By way of example, the Judeo-Christian scriptures contain numerous references to the role and value of water. Some references relate to dramatic events, others to important sacraments.
Many references to water are to its cleansing role. In the Old Testament of the Bible, perhaps the most dramatic cleansing was the Flood, when water literally is said to have cleansed the entire earth. More commonly, washing with water of the body and/or clothes was a required ritual is a theocratic environment when one was said to be "unclean" due to a transgression or when entering a place of worship.
Water wells and springs also became a meeting place. Young unmarried men, searching for romance, would gather around wells and springs to meet young unmarried women coming to gather water. Perhaps this could have been the first singles bar.
More seriously, there is conjecture that the Annunciation may have taken place when Mary, the mother of Jesus, actually was outside of her home drawing water from a well or spring.* In addition to a second century biography of Mary, a painting at the Yale Art Gallery suggests this conclusion. The painting, excavated by Yale archeologists in the 1920s or 1930s, apparently was a piece of wall art from a third century house used as a church.
For Christians, baptism--washing with water--is a sacrament performed by churches. The washing with water reminds one of the cleansing from sin accomplished by Jesus' sacrifice at the cross and resurrection. Baptism also is a recognition of entry into the larger community of Christian faith.
Just as we put faith in water for its life sustaining value, water qua water can be an element of faith itself.
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*See Peppard, "Birth Announcement",
Yale Alumni Magazine, May/June 2016
p.56
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