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Churches Week of Action on Food (15 - 22 October 2018)

The sixth reflection of the of the "Seven Weeks for Water", of World Council of Churches’ Ecumenical Water Network, is by Prof. Dr Jerónimo Granados, an ordained pastor of the Evangelical Church of Río de La Plata. The following reflection recognises the promise of living water, the water that quenches the thirst of the world for Jesus Christ. However, he underscores the importance of the clean water to run through taps of people of Latin America which is vital for a dignified life. He also draws inspiration from the “Pachamama” of the native people of this region to respect and protect our waters.

The fourth reflection of the of the "Seven Weeks for Water", of World Council of Churches’ Ecumenical Water Network, is by Rev. Adelaida Jiménez Cortes, a pastor of the Presbyterian Church of Colombia.  She has a master’s degree in Theological Studies and currently she is a doctoral candidate in Education with a specialty in Pedagogical Mediation. In the following reflection she draws a parallel between the situation of Hagar, who had the challenge to survive and keep her son Ishmael alive in a desert without water, to a village in the northern region of Colombia where women have the socially entrusted “responsibility” to fetch water for their families amidst water scarcity.

The third reflection of the "Seven Weeks for Water", of World Council of Churches’ Ecumenical Water Network, is by Rev. Dr Dario Barolin, a pastor of the Waldensian Church in Uruguay. He is also the executive secretary of AIPRAL, the Alliance of Presbyterian and Reformed Churches in Latin America. In the following reflection he recalls an encounter with two youths of his church who are trying to revive a creek which has lost its freshness due to water pollution by industries. He then draws a parallel to the story of Exodus where Moses turns the bitter water of Marah into sweet, fresh water with the help of a plant, thereby implying plantation being key to watershed.

This order of worship has been prepared by the World Council of Churches for the 2015 Churches' Week of Action on Food. It can be adapted as appropriate, with credit given to the source.

The fifth biblical reflection of the Seven Weeks for Water 2015 is by Veronica Flachier, a journalist and theologian from Ecuador. She is a representative of the CLAI (Latin American Council of Churches) to the International Reference Group of the Ecumenical Water Network of the WCC and currently one of the co-chairs. In this reflection, she highlights that the water crisis we currently experience has been determined by the ambition of certain powerful corporations that formulate the rules in a world that is regulated by the logic of the consumer driven market, where not only water is a commodity, but so is the entirety of nature and even the human beings. Only by re-ordering the quality of the relationships in the frame of ethics and justice, can we dream of re-ordering our Pachamama – the mother earth.

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.