Thought For The Week 06 September 2026

Thought For The Week:     1 September – 4 October  IMMERSION IN LIVING WATER

The 2026 theme for the Season of Creation,

“Immersion in Living Water”, refers to the living waters that flow from the temple in Ezekiel’s vision of the new Jerusalem (Ezekiel 47:1-12).

As the river goes out from the city, it gathers strength until it becomes a mighty   river, teeming with fish, lined with abundant plantlife, and home to people and   animals alike. The prophet describes a thriving and biodiverse ecosystem.

Ezekiel’s vision of a renewed creation is picked up in the New Testament too. It’s so significant that the River of Life is the final image in the whole Bible (Rev 22:1-5).

It is easy to imagine these prophetic visions as metaphor of God’s life flowing into the world. But what if they are not just metaphor, but quite a literal description of God’s salvation? What if Ezekiel and John of Patmos thought there was no better image for God’s future than a thriving ecosystem sustained by living waters? The human and the more-than-human worlds living in harmony.

What if God has in mind the restoration of real rivers and ecosystems? The people of Israel entered the Promised Land by crossing the Jordan. Naaman found healing in its living waters. When Jesus was baptised in the same river he was immersing himself in this history. It was a sign of his identification, not just with God, but with a particular people and a particular place, where the drama of God’s salvation would play out.

If Jesus was baptised in the Jordan, what does it mean for us to be baptised here in Aotearoa New Zealand? For many of us, baptism takes place in a church with a font,   removed from the living waters that give us life.

Meanwhile those living waters are dying. This year, the Ministry for the Environment released a report on the state of our water. The results are not good. Many of our waterways are contaminated by intensive farming and polluted by urban runoff. Human health, economic productivity, and whole ecosystems suffer when our water is not well.

This Season of Creation, I encourage you to consider what it means to be  immersed in the living waters where you live: the streams, rivers, lakes, and seas.

Baptism is an immersion into the living waters of a place: to learn its history, invest in its flourishing, and imagine God’s future there.

With our election coming up, the Interchurch Bioethics Council has just released information sheets on several bioethical and environmental issues, including fresh water. I warmly commend it to you as we immerse ourselves together in the living waters of Aotearoa.

On behalf of Moderator Rt Rev Peter Dunn

Rev Dr Jordan Redding

Convenor of the Emissions Reductions Workgroup