October 04, 2026

The Season of Creation is the annual Christian celebration to pray and respond together to the cry of Creation: the ecumenical family around the world unites to contemplate and care for our common home, the Oikos of God.
Each year from September 1 to October 4, the Christian family unites for this worldwide celebration of prayer and action to protect our common home. It is a special season where we celebrate God as Creator, and acknowledge Creation as the divine continuing act that summons us as collaborators to love and care for the gift of all that is created. As followers of Christ from around the globe, we share a common call to care for Creation. We are co-creatures and part of all that God has made. Our well-being is interwoven with the well-being of the Earth.
We rejoice in this opportunity to safeguard our common home and all beings who share it with us. This year, the theme for the Season is “Living Water.”
This year’s theme, “Living Water”, explores Ezekiel 47:9 and 12 as a powerful biblical vision of hope and ecological healing. Set amid exile and loss, the image of living water flowing from God’s sanctuary reveals divine healing that renews land, water, biodiversity, and human responsibility towards the whole creation.
The symbol depicts water flowing from the Temple of God - at first a tiny stream that grows deeper, and deeper and as it does so, it brings life to dead areas and restores fertility to damaged or barren ecosystems. Through living water comes healing; but in order to receive new life, we too must step into the water and also become part of God’s river of life, taking part in the healing of creation.

Living Water: Water as Life

Ezekiel’s vision reframes water — the most basic element of life — as a divine agent of renewal, justice, and hope, a life-giving force flowing from God’s sanctuary. In Ezekiel’s time, water was a symbol of divine presence and blessing. Great civilizations depended on mighty rivers such as the Nile, as well as the Euphrates and the Tigris which were two of the rivers that watered the Garden of Eden (cf. Gen 2:10). The water of the oceans too is teeming with life!
The vision begins with a small trickle — droplets of water flowing from the place of prayer and sacrifice. From a tiny stream it grows to an unstoppable river — the first marvel. The river grows as it flows from the Temple, nourished by the worship and prayers of God’s people.
But the second marvel is greater still. The river does not merely sustain life, it restores entire ecosystems. The prophet saw “on the bank of the river a great many trees on one side and on the other.... This water flows towards the eastern region and goes down into the Arabah, and when it enters the sea, the sea of stagnant waters, the water will become fresh.” (Ezek 47:7,8) While describing how the river flows into the “sea of stagnant waters” the prophet is referring to the Dead Sea, one of the most lifeless places in his region. So powerful is this river’s water that the salt waters will become fresh and teem with life.

Water between Crisis and Hope
The current Water Crisis

Ezekiel’s vision stands in sharp contrast to the reality of the water crisis we face. According to the United Nations UN News, 1.7 billion people lack basic hygiene services at home, and 2.1 billion people still lack access to safe drinking water - that is 1 in 4 people on the globe!
As climate change intensifies, and groundwater extraction increases, several countries are now reaching a so-called “point of water bankruptcy” (UNU), that is a condition marked by irreversible losses of natural water capital.
Although access to drinking water is a human right for all, the multifaceted water crisis disproportionately affects vulnerable communities, future generations, and non-human life that has no voice in political or economic systems. These are some of the many challenges:
Water becomes unaffordable for the poor.
Impact on health of water borne diseases.
Impact of industrial discharge of chemicals and other pollutants into rivers.
Increasing water consumption fueled by the data-centres and energy production required by our digital activities, including for use of artificial intelligence.
Poor governance and corruption by companies and governments. Impact on food security of droughts, floods, storms and desertification.
Salination of the soil due to sea level rise or overexploitation of aquifers.
Violence over competition over scarce water supplies.
These many issues are leading to migration, pushing people into exile, with loss of homes and culture.
The impact on ecosystems and biodiversity is devastating: according to the World Wide Fund for Nature, we are facing catastrophic declines in aquatic wildlife, with freshwater populations dropping by a staggering 85 % and marine populations by 56 % in the last 50 years (WWF).
From a theological perspective, this crisis reflects broken relationships — between humankind and God, within the human family itself, and between human beings and other living beings. Furthermore, it is of paramount importance to stress that water pollution has implications related to social justice and equity.
Hope from Faith and Action
Ezekiel’s vision is ultimately one of hope. As co-workers with the Creator, Christians’ relationship with non-human creation should be grounded in the biblical vision of creation as an interconnected community of life (cf. Gen 9:8–17; Hos 2:18; Ps 24:1). This relationship is one of sacred partnership and mutual custodianship rather than domination. Pope Francis describes it as “a relationship of mutual responsibility between human beings and nature” rejecting excessive or tyrannical anthropocentrism (Laudato si’ 67, 68, 116).
Christians are called to confront the aforementioned injustices and to reject a worldview that treats water as a disposable resource. For instance, in the last 20 years, the WCC Ecumenical Water Network (EWN) has promoted the preservation, responsible management and equitable distribution of water for all, based on the understanding that water is a gift from God, and access to drinking water as a fundamental human right.
On every continent, inspired by our faith, Christians are acting: rivers are being restored, water sources are being protected from pollution and extractive industries - and arid lands are becoming green again. Wells are being dug and water provided for parishes, villages, and health care centres.

Rev. Deborah
Image by congerdesign from Pixabay

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