Topic

Angelika Dawson (MCC-BC, Communications and Teaching, and a former reporter to various Mennonite papers) began our Peace Sunday by recalling the story of Isaac’s family struggle to get water in Palestine. After enemies filled Abraham’s old wells with sand (essentially a declaration of war), Isaac moved and his men dug a new well. After it was captured by locals, he moved and dug again, and finally was allowed to use his own well for his families and herds. Even in antiquity, water was a scarce resource. Today this is more true than ever. Angelika then told of her visit to Cambodia, how the farmers she met learned to cooperate in making crucial decisions about sharing water from a local dam recently restored. Now there is no more fighting or water stealing. Like the story of Isaac in Genesis 26, these people found peaceful ways to share their precious water. How do we respond when we are faced with conflict? Could we, like Isaac, possibly walk away from our sources of wealth which make conflict with others, and trust that we will still be sustained by our God? [JEK]