So Send I You

While planning for worship last week I found this hymn written by Margaret Clarkson. Margaret Clarkson had survived a very turbulent childhood then went on to be a teacher. She wanted to be a missionary, but instead became a teacher in a mining community and a lumber camp. 

During this early time of teaching, while she was experiencing very dark and lonely days, she wrote a the hymn, "So Send I You". 

She explained,  "I experienced deep loneliness of every kind—mental, cultural and particularly, spiritual—I found no Bible-teaching church fellowship, and only one or two isolated Christians, in those years. Studying the Word one night and thinking of the loneliness of my situation, I came to John 20, and the words ‘So send I you.’ Because of a physical disability I could never go to the mission field, and this was where He had sent me. I had written verse all my life, so [in 1954] it was natural for me to express my thoughts in a poem."

Later Margaret became a teacher, and aspired to be a Biblical writer. As she reflected on the original verses of her hymn, she became convicted that while it was a sober and challenging expression of following Jesus, it did not accurately convey the "glory and hope of the missionary calling". She then wrote four new verses to her hymn "So Send I You" which was republished in 1963. 

This song really spoke to my heart. Following Jesus is a journey full of refining fires and victories. Through it all, as we grow in the Lord and experience His grace, we find rest in the peace of Christ. I decided to take two verses of each set of lyrics and arranged them with a chorus. 

Learn more about Margaret Clarkson and this beautiful hymn here
http://www.propempo.com/blogs/david/story-behind-so-send-i-you-margaret-clarkson
http://www.hymnary.org/person/Clarkson_EM