The Water of Life
Genesis 1: 9-10, 20-22
April 17, 2005
Pastor Currie Burris
Earth Sunday
I am drawn by the waters of the oceans. I have spent most of life away from it, but the ocean is never far from my spirit. At least once a year, I must make my way back again to the sea. I don’t have to go out into it, sailing, cruising or swimming. I just need to be next to it. I need to smell the salt air, to feel the warm breeze on my face, to hear the crunch of the sand beneath my bare feet. I need to hear the crash of the waves, over and over again in a relentless unpredictable rhythm. I need to just be before the immensity of the endless, undulating waters, alive and fierce, gentle and caressing. It’s like going home, touching the place from which we all come. I feel that I’m walking with God.
In the beginning, God created the world. On the first day God created light and darkness. On the second day, there was water, just water—no earth, no sun, no stars or planets—just water, light and darkness. Then God separated the waters to make room for the sky, a space between the waters. Only on the third day did God create dry ground, and gathered all the water up into the seas. And then God set about filling the land with growing things, plants and trees, flowers and grasses. Then God separated the light, into the sun, the stars, and the reflecting bodies like the moon and the planets. That was the fourth day. On the fifth day, God filled the sky with birds and flying things, and filled the oceans, rivers and streams with all kinds of life: fish, mammals, mollusks, crustaceans, jelly fish, plankton, microbes, and a multitude of other forms of life. God saw that it was good. And God blessed them and said: “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the water in the seas.”
Water is the essential ingredient to life as we know it. Biologists believe that life on this planet emerged as single-celled organisms in a primordial sea, many, many years ago. Astronomers and physicists, looking into the heavens for the signs of life in places other than earth, say that they have found all the elements that are necessary for life in many places in the universe. But the one thing they have yet to find in any place other than earth is liquid water. Water is the key. Without it there is no life. And the oceans are the place where most of the water on earth is found.
Today is Earth Sunday. It is the day that we focus our worship of God on all that God has created: the world we live in, the earth, the air, all living things, and the oceans that sustain and surround us all. This day we are called to confess all the ways that we have sinned against God, the creator, and the ways we have harmed, degraded and destroyed God’s creation. Today we confront how we have foolishly, arrogantly, blindly wounded our environment and put life in jeopardy. We have failed in our calling to care for this garden in which we live. Today we recommit ourselves to caring for this planet, its resources, and its life. We renew our holy stewardship of the earth.
I walk by the ocean and I know that I am part of the ocean and it is part of me. Human beings are saltwater creatures. The human embryo is nurtured from its inception in a warm bath of water, amniotic fluid which surrounds the growing human until birth. Some say we never forget the memory of our floating days. Seventy percent of our body is water. When a 200-pound body dries up or is burnt away, all that is left is two pounds of dust.
The oceans make up 70% of the surface area of the earth. Over 90% of all
species on earth are found in the oceans. Over 97% of the biomass (that is, the
sum of living tissues and cells on the earth) is found in the oceans. There are
mountains higher than Mt Everest below the surface of the ocean. And there are
valleys deeper and wider and more spectacular than the
And yet the oceans are absolutely essential to all life on earth. Without the oceans, life would cease. The ocean is the great well of the water cycle that sustains life. Water evaporates from the seas, the vapor forms clouds, and the clouds bring rain, which nourishes plants and animals. Rains fill the water tables, and spill into streams and rivers, which flow to the sea to start the cycle all over again.
It is also becoming understood now that the oceans fulfill an essential role in another great cycle, the carbon dioxide cycle. In our atmosphere, the proper balance of oxygen, carbon dioxide, and nitrogen is critical to maintaining a livable temperature and breathable air on earth. New carbon dioxide is created constantly from the breath of animals and, most extensively, by the burning of fuels. Excess carbon dioxide is taken up by plants, but not nearly enough to keep a balance. Most of that excess is absorbed by the oceans. Seawater is a great CO2 sponge. Disruptions in the ocean’s ability to take up carbon dioxide, which can happen through pollution and changes in its salt content, would have devastating effects on our climate.
We are already seeing major pollution of our oceans through many sources.
Garbage and wastes are thrown into the seas. Raw sewage, fertilizers,
industrial discharges, oil spills, and toxic wastes wash into rivers and
streams and ultimately into the ocean. There is now what is called a
“dead zone,” a 200 square mile area just beyond the mouth of the Mississippi
river in the
The oceans were once teeming with fish. But pollution and over-fishing have decimated many fisheries bringing some species to near collapse.
Global warming is causing the polar ice caps to begin melting, releasing
billions of gallons of fresh water into the oceans. This is leading to a
decrease in the ability of the oceans to remove CO2. It is
also threatening the global ocean currents, such as the
The oceans are in crisis. But there is much we can do, much we must do to change it. It is our personal challenge. It is our communal need. It is our sacred duty. It is a huge problem but there are things each of us can do. Be aware of your garbage. Pay attention to what you throw away. Poison, toxins and pollutants leech out of landfills into the ground water, out of the ground to streams and to the seas. Fertilizers on our lawns wash away into storm drains, and again into streams and to the seas.
On the street outside my house there is a storm drain, which has painted across the top edge “Anacostia river drainage.” Everything that spills into that drain—from rain, cleaning fluids, motor oil, dog waste, garbage, fertilizers, everything eventually ends up in the Anacostia River, which flows into the Potomac River, which flows into the Chesapeake, which flows to the sea. The same is true with the drains outside your homes.
Another thing you can do is become aware of how much fossil fuel you are using: gasoline for your car, your lawn mower, weed eater, your boat, power tools; coal and oil that feed many of the power plants that give us electricity; diesel in the farm equipment that produce food and in the trucks and ships that transport that food and many other products we use; jet fuel that moves planes that carry people, products, mail. They are all fossil fuels, which produce carbon dioxide, which is released into the atmosphere and contributes to global warming. Reduce your dependence on these fuels, and use more efficient, cleaner burning vehicles. Seek out alternative sources of energy. You can use solar and wind alternatives to generate power. I can tell you how.
When you go to the beach and experience the ocean, be responsible with your trash and debris. Be careful in the ocean. Don’t step on coral. Don’t over fish. Watch out for endangered species. The ocean is not a garbage pit or a cesspool. Take out everything you bring in, and leave no trace behind.
The time is now to take action to change our abuse of the environment that God has given to us. Caring for the earth is our sacred responsibility, it is our holy task; it is our duty as faithful Christians, stewards of God’s creation. Let us walk along the shore with loving care and gentle, healing spirits. Let us walk with God.