Introduction to Worship for 9/24/2017

Bless the Water:

This week our creation theme is Water. As an introduction to the theme, we will be looking at the beginning of the second creation story in Genesis.

Genesis 2:4b–14

In the first story (Genesis 1:1––2:3), water is there from the beginning, and creation is an act of separating everything else from the waters, and then bringing life to the land—after light and darkness and planets and the sun and moon are brought forth.
     In the second story, the land has already been created, and there is a stream that waters all of the land. God creates the human from the land, and we can’t grasp the pun in English, but adam (human or man) is made from adamah (humus or earth). We’re probably most familiar with verses 8 & 9 in this text, when God creates a garden and puts adam into the garden with the green and growing things, including the tree of life and the tree of good and evil. But then the author describes the four rivers that surround the garden, and in it he describes the limits of the known world.
     This story tells of the close relationship between the human being and the rest of the good that God created, but most especially it gives us a sense of how completely water is the source of life: it nourishes the land before anything else has been created, the rest of life springs up from it, and then the water creates limits on the land and the things that grow, as the rivers surround and contain the land.
     It is not science or history, but still it is a true reflection of the order of life: Water is the source of life. It is our bloodstream, our embryonic fluid. We are mostly water; Earth is mostly water. The blood that flows in our veins resembles sea water in its composition and it flows with a rhythm like the tide. Trees, muscles, and bones display patterns of water movements, and everything is in liquid form before it becomes solid.
     And yet, and yet: While we are able to turn on a tap and have a surge of clean, potable water flowing out, around 880 million people in the world have no access to clean water. 85% of the world’s population lives in the driest part of the planet, sometimes walking as much as 10 miles every day to gain access to a source of fresh water. We have distorted the balance and the weather patterns so that while some parts of the world are desperate for water, others are overwhelmed by flooding and landslides caused by too much rain. It is an issue of balance, but also of economics: there are places even in our country (Flint, Michigan, comes to mind) where people who live in poverty go for years with access only to poisoned water. We have filled the oceans and rivers with so many pollutants that the fish and the coral reefs are dying.
     The story gives us clues about how to redeem the relationship, in showing us that we are placed carefully into the relationship of trust with the water and the land and the growing things in the Garden. And we are challenged to imagine ourselves as keepers of the water- to become a blessing to water even as it blesses us.

Connecting Faith and Life

• What do you think of when you think of water? What is your most joyous memory of water?
• Have you ever had an experience of persistent, unquenchable thirst? What was that like for you?
• How about polluted water? Have you ever had to drink water that was not clean?

Americans can be wiser in our water use in many small ways. Learn to put the glass under the faucet before you turn on the water, and turn it off immediately after it is full. Don’t leave the water on when you are washing dishes-fill the sink, wash the dishes, then turn the water on only for the rinse. Take short showers, or fewer showers. Probably the best thing you can do for the whole creation is to stop buying water in plastic water bottles. Use reusable bottles and tap water!