In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth,
the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters." -Genesis 1:1-2
בְּרֵאשִׁית
-- "In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth,
the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters." - Genesis 1:1-2
This is a powerful concept in Scripture. Bereshith, translated "in the beginning", is also the Hebrew title of the first book of the Bible. In English we call the first book, Genesis, which gives a hint to the universes that live inside the word, bereshith. Indeed, it has been said that bereshith holds everything that is to be, all of the possibilities in that one word. God's imagination is about to create the universe, through spoken word.
In this moment before all moments, we learn that the earth is a formless void... but somehow, there is water. This idea that water is part of God's moment before all moments tells us something ineffable about water. Water is elemental to all of creation. It exists with God before existence. It is extraordinarily sacred.
Scientists tell us that life began in water as tiny organisms. We as humans begin life in the waters of the womb, and our human bodies are mostly
water. Even our bones are around 30% water!
Water is life. So says the movement for the preservation of this basic and sacred component of all life on earth. That is why the
Water Protectors of Standing Rock and their allies continue to protect their charge. That is why the
people of Flint, Michigan are struggling to overcome extraordinary government neglect. That is why the people of California, mired in drought, are working hard to preserve water. We know that without it, we die.
The people of the movement at Standing Rock request that we pray for water, and that we do it near and with water. As Rev. Gregory Douglass, pastor of the Native American United Methodist Church reminds us, all water is from the same source. All water is sacred. Water has been with us from the beginning, is a partner in creation, and keeps us alive. Let us honor water as we pray and struggle for water's well being on this planet. As water goes, so go we all.
