Before we go for a walk, we tend to ask the Google Nest for the temperature, so we have a sense of how to dress. This is immediately followed by asking, how does it feel? Knowing the temperature isn’t the whole story. The water vapour in our air has implications for how the temperature feels. In the summer, that can mean humidity.
Did you know that the humidex is a specifically Canadian weather metric designed to help us make informed decisions about summer activities? We have learned that when humidity is high, when there is a lot of water vapour in the air which drives up how hot it feels to the human body, this increases risks of heat stroke. How water interacts with our bodies, how water feels to our bodies, has implications.
How does water feel? What are some of the ways we touch water? What are some of the ways water touches us?
Water takes on a lot of different forms – vapour, gas, solid, ice, liquid. We find water in the air, in streams, ponds, rivers, oceans. It is in our homes. We drink it and eat it. We feel it on our skin as we wash and in the form of rain, snow, fog. We play in it and on it. We touch water and are touched by water in an incredible diversity of ways. Our relationship to water matters.
This is why reflecting on the nature of that relationship is important. During the Season of Creation we have been reflecting on water through the lens of the story of the Israelites as they have fled Egypt. We have considered how they may have tasted the Passover meal, heard the Red Sea part and then flood over the Egyptians, smelled quail and manna in the wilderness, and seen water from the perspective the wisdom keepers like Miriam and Autumn. In today’s reading, they are reminded that all things are connected. Relationships that are respectful and reciprocal are important. This is embodied through the 10 commandments. This is their moment of reflection, their time to understand how the journey comes together to help them live into what they have learned in their time in the wilderness.
How will our journey help us to live into what we have learned? In what ways has water touched us this season and helped us better connect with this gift? What are some of the things we will take away from this season?
As we touch and are touched by God’s gift of water may we embrace relationships that are respectful and reciprocal with each other, with God, and with all of God’s Creation, this we pray as we sing (VT) 789 Be a Sower
