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Seán McDonagh,
S.S.C. The writer is an authority on ecological issues and is much in demand as a lecturer and writer. He is author of four books, the latest being Greening the Christian Millennium (Dominican Publications, Dublin, 1999).He has also written To Care for the Earth, The Greeing of the Church, and Passion for Earth. Water in the Christian Churches Water has a central role in the liturgies of many religions. In the Christian Churches the different symbolic functions of water are highlighted in the blessing of the baptismal water in the Catholic Rite of Baptism. At the very beginning of creation 'your Spirit breathed on the waters, making them the wellspring of all holiness'. 'The waters of the great flood you made a sign of the waters of Baptism, that make an end of sin and a new beginning of goodness'. Water is also a sign of liberation 'through the waters of the Red Sea you led Israel out of slavery, to be an image of God's holy people, set free from sin by baptism'. One of the most powerful visions in the Hebrew Scriptures is found in Ezekiel, 47:1-12. It is a vision of fruitfulness, abundance, extolling the healing and life-giving qualities of water. Sadly the prophet did not understand the role of marshes and mudflats in marine ecosystems. Without them there would not be such an abundance of marine life! The prophet sees water pouring out from beneath the Temple. Initially it reached his ankles, then his knees and waist welling up into a river that could not be crossed. The river 'lowed into the sea and made its waters wholesome. Wherever the river flows, all living creatures teeming in it will live. Fish will be very plentiful, for wherever the water goes it brings health.… There will be fishermen on its banks. Fishing nets will be spread from En-gedi to Eneglaim. The fish will be as varied and as plentiful as the fish of the Great Sea (Mediterranean). The marshes and lagoons, however, will not become wholesome, but will remain salt. Along the river, on either bank, will grow every kind of fruit tree with leaves that never wither and fruit that never fail; they will bear new fruit every month, because this water comes from the sanctuary. And their fruit will be good to eat and the leaves medicinal' (verses 9-12). Christ's own baptism in the Jordan is linked to his mission to bring about justice and peace for all. 'In the waters of the Jordan your Son was baptised by John and anointed by the Spirit'. Fr Killian McDonnell described the cosmic dimension of the baptism of Jesus. He recalls the picture of Gregory Nazianzus who has Jesus 'carrying the cosmos with him as he ascends out of the water of the Jordan'. He goes on to argue that 'the cosmic dimensions of the baptism of Jesus are part of antiquity's broader conviction, rooted in incarnation and resurrection, that the material universe, as the home of a redeemed humanity, is destined for transfiguration through the power of the Spirit manifested in the risen body of Christ'.1 Based on our belief in baptism McDonnell argues that 'the ecological movement should have as its goal not only the preservation and restoration of the natural environment because we live and die here. Creation should be worthy of its vocation to praise. 'Praise him, sun and moon. Praise the Lord mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars! Wild animals and all cattle, creeping things and flying birds' (Ps 148). The cosmos lives in hope. The Universe is destined for God and for transformation'.2 Water was important in Jesus' teaching mission. The incident with the Samaritan woman at the well in St John's Gospel afforded Jesus the opportunity to present his life-giving message for all people. 'Whoever drinks this water will thirst again; but anyone who drinks the water that I shall give will never be thirsty again: The water I shall give will turn into a spring inside him/her, welling up to eternal life' (Jn 4:14). Baptizing with water was to be a sign of entry into his community. After his resurrection he told his disciples: 'Go out and teach all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit' In a world where water is being polluted and abused one could argue that the symbolic connection between living water and the power of the Holy Spirit to incorporate those who are baptized into the Body of Christ is being compromised in a significant way. Water is important even at the end of time. The vision of Ezekiel is recalled with the belief that when reconciliation and restoration take place in Christ in the New Jerusalem, living, clear and clean water will be abundant and sweet. 'Then the angel showed me the river of life, rising from the throne of God and of the Lamb, and flowing crystal-clear down the middle of the city street' (Rev 22:1). The Oceans in the Bible Because the Israelites were not seafaring people like the Phoenicians or the Vikings the oceans get very little attention in the Bible. The fearsome nature of the ocean and the dangers facing seafarers riding in fragile boats is emphasised. 'He spoke and raised a gale, lashing up towering waves. Flung to the sky, then plunged to the depths, they lost their nerve in the ordeal, staggering like drunkards with all their seamanship adrift' (Ps 107:25-27). Jonah's trip from Joppa to Tarshish, the lone sea journey in the Old Testament, reinforces this negative image of the sea as a dangerous place, possibly not far from the gates of the underworld (Jonah 2:7). Even in the New Testament the sea is presented as a dangerous place. The demons that terrorised the Gerasene demoniac beseeched Jesus to allow them to enter the swine who then 'charged over the cliff into the lake, and there they were drowned' (Mk 5:13). There is, of course, a more positive approach to the oceans in the Bible. The oceans are created by God (Gn 1:9-10). Because they are God's creatures the Psalmist invites the 'oceans and all that move in them' to praise God (Ps 69:34). We find the same theme in the Song of the Three Young Men 'seas and rivers! Bless the Lord' (Dan 3:78). As Christians living in a world where the oceans are under threat from human activity we need to develop this positive strand in the biblical teaching in order to shape a positive theology of the oceans which will help us to protect the seas in our modern world. Water is life. Life began in the oceans 3.8 billion years ago. It remained there for almost 2 billion years. All the creatures in our world emerged from a watery environment and carry around this water with them. Human beings are almost 70 percent water. If we continue to abuse and poison water then humans and all other forms of life will be adversely affected. If our waters are polluted our tears will be toxic and the water in the wombs of women who nurture new life will also be toxic. Johannesburg 2002 At the World Summit on sustainable development in Johannesburg last year, the agreement on water and sanitation was presented as a major victory for the poor of the World. I am not too sure that this is accurate. The summit committed the international community to halve the number of people not connected to potable water supplies to 550 million by the year 2015 and to halve the number without proper sanitation to 1.2 billion by the same year. There is no doubt that such an initiative could save tens of thousands of lives. But typical of the wooly nature of the Summit's thinking there are no clear guidelines or effective strategies for achieving such laudable goals. In fact, according to The New Scientist,3 individual countries and even corporations are 'left free to pursue approaches to managing water that are either wasteful or damaging to the environment.' According to the water direction of the World Wide Fund (WWF), Jamie Pittock 'summit agreements to improve water will not work if natural sources of water are not conserved and water used more efficiently'. Transnational building corporations would like to promote large building programmes like dams and piping systems. Torkil Jonch-Clausen of The Global Water Partnership feels that the summit has played into the hands of TNCs by 'reducing the debate on water supplies to arguing about money and pipes. There is no discussion about managing our river systems. It is a step back to the 1980s, before Rio…. It is a prime example of how the development lobby (TNCs) have snatched back the sustainable agenda from environmentalists'.4 One final reflection on Johannesburg. I am always appalled at the cavalier way statisticians, who have plenty to eat and drink themselves, talk about reducing the number of people without potable water from 1.2 billion to 550 million by 2015. Why should anyone be drinking polluted water in 2015? The Guardian newspaper in Britain published a supplement for the Johannesburg meeting entitled Earth. In an article on 'Food and Trade' it was estimated that it would cost $170 billion to provide clean waster and healthy sewage for all. Surely such a cost is not beyond the resources of our present global economy. The Gulf War of 1991 cost $80 billion. As I write, an adviser to President Bush, Dr. Lindsey, estimated that it would cost between $100 billion to $200 billion to wage a war now. According to him it would be about 1-2 percent of GDP and amount he characterised as 'nothing.' This shows how totally skewed our value system is. There is always plenty of money to fight wars but none to end poverty and environmental degradation. Caring for water globally and locally is a major ethical and religious challenge for Christians today. There is an onus on each local Christian community to ensure that the water they use for baptism is really 'living water' with the ability to carry all the symbolic dimensions highlighted and not merely industrial water or H20. We need to respect water like Jesus did and do all in our power to ensure that it remains living water and continues to be a source of life for all creation. With St Francis we ought to be able to say 'Praise to You, my Lord, through Sister Water, Which is very useful and humble and precious and chaste'.
Notes 1. Killian, McDonnell, 1996, The Baptism of Jesus in the Jordan, Liturgical Press, Collegeville, Minnesota, p. 243. 2. Ibid., p. 244. 3. Fred Pearce, 'Partnership don't live up to the hype', The New Scientist, 7 Sept. 2002, pp. 7-8. 4. Ibid., p. 8.
Ref.: Spirituality, Vol. 9, March/April 2003, pp. 111-114.
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