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Emergent Village

I Used To Know How To Walk On Water

Last updated on: June 10, 2015 at 9:19 pm   by Cristina Mejia

I Used To Know How To Walk On Water 2015-06-10T21:19:28-05:00 Cristina Mejia

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Now and then,  I find myself  knocked down in the dirt in confusion and only music can touch my soul. Here is a lamentation from the least expected source, it showed up in my life (thanks Spotify) and for the past few years it was given words to a wide range of thoughts and emotions.

I Used To Know How To Walk On Water is probably the most beautiful spiritual song I have heard in many, many years – maybe in all my life. It motivated me to drive three hours to a small hole in the wall concert in Orlando and back the same day. It was a place where a scent of God showed up in kind of broken, unexpected appearance. Just like it should.

As I seek for a more authentic God and a more authentic Cristina, treats like Joseph Arthur come along. His freedom to surrender, to create art and music without really asking permission from anyone. I love his irreverence to mix the spiritual with the human. It’s who I am, matter seeking transcendence.

 

I Used To Know How To Walk On Water

I used to know how to walk on water

I used to be so unafraid

I could save the weakest tyrant

And I could knight the proudest slave

I could give riches to beggars

And give love to the one who hates

I could tempt a whore so frozen

And I could torture the strength of fate

I used to know how to walk on water

A king of kings they knew me well

I could give sight to blind men

And make a mute man sing in hell

But now I watch with awe and wonder

Doubt has now befallen me

I ask the lord to show me mercy

And to give me sympathy

 

Forgive me now, my useless thunder

When I was such a dynamo

I am here and I am humble

For I know not which way to go

 

I used to know how to walk on water

I could give a dead heart life

I could murder the joy of satan

And make his mistress be my wife

I would be a dream of cowards

And they would never resemble me

I could see them doubt me under

As I set each one free

Now I just sit and wonder

What illness has befallen me

A sicker mind makes me surrender

To this world of vacancy

 

Forgive me now, my useless thunder

When I was such a dynamo

I am here and I am humble

For I know not which way to go

 

I used to know how to walk on water

Now I sink in the dirt

No kind sun or holy laughter

Seems to reach beyond the hurt

I used to know how to walk on water

I used to be at peace with love

And all its strength and all its power

Would lift me up so high above

A burning star, a holy wonder

Women would rush to be with me

But now I’m lost inside the thunder

Of pain which holds insanity

 

Forgive me now, my useless thunder

When I was such a dynamo

I am here and I am humble

For I know not which way to go

Forgive me now, my useless thunder

When I was such a dynamo

I am here and I am humble

For I know not which way to go

 

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