Water Day at COP27

                                   The Fish are Fasting for Knowledge from the Stars -- Christi Belcourt

Now there was no water for the congregation, so they gathered together against Moses and against Aaron. The people quarreled with Moses and said, “Would that we had died when our kindred died before the Lord!... 

So Moses took the staff from before the Lord, as he had commanded him. Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock, and he said to them, “Listen, you rebels; shall we bring water for you out of this rock?” Then Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock twice with his staff; water came out abundantly, and the congregation and their livestock drank. 

Numbers 20: 2-3, 9-11 NRSVue

Day after day, day after day, We stuck, nor breath nor motion;

As idle as a painted ship Upon a painted ocean.

Water, water, every where, And all the boards did shrink;

Water, water, every where, Nor any drop to drink.

The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner --  Samuel Taylor Coleridge

We now have our recent acquisition, a print by Metis artist Christi Belcourt, framed in a place of prominence in our home. We love her work and this dream-like piece has it all in terms of our sensibilities. We love being on or near water, whether it is fresh or salt. 

Today the emphasis at the United Nations climate conference known as COP27 will be water and gender, at the request of the President of Egypt, the country hosting this year's of thousands from around the world. The Earth is a watery planet, which makes us unique in our solar system and allows life, including humans to exist. 

Because water is precious different religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and most Indigenous spiritual cultures, regard it as sacred. Different traditions consider rivers to be holy and forms of immersion and baptism are sacred rituals. 

Despite this we have often taken our sources of water for granted and desecrated them. As the planet heats and climate patterns change many rivers and reservoirs are shrinking which is resulting in a crisis in countries everywhere. Aquifers, water beneath the ground, have been tapped to the point that they are no longer readily accessible and rationing is required. Even in British Columbia, sometimes described as the "Wet Coast" water was in such short supply this Fall that restrictions were put in place, including the closure of breweries...oh, the horror!

Drought has increasingly become a killer in various places, notably in Africa, but the risk looms elsewhere.

Indian women from the aboriginal 'Kol' community collect drinking water at a well in Nawargawa village, in Madhya Pradesh state. UMA SHANKAR MISHRA/AFP via Getty Images

While there is no expectation that anyone will strike a rock and water will miraculously appear today, a la Moses, we can pray that there were be leadership to strike the necessary accords to make changes for the well-being of all life which depends on water. I imagine that gender is paired with water today because in so many parts of the world women are the ones who seek out water for their households, often travelling considerable distances at personal risk. 

At a well, Jesus described himself as Living Water, the One who quenches our thirst spiritually. Surely he used this metaphor because he was aware of the preciousness of H2O. The Samaritan woman underwent her own awakening and conversion. Perhaps we will too.