A Track to the Water’s Edge | March 30, 2025 Rev. Dr. Kathryn Benton

We who believe in freedom cannot rest until it comes.

The title of our time together comes from South African author, Olive Schreiner, from the book, A Track to the Water’s Edge; The Olive Schreiner Reader, edited by Howard Thurman. I have used her words many times to get at various themes. The reading I’d like to focus on begins with the story of a woman, named Truth, coming out of a desert looking for the land of Freedom and meets an old man named Reason. She is told that she must cross a river to get there…a river for which there is no bridge and over which no one has, as yet, crossed. She finds that she must throw off the mantle of Ancient-received-opinions because it is full of holes. She must also put down the tiny angel at her breast. This is when she laments:

And she stood far off on the bank of the river. And she said, “For what do I go to this far land which no one has ever reached? Oh, I am alone! I am utterly alone!”

And Reason, that old man, said to her, “Silence! What do you hear?”

And she listened intently, and she said, “I hear a sound of feet, a thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands, and they beat this way!”

He said, “They are the feet of those that shall follow you. Lead on! Make a track to the water’s edge! Where you stand now, the ground will be beaten flat by ten thousand times ten thousand feet.” And he said, “Have you seen the locusts how they cross a stream? First one comes down to the water-edge, and it is swept away, and then another comes and then another, and then another, and at last with their bodies piles up a bridge is built and the rest pass over.”

And she said, “Over that bridge which shall be built with our bodies,

who will pass?”

He said, “The entire human race.”

And the woman grasped her staff.

And I saw her turn down that dark path to the river.

Penned in 1889, these are profound and powerful words from a woman. Indeed, her views were not only fiercely feminist, they provide guidance through poetic and haunting stories to all who read them…ones that stay with you for a long time. This was the case for Dr. Howard Thurman who discovered her writings in 1925. It’s very difficult to know where to begin a consideration of Olive Schreiner’s life. She was born in 1855 in Cape Colony (present day Lesotho) and was named for her three older brothers (Oliver, Emile, Albert) who were already deceased when she was born. Her life was one of poverty and disruption and was deeply affected by health issues related to this poverty. Still, she remained steadfast in her belief that women should be able to provide for themselves, just like men, and that justice is something that one must strive for…it is not a given. She held fast to her belief in truth, even at her own expense.  She was an anti-war campaigner and an intellectual and wrote and spoke out on civil rights issues of her day.  An example of this is her critique of Cecil Rhodes and his government that was centered around her belief that governmental policy was set by capitalists with little regard for the needs of the masses. Her view was later born out in Rhodes’ efforts to annex independent African States, imposing voting restrictions and a labor tax on indigenous populations and inflicting corporal punishment on those who hindered industrial development in South Africa. This critique resulted in alienating her from her family. She was an activist at a time when this was not usual for women. We can all be inspired by her bold, audacious and steadfast civil rights work, as well as her extraordinary writing.

I began with the story of the woman at the water’s edge because these words have resonated with me for a long time and are deeply meaningful at this point in my journey.

In a way, I feel for the woman called Truth. She had made up her mind to seek Freedom and then discovered the great sacrifices she had to make…throwing off the mantle of ancient-received-opinions and then having to put down the angel that she held close to her breast. This seems to be an illustration of what Schreiner was working for throughout her life…the emancipation of women…the freeing of women for a life of independence. But then, it seemed that she had to proceed on her own…alone…utterly alone.

Since the death of Dorsey Blake, several people have asked me if it wasn’t lonely here in the front of the church without Dorsey. I admit that at times, it does feel lonely. He and I have worked together for over 20 years. It would be strange if I didn’t feel the loss of a companion…a deeply spiritual companion and mentor…a soul friend. Yet, what I also feel is a continuation of that companionship…on the level of the cosmos…across perceived barriers of time and space…life and death. There are times I talk with him and even imagine his presence…right here in this sanctuary. He continues to help to guide my steps from the place of the ancestors. Senegalese poet Birago Diop said it best. He wrote:

Listen more often to things than to beings;

The fire’s voice is heard, hear the voice of the water.

Hear in the wind the bush sob: It is the ancestor’s breath.

Those who have died have never left,

They are in the brightening shadow and in the thickening shadow;

The dead are not under the earth,

They are in the rustling tree, they are in the groaning woods,

They are in the flowing water, they are in the still water,

They are in the hut, they are in the crowd: The dead are not dead.

Listen more often to things than to beings;

The fire’s voice is heard, hear the voice of the water.

Hear in the wind the bush sob: It is the ancestors’ breath,

The breath of dead ancestors who have not left,

Who are not under the earth, who are not dead.

Those who have died have never left,

They are in the woman’s breast, they are in the wailing child

And in the kindling firebrand.

The dead are not under the earth, they are in the fire dying down,

They are in the moaning rock, they are in the crying grass,

They are in the forest, they are in the home: the dead are not dead.

The ancestors, including Dorsey Blake, are indeed present, and they will guide us to the water’s edge…I’m sure of it. They have indeed made a track that we will be able to follow…we in this Beloved Community must lead on. Just as we are following in the footsteps of our ancestors, Schreiner is right…a thousand times ten thousand feet will follow. If we listen deeply, we will hear it…the sound of the feet that will follow us to freedom.

Here is some inspiration: