Water is the most basic, essential and precious element of life, standing for renewal, blessing, restoration, vitality and hope. The author asks how anyone could survive a single moment without it, noting that she drinks two bottles of water early every morning upon waking and deeply appreciates the vitality water provides each day.

The scale of the problem is global. According to the United Nations, 1.7 billion people lack basic hygiene services at home, and 2.1 billion still lack access to safe drinking water. Water shortage ranks among the most serious issues in the world today. The challenges cited include water being unaffordable for the poor, industrial discharge of chemicals and other pollutants into rivers, increasing water consumption, serious droughts and floods, and rising sea levels. Water access also holds a formal place on the international policy agenda: Sustainable Development Goal 6 of the UN's 2030 Agenda calls for the availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all.

This year, Christians across traditions — Anglican, Lutheran, Reformed, Evangelical and Catholic — are responding together. Fourteen Christian organizations sit on the Season of Creation Ecumenical Steering Committee, which is working on this year's topic, "Living Water."

The Season of Creation was begun by the Orthodox Church in 1989, when Ecumenical Patriarch Dimitrios I proclaimed Sept. 1 a day of prayer for the protection of creation. Pope Francis made it a global ecumenical movement with the 2015 publication of "Laudato Si' (Praise be to you)," and in 2019 he officially endorsed the movement. Since then, every year from Sept. 1 (World Day of Prayer for Creation) to Oct. 4 (Feast of St. Francis of Assisi, the 13th-century friar revered as a patron of ecology), the whole Christian family, united in ecumenical solidarity, has celebrated a worldwide month of prayer and action to protect our common home, the earth.

The theme of this year's water-focused program is "Immersion in Living Water," calling people to step deeper into faith-driven environmental stewardship for renewal, repentance and healing. Christians worldwide unite in prayer and action for ecological restoration, biodiversity protection and climate justice, inspired by the prophetic vision of Ezekiel 47:1-12, which depicts a life-giving river flowing from God's sanctuary to heal barren lands and revive ecosystems.

"Everything lives where the river goes … Along each bank of the river every kind of fruit tree will grow … Every Month they will bear fresh fruit because the waters of the river flow out from the sanctuary." (Ezekiel 47:9-12)

In that vision, flowing water transforms barren land, heals aquatic ecosystems and produces fruit-bearing trees whose leaves provide healing. Rooted in the vision, the initiative invites people to pray, act and advocate for ecological restoration and water stewardship — stepping deeper into the water while recognizing the interconnectedness of human life and the earth's water systems.

The goals of the Season of Creation are threefold: acknowledging the crisis of global water scarcity, pollution and the degradation of freshwater ecosystems; setting aside a special time of prayer and worship beyond denominational borders; and practical action through local community efforts such as river cleanups, water conservation projects, sustainability initiatives and climate advocacy for the healing of the earth. To equip such participation, the movement's ecumenical steering committee makes an annual celebration guide of prayer and liturgical materials available for parishes, schools and local groups to adapt.

The season rests on a shared call to care for God's creation. It celebrates God as the creator and acknowledges creation as the divine act that invites human beings to become collaborators, loving and caring for the gift they have been given.

As Pope Leo XIV, who succeeded Pope Francis in 2025, said, creation care is "an urgent need that involves much more than simply protecting the environment. For it is a matter of justice — social, economic and human."

The author is a member of the Daughters of St. Paul (Figlie di San Paolo), living and giving the good news to the world.

Source: The Korea Times