Luke 1:46-56

And Mary said,

‘My soul magnifies the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour,
for he has looked with favour on the lowliness of his servant.
Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
for the Mighty One has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.
His mercy is for those who fear him
from generation to generation.
He has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,
and lifted up the lowly;
he has filled the hungry with good things,
and sent the rich away empty.
He has helped his servant Israel,
in remembrance of his mercy,
according to the promise he made to our ancestors,
to Abraham and to his descendants for ever.’

The day of this particular group happened to be the Feast of the Annunciation. So, the Magnificat was a particularly significant song of worship to reflect upon.

Jamillah really resonated with Mary’s song and with this question, “I mean, wasn’t she scared?” I acknowledged that I imaged Mary had emotions like any of us, but also (I believe) made a choice to trust deeply in God, and in this she found her steadfast hope. That, to me, is the incredibly significance of the Magnificat, with all its reversals of power and expectation. It is a song of worship, as well as the coming a life-changing, power-reversing intervention of God into our human lives. This brought another reflection from Jamillah:

“God deserves our worship; when we worship and pray it isn’t just about us; it is living into a relationship with God”

We moved together into our question for reflection:

Mary gave thanks to God in this song; what would be the song of thanks your heart sang to God?

This question brought such an amazing response from the group. Not only did each person have a song to offer up, we began singing them. It was easy for this group to become a sort of worship service in itself. For the online version, rather than just naming the songs, I’m posting links to the songs of thanks welling up from our Faith from the Margins participants; I hope this gives you just a hint of the deep faith and worship experiences of our participants: