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Originally published in 2021, the 1st reflection of the Seven Weeks for Water 2023 series of the WCC Ecumenical Water Network is written by Michele Roberts*, from the Environmental Justice Health Alliance. In this reflection, the author, based on several instances of large scale water contamination in many cities in the USA, comes to a conclusion that lack of access to clean water in USA is a result of systemic racism.

The seventh and final reflection of the Seven Weeks for Water 2022 of the WCC’s Ecumenical Water Network is written by Prof. Dr Isabel Apawo Phiri*. In the following reflection she, being the staff focal point of WCC’s Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace, makes a compelling analysis of how the WCC pilgrimage and the pilgrimage of water justice inter-relate, complement, and strengthen each other, with a particular reference to Europe.

The sixth reflection of the Seven Weeks for Water 2022 of the WCC’s Ecumenical Water Network is written by Dinesh Suna.* In the following reflection ,  he gives a historical background of the WCC's water justice ministry and reaffirms that water is a gift of God, a common good and human right. Taking the inspiration from Isaiah, he calls the churches to become blue communities and say no to privatisation of water and to bottled water.

The fifth reflection of the Seven Weeks for Water 2022 of the WCC’s Ecumenical Water Network is written by Peter Pavlovic.* He reflects that  Europe is a water rich continent, still, a lot of concerns related to water availability persist in the region.  Climate change makes this problem worse, our vulnerability is, as the last IPCC report warns, increasingly exposed.  Faith describes the world as a gift of God given to humanity. Fragility of our existence is closely related to disrespecting the limits of the world in which we live and is rooted in the failure of our relationship with God.

The fourth reflection of the Seven Weeks for Water 2022 of the WCC’s Ecumenical Water Network is written by Susanne Öhlmann.* She says water and peace are similar to each other. We do not miss them until they are absent. On one hand, Europe, a water rich continent, has started to feel the pinch of water shortages in recent times, and on the other, peace and security of the region has started to destabilize in the wake of war in Ukraine. Drawing inspiration from the prophet Amos, she prays for peace and justice to prevail.

The third reflection of the Seven Weeks for Water 2022 of the WCC’s Ecumenical Water Network is written by Louk Andrianos.* He reflects on the  words of God found in James and John, by warning Christians about less recognized  “ecological sins" toward water: “pollution.” When our thirst is not quenched by Jesus Christ’s water and we follow the worldly consumption lifestyle, we act sometimes as springs of polluted water that are destroying creation instead of giving life to it. We cannot be the source of blessing and cursing (James 3: 10-11). 

The second reflection of the Seven Weeks for Water 2022 of the WCC’s Ecumenical Water Network is written by Nicole Ashwood (Nicqi).* In the following reflection , which was  written around the International Women’s Day, she reflects how the women in the story of Exodus were deprived of water and how Moses came up to their defense  and provided them and their flock with water. Then she  highlights how developed countries in Europe, including Switzerland fares in getting access to clean water and how it affects the health, wellbeing and dignity of the people, particularly, women, everywhere.

The first reflection of the Seven Weeks for Water 2022 of the WCC’s Ecumenical Water Network is written by Philip Vinod Peacock.* In the following reflection, he reflects on the promise of God found in Isaiah, that God will quench the thirst of the poor and will not forsake them. In the current global water crisis, he juxtaposes the poor against the rich in terms of their capacity to access  clean water. He challenges us to be enablers of God’s promise of water for the poor.