Water for the World

I read this Time article a few weeks ago and was struck by the following: "A fraction of the money Americans spend at retailers in the month of December could supply the entire world with clean water."

That just knocks me down every time I read it.

Clean water is essential to human life, regardless of what region of the world we inhabit.

Water makes up 60% + of the human body.

In baptism, water is the earthly element connected with God's word as commanded by Christ to mark the entrance of the baptised into the Christian family of believers.

So, water is necessary for life, we are made of water, and water marks our entrance into the family of God, and by such the beginning of faith, outpouring of grace and thus, salvation from death through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

And yet, the one universal necessity unavailable to a vast majority of the world's inhabitants is water.

Which is what, to me, makes the simple idea of the Advent Conspiracy so amazing.

I have to admit, when I first heard the phrase, "Advent Conspiracy," it made my skin crawl a little. It summoned up images of well-meaning fellow Christians bemoaning the loss of the true meaning of Christmas.

Time author Amy Sullivan nailed down what I could only feel by saying, "A movement like Advent Conspiracy is countercultural on two fronts — fighting the secular idea that Christmas is a monthlong shopping and decorating ritual and also the powerful conservative notion that the holiday requires acknowledgement from the nation's retailers to be truly meaningful."

Several years later I am drawn to this article on my Twitter feed where finally I learn more about the Advent Conspiracy.

Dang.

I wish I had quelled my knee-jerk withdrawal and taken a moment to learn a little about the intent.

But I probably wasn't ready.

I read it now and I see the difference between "Bible Beating" and "Being fishers of men."

Water.