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Earth Day Sunday 2003: Sermon StartersWater is so abundant on this planet that some believe the Earth should be called the “water” planet. In the account of Eden in Genesis 2, a river flows out of Eden to water the garden. Life and water are overflowing. God blows moist breath into the clay to bring the human to life. Water and earth are combined by God to make us humans. Throughout the stories of the Hebrew Bible water plays a key role. When Hagar and Ishmael were sent into the desert to die. The angel of the LORD finds Hagar a spring. God opens Hagar’s eyes and she saw the well of water at Beer-lahai-roi (Genesis 21:19). There is enough water for all if we just look. One of the first treaties or covenants between humans in the Bible is a water-use compact. After Abraham complains to King Abimelech about access to a well, they swear an oath about access to the well’s water and name the well — Beersheba — the “well of the oath” (Genesis 21:25-34). God’s economy is always an economy of abundance, but some circumstances require more planning. After the Israelites follow Moses into the desert, they doubt God’s abundance and complain to Moses that they are being brought into the wilderness to die of thirst. First, they complain of bitter water at Marah (Genesis 15: 24), and then, despite God having turned the water sweet and leading them directly to Elim, a place of 12 springs, they still complain that there is no water when they come to Horeb. Moses strikes the rock with his shaft and waters flow out in both the Numbers 20 and the Exodus 17 version of the story. In the Numbers 20 version, though, Moses is punished with not seeing the Promised Land, because he did not give God the credit for bringing the water from the rock. The abundance of Exodus and Numbers has a simple formula. Worship God above all and you will have all that you need. “You shall worship God and I will bless your bread and your water” Exodus 23:25. Numbers 24:7 promises, “water shall flow from his [Israel’s] buckets and his offspring shall have abundant water.” Many Psalms and Proverbs remind us of God’s bountiful gift of water and our need to share that gift. Proverbs reminds us that the one who gives water will get water. Proverbs 25:21 directs us to give food and drink to even our enemies: “and if they are thirsty give them water to drink.” For Jesus, sharing God’s gifts was often exemplified by the use of water. In Matthew 10:42 he says “who ever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple — truly I say to you, none of these will lose their reward.” Despite the abundance of water on the Earth, we humans are doing a rather poor job of sharing the abundance. Concern over the pollution of freshwater and many efforts to limit access to fresh water has led the United Nations to declare 2003 “The Year of Freshwater.” According to the United Nation Committee on Economic, Cultural, and Social Rights water is not just an economic commodity. On November 28, 2002, the Committee declared that access to water is a human right. The committee defined water as a limited natural resource and a public commodity fundamental to life and health. “The human right to water entitles everyone to sufficient, affordable, physically accessible, safe and acceptable water for personal and domestic uses,” states the Committee document. This is a modern secular way of recognizing that water does not come from our own private ventures, but is provided by God for all persons. Those that declare water to be best provided by private efforts are repeating Moses’ heresy of not recognizing God as giver of water. Today, some 1.1 billion people do not have regular access to clean safe drinking water and some 2.4 billion do not have adequate sanitation or sewage, according to the United Nations. The nations of the world gathered for the Millennium Summit in 2000 and again for the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, South Africa in 2002. At both of these summits, the leaders of the nations of the world committed themselves to reducing by half the numbers of people with out sustainable access to safe drinking water by 2015. The World Bank estimates that up to $870 billion will be needed over the next 10 years to improve access for safe water and sanitation in developing countries. In the absence of international direct funding to improve water access in third world countries, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund are demanding that countries privatize water supplies, hoping that the private sector will supply the funds that rich nations refuse to supply. Many business people see that this will not work. A United Methodist businessman at the World Summit on Sustainable development told the US delegation, “As much as I might like to work in Africa on these problems, I am in business to make money and I can’t see how I can make money doing this, there is still a role for the US government. I support the US doing more.” According to the World Council of Churches, 80 percent of the disease in poor countries of the world is related to poor drinking water and sanitation. Six thousand children a day will contract diseases linked to unhealthy water. By 2025, half of the world’s poorest countries will face moderate to severe water shortages unless the Millennium and World Summit Development Goals are met. Forty percent of the world’s population goes thirsty every year, but there are stark differences in water use. In the United States, water use continues to climb, but in East Africa water use per capita has halved in the last 30 years. In East Africa, women and children now walk an average of 21 minutes for each trip to collect water. In Matthew 25, Jesus elaborates on the comments made in Matthew 10 about providing a child with a cold drink of water. In the 25th Chapter of Matthew, Jesus declares that one of the ways both individuals and nations will be judged is by water we have provided water and other services to the least, the poorest members of the human community. The stakes are high. Those who do fulfill this command are promised eternal life. Those who turn away give themselves eternal punishment. Jesus came that we might have life and have it abundantly (John 10:10b), but his other sayings make clear that he meant this as combined spiritual and physical reality. He came not to reject the law and the prophets, but rather to fulfill their vision. If we are to follow Jesus, we to will work to fulfill that vision. While we give God thanks for our daily bread (and water) we share God’s blessings with all. Let all who thirst, come to the water! Though you have no money come, receive grain and eat.” — Isaiah 55:1 Return
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