Most of us tend to associate God with otherness, and all things remotely clean, bright and beautiful. But God is Creator and created all things in a wonderful balance of interdependence.
We see this in the diversity of living creatures, the food chain where all life is dependent upon other forms of life, and nature’s constant regeneration alongside death and decay – which are also part of God’s plan.
We are sustained by each other and by the world around us. We are made for interdependence. We cannot live without each other nor can we survive without the gifts of rain, sun and the living plants and creatures that make our planet home.
We have a divine mandate to be stewards of God’s creation. It is an awesome responsibility. At one time we were not doing too badly but more recently we have been dismal failures. Climate change is the result of our negligence and irresponsibility. The delicate balance has been upset and we are paying a very heavy price for our failure to care for ourselves and for others. It is the poor, those most marginalised, who are suffering directly as a result of our selfishness and greed.
Home is where…
The culture of consumerism has led to tons of unnecessary packaging and other waste that has caused the barrios, ghettos and townships of the world to become vast, unhealthy garbage dumps where disease is rife. Not only is there inadequate clean-up of rubbish, but human waste has become an immense problem to which scant attention has been paid. Rivers have become polluted and standing water a breeding ground for bacteria and diseases such as cholera and diarrhea. Children pick through the rubbish, and flies and rats abound.
Most of us want to avoid such places. But for millions and millions of people around the world, such places are home. They know no other existence than to be surrounded by evil smells and filth.
The gap between those who have a healthy living environment and those who have not is evidence of our failure to carry out our God-given mandate. We are not doing anything near enough to provide clean water and sanitation for the poor. The rich have only to turn on a tap or press a button; for them, modern, beautiful bathrooms have become a status symbol. The poor must walk miles to fetch water, often of questionable quality; their sanitation is rudimentary.
Good health depends on clean water, not only to drink but for personal hygiene. Poor waste and water management are killing millions of God’s children through preventable disease. The Millennium Development Goal target for sanitation coverage by 2015 appears to be a pipe dream.
No boundaries
It doesn’t have to be that way. Access to safe sanitation, clean water and adequate health care is a human right. This is a moral universe. Sanitation issues are often neglected because they concern the poor and the marginalised, the powerless. Fortunately many of us are realising that polluted rivers affect us all, that choking smog from township fires knows no boundaries and that caring for our sisters and brothers is not only our obligation, as it must be, but is in our self-interest. We are beginning to understand that we are in fact our brother’s keeper. That the scriptural injunction to care for the widow, the poor, the alien and the marginalised is a responsibility we ignore at our peril.
“Right here in the muck”
But we are called to do far more than self-interest dictates. We are called to go the extra mile, to carry one another’s burdens. We are called to a compassionate response to the needs of our sisters and brothers.
Jesus did not stand to one side telling people what to do; he was engaged, he responded to the needs of those who came to him. He was concerned for the hungry and fed them, he wept when he heard that his friend Lazarus had died, he healed those who came to him diseased and disfigured. He embraced them all and said that inasmuch as you do this to the least of my children, you do it to me.
There is the story of a Jewish man in a concentration camp in Nazi Germany. He was being taunted by the Nazi guard who jeered at him as he scrubbed the filthy toilets, “Where is your God now?” “Right here in the muck with me,” was the reply. That is our God, Emmanuel, God with us. That is our challenge. To live our faith not from afar but close up. Close enough so that we can try to understand the reality of living without a tap in your home, without a shower to wash or a toilet to flush. To understand the hardship and loss of dignity in living without these amenities on the edge of the modern world.
Water is life. Let us work together to transform this situation. What is dirty and unhealthy can be changed into its glorious counterpart. May we do all that we can to make that happen. -- Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu