My Soul Sings

A Contemporary Magnificat
based on Luke 1:46-56


From deep inside my soul I sing
praise to my maker.
God is amazing beyond belief
the Heart of Being has held
my heart in hand.
I’m just a girl trying to live
a God worthy life
and from the crowd
I was noticed, chosen, claimed.

When people look back on my life
they won’t be able to help seeing
blessing and the great things
the Mighty One has done.
I hold up God’s name, wave
it like a flag and walk
under the banner of the Holy
in a parade of wondrous works.

God rains compassion
quenching the thirst of those who follow
as far back as our earliest kin.
I-Am-Who-I-Am was there
flexing divine muscle
humbling the proud who thought
they had it all.

God knocks the powerful off their thrones
drives them to their knees
and lifts the trampled to their feet.
The Almighty fills the baskets
of the hungry with delights
and says to those already satiated
“You have enough.”

God is faithful never veering from the promise
made to our father Abraham
and all who sprung from him.
God is with us forever.




My Soul Sings

Perhaps this is what it means to say my soul sings. Saying yes to God, saying yes to the creative spirit that longs to dwell within us and birth something new into our lives. Like Mary, we can sing out a love song to God recognizing God’s wondrous work and our hope for a world open and attuned to divine power that topples traditional power structures and set all of us free to experience new life in unconditional love.

My soul sings with the privilege of being called by name by the Holy One. My soul sings because I, who was an atheist, a Christian hater, a scoffer and skeptic, have been claimed and loved by God.

If God can do that, if God can turn my life around, fill me with hope from the inside out and let me work out the details of my faith, beliefs and salvation later, then what else is God capable of?

My souls sings. I believe in the power of God’s love to work miracles. My soul sings and I want to turn my life and this world into a never-ending refrain of praise. My soul sings. Despite all the evidence to the contrary, I believe in all encompassing unfathomable love.

That love is God and Love will save us. Love will bring about the fervent desires of our hearts for justice and for peace. Some day, some way, it will happen. This is the hope we have inherited. This is the hope that set Mary’s soul to singing. This is the hope we proclaim now and forevermore.