And in the Big News today from a Faith Perspective, I like to go for a dip in the sea, which is very spiritual. However I don’t go for a dip when water companies dump raw sewage, because that is not very spiritual. Our water is a “common grace” (I learned that in theology class). That’s why we currently have a statue of Mary floating down the River Wye on top of all the raw sewage.
The water companies have done such a fantastic job increasing the untreated sewage that they’ve even given themselves extra bonuses as a reward.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-xGtwbuFV_iEYbT1Kb26yd6HFwJKkXmq/view?usp=sharing
Platitude of the Day 
Hopefully Mary’s wooden sculpture will bring some attention to the awful pollution of the Wye, but don’t expect any miracles. Meanwhile recent news shows that in the supposed Holy Land the holy River Jordan is even more polluted despite being one of God’s chosen rivers.
I am dubious, but Malcolm sounds quite convinced that miracles can happen and that St Ia travelled over the sea on a giant leaf (rhubarb?) and St Cuthbert had otter slippers on Lindisfarne.
Or perhaps they do happen as my naked rain dance around the garden (learnt from Sacheen Littlefeather) seems to have worked. 22mm on Tuesday. Perhaps if Severn Trent’s well reimbursed directors could get us all to take part in a rain dance at Ladybower then a hosepipe ban can still be averted and they can pay themselves another whopping bonus.
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“Common grace”, indeed. Only a very cloistered theologian could come up with a term like that.
Water is not free. It has to be collected, stored, treated and transported to its users, and when it is finished with it has to be transported, stored and treated again. The fact that the water companies are failing to do most of these tasks properly should not obscure the fact that they all need to be done, and they all cost money. Indeed, there is a case for saying that we’ve all got used to not paying enough for water in this country, which is why we (as well as the water companies) waste so much of it.
Here’s the Virgin Mary floating down the Wye: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/aug/16/hail-mary-statues-trip-down-the-wye-raises-chicken-pollution-issue It turns out that it’s a protest against chicken sh*t in the river. I wonder what the reaction of the average pagan on the banks of the Wye will be. Quite possibly “Oh, it’s another incomprehensible goddy ritual. Nothing to do with me, then”.
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It looks like something from “Father Ted”.
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