100 Word Haiku

Every year I attend a worship leader retreat, to re-energize my own spiritual life and to get new ideas for worship at my congregation. It’s always a highlight of my year.

This year, the resource team asked me to reflect on Mary’s visitation by the angel in 100 words. They called it a “100 word haiku”. It’s harder than it might sound.

One hundred words means I have to boil my thoughts down to their very essence. I have to do deep–immediately.

So, this is what came of my 100 words.

Mary, visited by the angel, asked, “How can this be?”
Gabriel explained.
Young Mary,
bary adolescent Mary responded,
“Here I am.”
then joined her cousin to sing the song of Hannah,
the song of her female ancestors.

I get stuck at
“How can this be?”
How can this be?

How do I move from the questions to “Here I am?”
How do I sing the song of Mary and her ancestors?

That is the mystery of faith.

From within the mystery, I join Mary, Elizabeth, Miriam, Hannah and Judith to
Magnify the Lord,
Rejoice in God my Savior,
Proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.

Here I am.