Posted on: 17th June 2021

We saw two bottles on a table.  A man picked them up and moved them out of view.   $4 billion dollars dropped from the supposed value of a global company.   Didn’t it make you laugh?  I’m still smiling at the disproportion between effort and outcome.  And the sheer surprise. 

The media liked the story.  They were there for the man, Ronaldo, but would they have made so much of the story without the lost four billion?   But money distracted the reporting from the punch line.   The man held up a plain glass and said, Aqua, Water.  He was not advertising a competitor’s product.  He was celebrating the good gift of God, getting behind our artificial consumerism to natural bare necessities, to what makes for health. 

It could even be an unintended prophetic witness on behalf of all the people of the world who do not have easily accessible, reliable water – their human right, a simple necessity. 

The UK is cutting its aid for water and sanitation projects by 80% despite the dangers of pandemics and the hardship to millions of poor people. 

We are trying to save the planet by going electric - but lithium mining in Chile and elsewhere is endangering ‘sensitive eco-systems and watersheds’ and the indigenous communities living in them. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/jun/14/electric-cost-lithium-mining-decarbonasation-salt-flats-chile

There is however good news from Cornwall – I hope it is well-based – that lithium there can be sourced without destructive demands on water supplies  https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20201124-how-geothermal-lithium-could-revolutionise-green-energy

Coca-Cola has been criticised for damaging local communities by its massive consumption of water -https://waronwant.org/news-analysis/coca-cola-drinking-world-dry.  Now the corporation has an impressive manifesto -   https://www.coca-colacompany.com/sustainable-business/water-stewardship.  And see  https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/business/wp/2018/05/31/how-coca-cola-came-to-terms-with-its-own-water-crisis/

Water in dry and thirsty places is the gift of God (Isa 44.3); a little cup of water given freely is a sign of the kingdom of God (Matt.10.42); the Spirit says, Let the one who is thirsty come, and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life (Rev 22.17)