It’s very unusual for me to visit a Presbyterian church and hear a hymn that I’ve never encountered before.
So, encountering So Send I You was a pleasant surprise.
It’s also unusual for a hymn to take the voice of Jesus, and for the content to be – so confronting.
Edith Margaret Clarkson’s lyrics are held by many as a great 20th century mission hymn.
As an invitation it a sombre challenge, but also a counsel of encouragement for those who respond.
.
Here’s a simple rendition.
This rendition by Kim Sledge is a lovely solo which features all five verses.
The lyrics:
1.
So send I you to labor 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 bruised and broken,
O’er wand’ring 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 ahung’ring for the loved and known,
Forsaking home and kindred, friend 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 labor 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, tho’ it be blood, to spend and spare not-
So send I you to taste of Calvary.
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