Julia R. Lupton
June 3, 2024
“The Pacific Ocean.”
“Upper Newport Back Bay.”
“The Santa Ana River.”
“Loma Ridge.”
“Rainfall.”
“Mecca.”
These are some of the water sources named by community members as they poured water into a baptismal font at the front of St. Mark Presbyterian Church in Newport Beach on May 9, 2024. This Water Communion, led by Rev. Sadie Cullumber of Harbor Christian Church, framed an evening of reflection around water in science and religion.
Over seventy people attended, representing faith communities, environmental justice organizations, area universities, and local government. Many brought water samples from different parts of the county—and, in the case of Mecca, from across the ocean.
Steve Allison, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at UC Irvine, explained how rainwater he had brought from his research site, the Loma Ridge Global Change Experiment, flows from the foothills of the Santa Ana Mountains to the lands below. Working with the Irvine Ranch Conservancy, Allison is studying how drought weakens the native vegetation vital to water movement and the health of our landscapes.
Keila Villegas, Water Justice Director at Orange County Environmental Justice (OCEJ), showed how citizen scientists in Santa Ana have documented water problems in their neighborhoods in order to design better policies responsive to local inequities. Gaining legal personhood for the Santa Ana River—the body of water she had recognized in the Water Communion—is a new goal for their organization.
“Personhood for the river is part of a larger indigenous stewardship plan,” Villegas explained. “Personhood would grant the river and its guardians the rights to sue, utilize compensation for the river’s health, and have a say in projects that impact the river.”
Amanda Swain, a congregant at the Episcopal Church of the Messiah, responded enthusiastically. “Seeing the challenges of water infrastructure in Santa Ana and how OCEJ is working to get these resolved by the responsible agencies was very encouraging,” Swain shared. “It helped me to understand that small acts can make a difference in people’s lives.”
Dee Ustan, a civil engineer and lay leader from the Pacifica Institute, spoke about the meaning of water in Islam. “The water we brought tonight from Mecca,” Ustan explained, “flows from the Zamzam Well, where God sustained Hagar and Ishmael in the wilderness.” Millions of Muslims drink from the well each year as part of their pilgrimage to Mecca.
Rabbi Marcia Tilchin from the Jewish Collaborative of Orange County demonstrated the ritual washing of hands before the breaking of bread. As she said the blessing, she poured water from Tustin into the baptismal basin where it mixed with the waters that participants had contributed earlier.
At the end of the evening, guests lined up to fill their bottles with water from the baptismal basin. Now the water was gritty with sand, brackish with salt—and filled with the new meanings that our evening of reflection had brought to it.
Water: An Interfaith Exchange was hosted by the Interfaith Working Group of the Wildland-Urban Interface Climate Action Network (WUICAN, pronounced “we can”). Housed at UC Irvine, WUICAN is a consortium of community-based organizations, California Native American Tribes, land managers and universities in Southern California working together to address the climate crisis. Three additional Elemental Climate Conversations, highlighting Fire, Air, and Earth, will take place in 2024-25, followed by a Climate Action Festival on October 11-12, 2025 featuring the work of grant partners and interfaith groups.
WUICAN acknowledges our presence on the ancestral and unceded territory of the Acjachemen and Tongva Peoples, who still hold strong cultural, spiritual and physical ties to this region.
Contact:
Research Justice Shop
researchjustice@uci.edu
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