HYMNS AND THEIR STORIES – 17 “So Send I You” Author: Edith Margaret Clarkson (1915 – 2008) Music: John W. Peterson Name: TORONTO

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his hymn has been included in twenty-two different Hymnals and it is probably the greatest missionary hymn of all time. It was written in 1937 and first published in 1954. Margaret Clarkson worked in a lonely gold-mining camp in northern Ontario, Canada. She had a great desire to be a missionary in a foreign country, but because of poor health she was not able to go. She was a keen bird-watcher who loved the Lord, and who wrote over 100 hymns. She says: “In 1935 teaching jobs were so scarce that I had to take my first job as a teacher in a lumber camp some 1400 miles from home, out in the Rainy River District of north-western Ontario. From there I moved to the gold mining camp of Kirkland Lake, 450 miles north of Toronto.” During the seven years in the north she “experienced loneliness of every kind: mental, cultural, but particularly spiritual.” In all those seven years she never found real Christian fellowship – born-again Christians were almost non-existent.

1. So send I you to labour unrewarded, To serve unpaid, unloved, unsought, unknown; To bear rebuke, to suffer scorn and scoffing – So send I you to toil for Me alone. 2. So send I you to bind the bruise and broken, O’er wandering souls to work, to weep, to wake; To bear the burdens of a world aweary – So send I you to suffer for My sake. 3. So send I you to loneliness and longing, With heart ahungering for the loved and known; Forsaking home and kindred, friends and dear one – So send I you to know My love alone. 4. So send I you to leave your life’s ambition, To die to dear desire, self-will resign; To labour long, and love where men revile you – So send I you to lose your life in Mine. 5. So send I you to hearts made hard by hatred, To eyes made blind because they will not see; To spend though it be blood, to spend and spare not – So send I you to taste of Calvary. “As the Father has sent, so send I you.”

She continues, “I was studying the Word one night and meditating on the loneliness of my situation and came in my reading to John 20:21, and the words ‘So send I you’. Because of a physical disability I knew that I could never go to the mission field, but God seemed to tell me that this was my mission field, and this was where He had sent me. I was then twenty-three, in my third year of teaching. I had written and published verse all of my life, so it was natural to put my thoughts into verse.” Margaret was born into an unhappy home, was bed-bound with juvenile arthritis when she was three, and suffered migraines and vomiting. Pain was a constant companion, but she was able to attend school and become a teacher. “So Send I You” was written at this time, expressing her pain and loneliness. She says, “Some years later I realised that the poem was really very one-sided; it told only of the sorrows and privations of the missionary call and none of its triumphs. I wrote another song in the same rhythm so that the verses could be used interchangeably, setting forth the glory and the hope of the missionary calling. This was published in 1963. Above all I wish to be a biblical writer, and the second hymn is the more biblical one.”

Here is her newer version: 1. So send I you, by grace made strong to triumph O'er hosts of hell, o'er darkness, death and sin, My name to bear, and in that name to conquer – So send I you, My victory to win. 2. So send I you, to take to souls in bondage The word of truth that sets the captive free, To break the bonds of sin, to loose death's fettersSo send I you, to bring the lost to me. 3. So send I you, My strength to know in weakness, My joy in grief, My perfect peace in pain, To prove My power, My grace, My promised presence – So send I you, eternal fruit to gain. 4. So send I you, to bear My cross with patience, And then one day with joy to lay it down, To hear My voice, "Well done, My faithful servantCome, share My throne, my kingdom and My crown!" "As the Father hath sent Me, So send I you."

What do we make of this change? The first version reflects the trials of faith as experienced by Margaret’s circumstances of pain, loneliness and disappointment – comparable with those in Hebrews 11:35b– 40, “Of whom the world was not worthy.” Having been a missionary in foreign countries for many years, I see that we need both versions. The first emphasises that Mission work includes “strong crying and tears” just as Jesus experienced. It’s aim is not to turn God’s servants into celebrities! The second version majors on the triumphs of faith, as recorded in Hebrews 11:1–35a. Despite the trials, we rejoice in the triumphs of service for the King of kings.

Some express dismay that Margaret’s original hymn is said to be “THE Missionary Hymn of the twentieth century.” Their dismay hinges on their lack of apprehension and understanding of the nature of Mission. The comment that the author “learned her mistake” is both untrue and unwise. The first version covers a serious and sober look at a calling that is hard, when fully embraced. Praise God that the Holy Spirit used the original words to plant a missionary call in many people’s hearts – if it was acceptable for Him to use, then our rejection of it is grossly misguided! Even if the first hymn emphasises the hardships and omits the joys, they are still needed. It is not a question of which of the two versions should be used – both should be used by us, just as they are both used by God’s Spirit. John W. Peterson is well known, and the fact that he composed the tune for “So send I you” is an accolade in itself. The key of F is most acceptable, and Eb (E flat) is included as a Low Voice rendition.

So Send I You “As the Father has sent Me, so send I you” John 20:21 E. MARGARET CLARKSON TORONTO JOHN W. PETERSON