It is basic to survival, and practically wherever we live, we are in contact with water daily.

Do we hold water as a great blessing, or a major threat? Torrential rain, floods, tornadoes, mudslides and Red Cross appeals, not the usual national headline news. We are generally watching images of such catastrophes from the safety and comfort of our homes as they happen somewhere else and we quickly forget. But when they come closer to home we are forced to stop and think. With the shocking floods still in many minds this last summer, with so many homes flooded and loss of life, what is God the creator doing? Or perhaps is he saying something to us.

Water is a powerful scriptural symbol and image. The Jewish or Hebrew scriptures identify the sea with danger – somewhere life may be swallowed up, like the story of Noah in Genesis. Like the people of Bible times, we seek explanations and understandably we question the meaning of the summer floods, but we have to be careful not to jump to conclusions.

I was greatly impressed with the Archbishop of York's dignified and sensitive approach to the flood victims whom he visited in Hull. Instead of glib answers, he simply came alongside people and listened to their pain and refused to make news-grabbing headlines. Yes, there has been loss of life and misery. However, we have seen many acts of bravery, kindness and co-operation, as people simply served one another.

In such ways God's love is made known to those in the midst of tragedy. Perhaps such natural disasters so close to home are a wake-up call to us who live so comfortably in our part of the world. We take earth and all its resources for granted and use and abuse it. We need to be good stewards, so that future generations can enjoy it.

By John Jenkinson, minister of Longcauseway United Reformed and Methodist and Highfield URC. On behalf of Churches Together in Dewsbury.