~So Send I You

       The text of So Send I You, sometimes called the finest missionary hymn of the twentieth century, was written by 22-year-old E. Margaret Clarkson.

       Born in Saskatchewan, Margaret Clarkson grew up in Toronto. Jobs were so scarce that she had to spend seven years in the far north of Ontario, first in a lumber camp, then in a gold-mining area, before returning to teach for 31 years in Toronto, retiring in 1973.

       In the north, she says, 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 it was natural for me to express my thoughts in a poem.

       Some years later I realized 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 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.

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So Send I You

(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 end 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 loos death's fetters-

So 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 servant-

Come, share My throne, my kingdom and My crown!"

"As the Father hath sent Me, So send I you."