Young Anglicans climb the Mountain to pray for rain
Young people from the Diocese of Cape Town climbed the beautiful mountain known as Lion’s Head. With beautiful views over the city, it was time to reflect on the drought that we are facing. The worst drought in 100 years has brought the City to its knees. We face “day Zero” in May when the taps will be turned off. The implications on health of having no sewerage are very scary. Each person will be allowed to queue and receive 25 litres. We are currently being challenged to use under 50 litres per person per day.
Rev Rachel Mash led us in a mediation on Deuteronomy 11. The people of Israel were leaving Egypt a land with an advanced irrigation system fed by the huge Nile River. Now they are entering a land where they will be dependent on rain for irrigation. The Bible speaks strongly to us in Southern Africa as we are also so dependent on rain . God is calling us to obey his commands. We have broken God’s commandments in the way we are treating the earth, and so climate change is now impacting us. We have broken God’s laws by not treating water as a sacred gift and we have wasted and polluted it.
So we prayed for ourselves – that we would learn to treasure water and to inspire others to be water keepers. We prayed for the city – that everyone, from politicians to scientists to teachers to small children would take the actions they need to so that we can avoid Day Zero. And we prayed that God would bless us with rain…..