to be alone with his disciples and loved ones. There were no slaves or helpers to break the bread or to pour the wine - just the gathered few. 

At the World Social Forum in Porto Alegre, Ricardo Petrella, a professor, author, and water activist from Italy, reported that Nestlé and Coca Cola are buying up large tracts of land in Brazil that contain permanent water springs.

Water is a big issue and a question of justice. For some communities there is no water to irrigate land, or clean water to wash and drink. For other communities there may be plenty of water but it comes in unwelcome destructive episodes whether deluge from the sky, floods from rivers or the rising tide of the sea.