Responding to this sad reality on the Baptism of our Lord Sunday, Jan. 8, 2001, the Catholic Bishops’ of the Pacifi c Northwest published a pastoral letter, “The Columbia River Watershed: Caring for Creation and Our Common Good.” The bishops made clear that our human well-being in the Pacifi c Northwest is closely connected with the well-being of the Columbia River watershed and all its inhabitants. This letter was a signifi cant contribution in teaching Northwesterners to think of watersheds as our primary geographic reality, as our common home.
Learning to think of our physical locations in terms of our surrounding watersheds is crucial to the thriving of life on our Earth home. But this isn’t an instinctual way to think about our surrounding environments, as St. Andrew’s history with its land demonstrates. Shortly after moving to its current 10-acre site in 1961, nearly 7 acres of the congregation’s property was designated as wetlands by the State of Oregon and thus not available for future development.
For several decades the congregation wondered what to do with this 7 acres, with some members even viewing them as a liability. But over the years awareness of the value of wetlands has increased, and St. Andrew has been working for 10 years to restore ours with help from Clean Water Services and others from the community. We now know that being situated in such an environment, surrounded by majestic trees and wetlands, is a valuable reminder of our connection with our watershed and the Earth.
Watershed discipleship In April 2013 theologian and activist Ched Myers came to St. Andrew to lead a workshop on Earth care. After a well-attended and well-received session, we gave Myers a tour of our Sanctuary of the Firs and wetland. He seemed excited by our intentional connections with our immediate environment and was especially encouraged when he heard that the St. Andrew Earth Care Team was interested in pursuing the restoration of our wetland and local watershed. Myers’ excitement stemmed from the connection of our goals to his call for a “watershed discipleship alliance.” This entails a commitment by Jesus’ followers to healing our world by restoring the health of our respective watersheds.
The time and need for such discipleship is now. In September 2003, at a theological conference at Holden Village, a retreat center in the North Cascades of Washington, the late Sen. Paul Simon of Illinois emphasized that water would be at the center of major confl icts around the globe in the 21st century. In this, one of the last public presentations he ever gave, Simon urged his listeners to “follow the water.” He warned of a catastrophic water crisis unless aggressive measures were taken to address it.
Simon, the son of a Lutheran minister, was a passionate advocate for providing access to safe water and sanitation for developing countries. The Senator Paul Simon Water for the World Act of 2014, which committed our nation to providing “living water” for those most in need of it, passed by voice vote in the Senate and House of Representatives. This act of unity, almost unheard of in today’s political climate, is a testimony to the universal importance of water.
A future filled with living waters In the fi nal chapter of the Bible, Revelation 22, John off ers us a beautiful vision of a future fi lled with living waters. On either side of the river of the water of life, which fl ows from the throne of God and the lamb Jesus Christ, is the tree of life with its 12 kinds of fruit. The leaves of these trees are for the healing of the nations. Jesus exhorts: “Let anyone who wishes take the water of life as a gift” (22:17). As Jesus’ followers, we receive this precious gift of living waters with deep gratitude and seek to use it for the healing of our Earth home and all its inhabitants.
Brocker is a pastor of St. Andrew Lutheran Church, Beaverton, Ore. His forthcoming book on caring for creation is Coming Home to Earth.
Langford is associate director of admissions at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg (Pa.).
Series editor’s note: Most who write for “Deeper understandings” are full-time professors at our seminaries, colleges and universities. The majority of the church’s “resident theologians,” of course, are parish pastors like this month’s author, Mark Brocker, who has taught at Pacifi c Lutheran Theological Seminary, Berkeley, Calif. His daughter, Rachel Brocker Langford, also contributed to this article. —Michael Cooper-White
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