The Great Disclosure | September 7, 2025 | Rev. Dr. Kathryn Benton

This is the great disclosure:

that there is at the heart of life a Heart.

When such an insight is possessed by the human spirit

and possesses the human spirit, a vast and awe-inspiring

tranquility irradiates life.

This is the message of the spiritual.

Do not shrink from moving confidently out into choppy seas.

Wade in the water, because God is troubling the water.

Thurman uses the power of the spiritual, Wade in the Water to reveal The Great Disclosure…the truth that there is a heart at the heart of life…a truth explored by our own Rev. Hassaun Jones-Bey in his book of the same name. This heart is a compassion so deep and so wide…evident in the sun, the moon, the winds, the waters, the plants, the trees, the cells of creatures large and microscopic. Thurman and Jones-Bey illuminate the spiritual, Wade in the Water…using the example of this water of life by saying that God lurks within the “trouble” of our lives. Although there is heartache and pain…although we must suffer from sometimes unimaginable difficulties, God is there…there is a Heart…a presence…a guide within the “troubling”. This all-pervading presence is troubling the waters of life…making room for healing.

If we think about the actual waters, then we should be concerned.

The Clean Water Act, enacted in 1972, was implemented partly in response to the Cuyahoga River fire of 1969. This was an event that could not be ignored. Today that river is not on fire, but silently, beneath the surface continues to be polluted, mostly by farm and runoff from homes. The Clean Water Act has been continually weakened, especially since 2023 and is now in danger of being gutted by our current administration. Andrew Wetzler at the NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council) fills us in on the specifics:

At the behest of industrial polluters, Trump’s EPA plainly intends to radically restrict protections for our waterways and wetlands. The Supreme Court’s Sackett decision already devastated our ability to protect millions of miles of streams and tens of millions of acres of wetlands.

Even though the Biden administration faithfully implemented the Court’s ruling, the Trump EPA today launched an effort to weaken the Clean Water Act further. If it follows through with this plan, the administration will be taking an extreme approach that endangers communities across the country—leaving them more exposed to toxic pollution, dangerous flooding, and the contamination of drinking water supplies for tens of millions of people.

This reality is sobering. After all of the work that has been done by so many, the health of our waters, land and people are being attacked.

Our spirits are “troubled” on a very personal level… a visceral level… at the level of basic life necessities: water, air, food… but also the necessities of connection and love, warmth and compassion. We have been busy building a wall between the human being and the “outer” world of nature… wind, rain, fire, heat and cold, animals and plants and it is this wall that has caused this schism… this disconnection from our bodies on the one hand and the other bodies with whom we share this brink of time. Howard Thurman spoke to this disconnection… this illusion:

[The human being] is a child of nature; they are rooted and grounded in the earth. They belong to it, and it belongs to them… The human being cannot long separate themself from nature without withering as a cut rose in a vase. One of the deceptive aspects of mind in the person is to give them the illusion of being distinct from and over against but not a part of nature. It is but a single leap thus to regard

nature as being so completely other than oneself that they may exploit it,

plunder it, and rape it with impunity.

We are indeed children of nature…rooted and grounded in the earth. We are connected by the air, the water, the food… by the mother, the father, the brothers and sisters, the cousins and aunts and uncles, the children. Our connection to nature has been made more obvious by the recent climate events. Because we have exploited, plundered and raped our earth…because we have fouled our own nest, we continue to experience the repercussions. The system is at its breaking point. This is a shocking realization in the words of Thich Nhat Hanh:

I remember listening one day to a seminar on South Africa and seeing

some movies played of the atrocities and sufferings there. I remember

being overwhelmed by sadness at one point. The member of the seminar

asked me what I thought could be done. And I said I thought that nothing

could be done. They seemed quite startled and asked why. I said,

“Everyone is distressed by the films we’ve seen here, and everyone is

discussing heatedly what action can be taken – whether nonviolent or

violent. But tomorrow everyone will be preoccupied by his own life and

cares, and his distress will vanish.” If I had said we could do something, I

might have left the people there at peace. But I felt that what was needed

was a good shock.

Yes, we are often in need of a good shock to our systems…a great disclosure.

We are preoccupied with our own life and cares. If we are not shocked, we may not respond. Instead of taking in the reality of our situation, many of us cope by shutting down… by avoiding the distress and shock. The hope is that we can respond in conjunction with the healing, transforming waters… the actual waters and the waters of compassion we may have for each other and our precious planet.

The symbol of the water is powerful. Turbulent, calm, blue, green… tears, sweat, blood… whatever form it takes… it is a substance that cannot be isolated…cannot be separated out. It is one…one whole, one awareness. Each droplet of water is aware of each other drop of water and is ready to merge with it, given the chance. Water can merge and destroy, create and heal… it is blood, sweat and tears, as well as the carrier of our waste

products. And the Great Spirit of Life is troubling the water… the all-pervading presence is in and around this substance from which we have our birth… our life. We are being called to the work of healing and of the righting of the wrongs… called to allow and enable justice to roll down as water, and righteousness as a mighty stream… called to remove the obstacles to this process.

We have so many examples from the history of the struggle… the struggle for justice and of peace… of healing, reconciliation and repair… of times when this water has been freed. We have only to listen to the voice of Nina Simone, singing about the power of water… to recognize this freeing of the spirit… freeing of the waters of life:

Take me to the water

Take me to the water

Take me to the water

To be baptized

None but the righteous

None but the righteous

None but the righteous

Shall be saved

So take me to the water

Take me to the water

Take me to the water

To be, to be baptized

'Cause I'm going back home

I tell you I'm going back home now

Going back home

Can you stay here no longer?

For I'm going back home

Going back home now

Going back home

To be (To be)

To be (To be)

To be baptized

Simone is singing of that well of courage and strength needed for the struggle… the struggle not only for social justice and human dignity, but of environmental restoration for the sake of creation, of which we are a part. It is the struggle to stay awake… to pay attention to the Great Disclosure of our time, so that we can come back home to ourselves…

So, let’s go to the water for lessons on how to merge, to heal and to create

a restored reality… a place that resembles the original blessing of

creation… complete with the healing waters, fresh air and our companions

the plants and animals. We have the resources to do this, if we listen

carefully for the sound of those who have come before, those who travel

this way with us and those who are yet to come. I am reminded of the story

by Olive Schreiner describing “A Track to the Water’s Edge”. She wrote:

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.”

It is this track being made… this path being worn to the water’s edge that may be all we can do in our short lifetime to further the cause of reconciliation and restoration that is needed. This is what Nina Simone was talking about. We need to leave a mark. But when we act alone, it is not enough, but taken together… in community, it can be the most important work that we do. If we move with confidence into the choppy seas, and if we bring the necessary dedication and passion, it is there that we find the all-pervading presence of the Holy… our refuge and our inspiration… our strength and our courage to face the great disclosure. It is there that we learn the lessons of life and of the water of life, guiding us to our sacred purpose. Lead on!