UCA SA - Reflection for the Week

Living Water

On the banks, on both sides of the river, there will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither nor their fruit fail, but they will bear fresh fruit every month, because the water for them flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food and their leaves for healing. (Ezekiel 47:12)

In this reading from Ezekiel 47, water flows out from the temple and brings life and healing. We know that the rain that has recently fallen in South Australia has brought replenishing to many of our gardens, farmlands and the outback. Flowers are blooming, flocks of birds have multiplied, and new life has been brought to ecosystems. Water is essential for our survival and wellbeing and is an important symbol throughout the Bible. This begins is Genesis, where God orders the waters and the earth, bringing order into chaos.

Yet, as we watch what has happened with the devastating flood in Nepal and Tibet, we start this season in sadness and a sense of hopelessness. Towns, roads and bridges have been washed away. Hundreds of people have been killed and thousands are still missing. We learn that this disaster was caused by a rapid glacier melt and instability. Scientists have been warning about this for years. Those living in Nepal who have not contributed much to climate change, are suffering most of all.

Water is talked about in the Bible as something both life-giving and dangerous. We give thanks for what we often take for granted – clean water, yet we hear and see the destruction and pain experienced in other places. We pray for those suffering and perhaps give money to support those whose lives have been impacted in devastating ways, or protest about those who are harming our environment. We attempt to hold this tension.

Ezekiel’s vision was set amidst the background of exile, loss and uncertainty. In this context he brings a message of living water flowing through the dead places, bringing renewal and hope. As we journey more into this Season of Creation, may we notice and help to bring about God’s healing and renewal in the way we live out our faith by caring for God’s creation.

– Christa Megaw