Chords for Sarah Hart - Gather at the Water

When I was a kid, I grew up in southeastern Ohio and my mom was part of this wonderful,
wonderful group of Catholic people [B] and they were so awesome.
They actually ended up buying a plot
of land out in the Hocking Hills with a little house and a little lodge and we used to go out
there on weekends and we would have mass and we would play [A] all weekend, we would sing all weekend,
it was just like the most fun thing.
And one of my sweetest memories about that time was we would
have mass and we would have mass outside in the grass and right beside the grass there was this
creek so all through mass you would hear the rushing of this creek.
So writing Gather at the
Water, I had that imagery about sitting in mass in a field with water and how we went there as
a people, as a group, a community of Catholic people, that is where we gathered.
And when we
come to the sacrament of baptism, [B] that is what we do, we gather together at this place.
Oftentimes
kids are baptized in the middle of church and there's a thousand people there.
Sometimes it's
they're baptized separately, you know, with just family and friends, but [N] no matter how big or small
we gather together at the water where we receive this gift of new life, we're reminded that it is
by our baptism that we are consistently renewed.
It's a beautiful, beautiful image and I love the
song, the way that the song turned out.
Writing the lyric was pretty simple because I used a lot of the
imagery already existing in the right, so it wasn't too far to go to say Gather at the Water.
The music was important because I was sort of hearkening back to myself sitting in a field
listening to the water while we were having mass.
It's a very earthy thing, it's a very
meaningful sort of visceral thing, and I think that the music is easy enough that people can sing
We Will Gather at the Water while gathering around the font and a cantor can sing the [Em] verses and it's
very, very simple to do just that.
[N] We will gather at the water.
It's so swampy and it's so
Appalachian and I really [Am] love it.
We will gather at the [D] water, gather at the water, we will gather [Cm] at the water and receive new life.
_ _ [F] _ _ [C] _ _ [G] _
_ [Am] _ _ [F] _ _ [C] _ _ [G] _
_ _ [F] We will gather [C] at the water, [G]
gather at the water, [F] we will gather [C] at the water [Am] and receive [C] new life.
[Am] _ _ [C] _ _ [F] _
From the first of [C] creation, love breathed upon [Am] the waters, [F] beyond oceans [C] to this font.
_ [F] _
Now in this [C] beginning, in this goodness [F] flowing, receive [Dm] the welcome [C] of our God.
_ [F] We will gather [C] at the water, [G] gather at the water, [F] we will gather [C] at the water [Am] and receive [C] new life. _
_ [C] _ _ [F] _ _ Red sea [C] was parted, love freed us [Am] from enslavement, still he makes a [C] way for us.
_ [F] Just as he stood in [C] the Jordan, he is standing [F] with you, receive [Dm] the mercy [C] of our God.
We [F] will gather [C] at the water, [G]
gather at the water, [C] we will gather at the water [Am] and receive [C] new life.
[F] _ _ [C] _ _ [G] _
_ [Am] _ _ [F] _ _ [G] _ _ [C] _
_ _ _ [F] _ In this spring of [C]
belonging, this sacrament [Am] of water, you [C] are signed and sealed by love.
_ [F] _ By name he has [C]
called you, [Am] in grace he [F] clothed you, receive [Dm] the garments of [G] our God.
We [F] will gather [C] at the water, [G]
gather at the water, we [F] will gather [C] at the water [Am] and receive [C] new life.
We [F] will gather [C] at the water, [G]
gather at the water
[F] We will gather [C] at the water [Am] and receive [C] new life _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _