It’s a Waterful World

I invite you to think about a time when you were real thirsty. You might want to close your eyes and imagine the scene… Maybe you’ve been working outside… Or maybe you’ve been hiking… Get a sense of what that feels like… And you’re thirsty… Now you’ve stopped, and you’re having a drink of water… How does that feel… Nice, sweet, cold water… Hmmm…

Now I’d like you to come back to this Sanctuary, this Sunday morning, opening your eyes when you’re ready…

Water is such a precious gift. I discovered this while hiking on the Appalachian Trail. I had these half litre water bottles, and I’d fill 4 of them in the morning, and some days that water had to last all day. So I didn’t take a drink every time I got the urge. And when I did stop, I took only 2 or 3 sips. And each sip was a blessing! The sensation of wet liquid against dry lips and mouth; the water going down my parched throat; it was wonderful!

We take water for granted. When you can just go to the tap or pop open that plastic bottle, we take it for granted. But when water is in short supply, and you’re really thirsty, then you realize what a blessing it is; what a gift it is. Water is one of God’s precious gifts.

The Hebrew people understood this. They’d lived in the desert for 40 years. They’d suffered from thirst, and they’d prayed that God would guide them to water, so when they found water they viewed it as an act of mercy on God’s part. God had mercy on them and gave them the gift of water. That’s how the Hebrews experienced it. And they told their children about it, who told their children, down through the ages as the Hebrews evolved into the people whom we know as the Jews. In their collective memory, water was an amazing blessing. It’s no wonder, therefore, that centuries later a Jewish sect began using water in a ritual which symbolized God’s mercy. New members of this community were immersed in water as a sign that through the mercy of God they had been cleansed, they had been purified, and they were ready to join this community – called the Essenes – who lived in the desert, on the shores of the Dead Sea. Some scholars think that John the Baptist was an Essene, and when he broke away from them, he took their ritual of baptism with him. And John introduced this ritual to Jesus. Thus water, as a symbol of the mercy of God, of the grace of God, of the unconditional love of God which forgives us and empowers us and transforms us, thus water and baptism made their way into the rituals of Christianity.

So the story goes all the way back to those 40 years in the desert in maybe the 13th century B.C. It’s hard to find water in the desert. Water is a real blessing in the desert. At least, sweet water is a blessing. But the water which the Hebrews found in the 15th chapter of Exodus was anything but sweet. It was bitter. Maybe it was salt water, or contaminated by bacteria, or both. In any event, the people couldn’t drink it. They’d gone without water for three days, and it might be another 3 days before they came to the next pond or spring, and by that time they’d be dead. What were they going to do?

The Bible says that God showed Moses a piece of wood, and he threw it into the water, and the water became sweet. Some translations say that an entire tree went into the water. And there is a tree, which grows in arid climates, whose chemical properties kill bacteria and turn salt water into fresh water. It’s called the moringa tree, and its bark and seeds are used to purify water in Africa. The tree doesn’t grow naturally on the Sinai Peninsula today (which is where the Hebrews were), but more than 3,000 years ago, when the ecology may’ve been slightly different, perhaps it did grow in the region.

So here’s Moses, confronted with a life and death situation: if his people don’t find water soon, they’ll die. He’s looking around, and he spots this tree. And he gets this intuitive flash that if the tree went into the water, the water would be drinkable. So he orders some of the men to chop down the tree and throw it in the pond. And the men are thinking, “Moses has lost it. We wondered about him before, but now we know that he’s gone completely bonkers!”

But this is the nature of intuition, eh? It comes from the Spirit, and it makes no sense to the people around you. Maybe at first it makes no sense to you either! You get these intuitive insights, and you just gotta do it, even if you don’t understand why. So the men chop down the tree and they toss it into the water (because they don’t have a better idea) and lo and behold the water becomes sweet!

Brothers and sisters, I want to tell you what happened here: Moses invented the first public water purification system. I mean, think about it: he purified the water for the common good, he didn’t make a profit from it, and he did it in his role as the government. He’s the leader of the people, he’s the one through whom laws are established in that community (I can think of 10 of them right off the bat). He’s the government. People did what he told them to do as then complained about it, just like we do with our government. For maybe for the first time in history, the public sector has provided safe drinking water for the community.

Water is a blessing. It is created by God, it is owned by God, and it is given as a gift to the people. Like all of the resources of the earth, we don’t own it; no one ultimately owns it. God owns in. The Bible says, “The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it” (Psalm 24:1). Everything belongs to God: the water, the trees, the crops in the field, the oil in the ground, everything; everything. We are not the owners of these resources, but we are stewards of these resources; the one’s who’ve been charged with managing these blessings, and distributing these blessings, and using these blessings in a responsible and sustainable way. Sometimes the profit motive is an efficient way to distribute these blessings; sometimes. But in the final analysis these blessings, these resources, have been provided not so that someone can make a profit, but so that people can have water to drink and food to eat and a roof over their heads. Profit is a means, not an end.

Water is a gift from God, provided for all people. Not just for those who can afford a bottle of water, but all people. And public utilities in Canada and the United States have an excellent record of doing just that: providing safe water for all people.

So why is it that so many of us are buying bottled water? I mean, come on folks. God has blessed Canada with an abundance of water! In most parts of this country good water is available for – I don’t know – maybe a penny a glass from the tap; as opposed to several dollars for a bottle of the stuff? When you buy bottled water, you’re paying more for a litre of water than you are for a litre of gas. Now you might point to the Walkerton fiasco and say, “Ah, public tap water can’t be trusted.” But the exception proves the rule. The outcry over Walkerton was so great precisely because it’s so unusual. We expect tap water provided by public utilities to be safe. And 9 times out 10 it is! I’m told that tap water gets tested more often than bottled water. And tap water frequently beats bottled water in blind taste tests. If you want some statistics to back this up, check out Bottlemania, a new book by reporter Elizabeth Royte. Tap water is virtually free. Yet we’re paying big bucks for these plastic bottles which we don’t always recycle. It use to be said that someone was such a good salesman he could sell a refrigerator to an Eskimo. Seems to me that that’s something like selling bottled water to a Canadian.

By the way, if you think the private sector is more trustworthy than the public sector in terms of the delivering safe drinking water, let me remind you that 150 years ago it was the private sector that was delivering our drinking water. That water contained bacteria which caused cholera and diarrhea and other diseases. It was when the public sector took over the deliver of water that we finally got safe drinking water in the cities of this nation. Just like when the public sector began to regulate the food industry and we finally got safe meat. And when the public sector began to create and distribute electricity from water power, and we finally got cheap and dependable “hydro,” as we call it.

Yet there’s this illusion that the private sector can always do it better. Well, sometimes they can, but not all the time. There’s no eternal principle that says that private is always best. There’s no 11th Commandment which says, “Thou shalt privatize everything in sight.” If you have to carry a bottle of water, these aluminum bottles which you can fill from your tap work real well.

It’s not just bottled water that I’m concerned about. That ubiquitous half litre bottle has become emblematic of this infatuation with things that I can own, that I can control. It’s all about me and my water and my music and my ipod and my cellphone. But this inordinate concern for self; that’s what Jesus came into the world to save us from. To paraphrase Jesus, those who seek their lives (those who focus on my water and my music) will lose them; those who lose their lives for the sake of the justice of God’s kingdom will find true life; abundant life (see Matthew 6:33,16:25 and John 10:10).

My biggest concern is that we could end up with a two-tiered water delivery system: those who can afford it will buy clean, safe drinking water; those who can’t will be stuck with the dregs of a public system which has been allowed to deteriorate. That hardly reflect the kind of justice that Jesus taught us to seek.

It’s probably just a matter of time before some corporation offers Canada big bucks to pipe water south to irrigate the western plains of the United States; where farmers are growing corn on land that God never intended for cultivation. The reservoirs and aquifers of western Nebraska are being depleted at an alarming rate, and here’s Canada with a water to spare. We should share, right? Isn’t that the Christian thing to do? Isn’t that good stewardship? Well, no; It’s not good stewardship if the resource which you’re sharing is going to be used irresponsibly. It’s not honouring God if the gift that you’re sharing is going to be used in a way that isn’t sustainable. That’s the waste of God’s resources; not the responsible use of God’s resources. If someone has been wasting his water on an ill-advised corn grow operation, you don’t sell him your water, you tell him to stop growing corn on grazing land.

If you want to be a good steward of God’s gift of water, let me make two suggestions. First, stop buying bottled water. At least, when tap water in refillable containers is a safe and viable alternative, stop buying bottled water. Secondly, ask your candidates in this federal election this question: “What is your party prepared to do to protect Canada’s water resources?” The answer to that question ought to be one factor which will determine how you will vote on October 14. Because, when you vote, you’re doing so not just as a citizen of Canada, but also as a steward of God’s Creation.

Water is a gift from the Creator. How we use it is an act of faith. Amen.


Text: Exodus 15:25
Preached by Bruce D. Ervin
14 September 2008