Water Is The First Medicine

Water is the theme of today’s readings, and whether we’re conscious of it or not we all have such a deep and profound relationship to water.

My friend and pastor/activist, Bill Wylie Kellermann, reflects that in the scriptural tradition, water starts the story (the ‘spirit hovering over the waters’ in Genesis 1) and ends the story (the ‘river of life’ in Revelation 22) and in between “water is offered and drunk, pulled from wells, washed with, desperately sought, crossed to freedom, walked upon, poured out, flooded of the earth, stilled, gathered by, rained down, [and] immersed into…” It is a source of life and healing as well as a place of teaching and miracles.

Water is EVERYWHERE in the bible and is CENTRAL to so many of the stories. But in our world, water is no longer everywhere and yet remains central to all of our stories.

It’s beyond the scope of this blog to be able to adequately describe the challenges we face – domestically and globally – related to water and its disappearance from misuse, overuse, waste and pollution. We don’t have to look far for any of these stories.

For example, it takes about 2000 gallons of water to produce 1 pound of red meat (versus 25 gallons to grow 1 pound of wheat). In fact beef has the greatest “water footprint” of any meat, and you can save more water by not eating 1 lb. of red meat than you can by not bathing for about half a year! 

But that’s not the only challenge we face. In so many places, like Peru, local towns and villages have no water for their own use because almost all of their water supplies are diverted to grow export foods like asparagus that are not consumed by the locals (and profits largely go to multinational corporations).

Or consider places like Las Vegas (and many other major cities around the world built in the middle of deserts) where about 70 percent of the city’s water supply goes toward irrigating golf courses and residential lawns.

And in the D&C recently (3/10/24), one headline ”The World Worries: Where is the Water?” describes some of the crises facing places like Mexico City (with a population of 8 million people) which might run out of water by June of this year.  Something similar happened in Cape Town, South Africa in 2018 when they barely averted “day zero” (the day when municipal water would need to be shut off due to no supply being left).

The list of water challenges is long.

The Watershed Discipleship movement which has begun emerging over the past 20 years tries to take seriously both our place and our faith. As the WD collective says, we are in a watershed moment – thus we must learn to be disciples in our actual watersheds and must use our watersheds as rabbi/teacher of how to actually live sustainably in a given place.

(I would highly recommend for people to check out this site –https://watersheddiscipleship.org/what-is-wd/ – and click on the links “For more information” – there are some great resources there.)

Some of you may remember a few years back (2016) when the Standing Rock Sioux tribe resisted the placement of the Dakota Access oil pipeline (DAPL) across their territory due to the serious risks it posed. Local indigenous water warriors/water protectors rose up to oppose the pipeline and remind us of the sacredness of water. As Anna Lee, a 13 year old member of the Standing Rock tribe, wrote to the Army Corps of Engineers, “Water to Native American people is the first medicine. Mni Wiconi: Water is Life.”

We must do all we can to protect our “first medicine,” and part of that process is becoming aware of our water use. Even for one day, 

• Try to track the number of times you use water (for drinking, dishes, washing, flushing, brushing, cleaning, etc.) let alone enjoy water (recreationally, for example). Give thanks for this precious resource each time you use it.
• Think about the foods you consume and how much water may be needed to produce them.
• Reflect on where your water comes from. If you have indoor plumbing, what is your local source of water and what watershed do you live in. What are the threats facing that watershed?
• Reflect on where water goes once it leaves your house.

So many people and places are already facing serious threats to their water supply due to misuse, pollution and now climate change. We can take steps to become more conscious of our water use and work towards wider water justice efforts.

Water is a precious gift from God that is part of the common good. May we do all we can to protect it so that we may echo the call of the prophet Isaiah in our world, “let all who thirst, come to the water.”

Note: I came across one of many resources- this one from the World Council of Churches – that features a Lenten reflection on water each year called “Seven Weeks for Water.” You can check out some of their reflections for this year here.