Leaping Off the Page: Any Time of the Year Edition
Page 18
So Send I You
A Monodrama
Cast:
MC: This person introduces the monologue to the congregation and then leads them in singing the hymn at the end. This part could and maybe should be adlibbed. It could also be done by the person performing Margaret Clarkson, as long as it is clear that the fourth wall is up during the actual monologue.
Margaret Clarkson: The author of the great missionary hymn, “So Send I You.” She is 23 years old, a school teacher in Kirkland Lake, Ontario.
Setting: A small, simple cabin in the north woods of Ontario, 450 miles north of Toronto. The year is 1937. All that is needed for the set is a chair with a small table next to it. Have the table at up center with the chair to one side. Both are canted, facing down right and angled towards down left. This puts the table at a power point of the set, and on this is placed the Bible. The table and chair will be the hub for Margaret’s movements. She should never move more than five or six paces away from the hub.
MC: (While the MC is speaking, Margaret enters and sits on the chair, reading her Bible.)
There is nothing as fascinating as the workings of God in the lives of men and women who follow Him. It is exciting to read about the apostles, the church fathers, the missionaries, the martyrs, the preachers and the very ordinary people who touched God and were touched by Him. So many of them were just like you and me.
Many people have chronicled the stories of how God’s grace moves in His people. One such writer is Philip Osbeck, author of a series of books that tells how many of our favorite hymns came into being. We are going to do a short drama based on a story in one of those books, 101 Hymn Stories. It happened in 1933 in Kirkland Lake, Ontario, a mining community some 400 miles north of Toronto.
A young woman, Margaret Clarkson, has come to teach in the town’s small school. We are going to catch a glimpse of her in her bedroom, a plain, simple room in a boarding house. Imagine worn home spun furniture made cheerful by the addition of colorful cushions and blankets. Imagine a braided rug on the scarred floor and a fire burning in a pot-bellied stove. It is evening, a time for reflection and meditation. We’ll peek in on Margaret as she “meditates” on John 20:21. So Send I You.
Margaret: (She’s sitting in a chair, reading her Bible. John 20:21. KJV.)
“Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, so send I you.”
(She slowly reads again) As my Father hath sent me, so send I you. (Puts the Bible down. In a low voice, she repeats) So send I you. (Looking up) Oh, God, why haven’t you sent me? Why haven’t you called me? Why have I been pushed aside here, forgotten, abandoned?
(She energizes, gets up, crosses down right to glare out the “window”.) Kirkland Lake, Ontario. What a God-forsaken bit of desolation! There’s nothing here! (A bit of a rant, she paces left) Nothing but trees, and rocks and hills and—(a sputtering pause, she stops the pacing and turns to face the audience, then she spits out the worst offense) and snow! (Rants right stage) Snow, snow, snow! (Stops pace. It gets worse) Oh, and don’t forget the moose! (Snarls) Moose! (Marches to the left) If I never eat another bowl of moose stew, it’ll be too soon!
(Change of energy. She goes to chair, stands behind it and grips the back, looking up at where she perceives God to be.) How much longer can I bear it, Lord? Oh, it’s not the snow—or the moose. (Turns sideways, facing the “window” stage right. Hugs herself) It’s the isolation, the loneliness. (Move down left) If only there were another person who believes as I do about you, God, I could bear it. I could bear it with joy! But this daily grind, this going to school day after day and teaching the sons and daughters of gold miners who don’t care and don’t want to care, that’s what gets me down. There simply isn’t anyone here I can have fellowship with. I don’t know why people go to church here. It certainly doesn’t seem to be to meet you!
(She continues to move around the room) The pay is lousy, too. I wouldn’t mind that so much if I could get even a little appreciation or recognition. The kids aren’t so bad. I think they’re grateful for a room with a fire where they don’t have to be chopping wood or hauling water or hunting for squirrels. It’s not their fault they can’t get interested in noun conjugation and square roots and the finer points of English common law!
(Sits) But it would be nice if even one parent said, “We like how you teach our kids.” Or, “I like those little poems you write, Miss Clarkson.” Or if only one person would say, “Pray with me, Margie. Let’s talk to Jesus!”
But they don’t. They think I’m silly. It’s a waste of time to write poetry, they say. They don’t understand my habit of putting my feelings and experiences into verse. They’re not impressed that some magazine down in Toronto has published some of my work.
They think I’m too young. (Stands, indignant) Too young! I’m 23! I’m a mature woman with a college education!
(Moves down right) They think I’m narrow-minded. They tell me they don’t want to hear what I have to say about you, God. They say they’re quite fine and don’t need you, thank you very much, and then off they go to the bars and get drunk and beat their wives and kids.
(To table, leans on it, depressed) There’s nobody here to be my friend. Nobody who wants to know who I am. Nobody who would be bothered if Margaret Clarkson slid off the face of the earth.
Sometimes, I think they hate me!
(Straightens, moves straight down stage, accusing) I wanted to be a missionary! Instead, I’m here as a (spits the words) school teacher! You know how much I’ve wanted to be a missionary!
(Pacing) But I can’t. They won’t let me. They turned me down for health reasons. (Spits it) Health reasons! So where do I end up? Kirkland Lake! The wilderness at the end of the earth! It’s too much! It’s unfair! You know I want to serve you, God, to be a missionary. It isn’t fair! It’s a waste.
Why do I have to be here instead of on the mission field? (Loud cry) Why didn’t you call me? (She picks up her Bible and waves it) As the Father has sent me, so send I you. (Lowers Bible—a real plea) Why haven’t you sent me? (She slowly looks at the Bible and reads the text.) “As my Father hath sent me, so send I you.” (She closes the Bible and clutches it to her chest. Her head tilts as she thinks it out. Take your time with this part.) Oh. (A note of awe) You mean—you have sent me? Here? To Kirkland Lake? This mining camp is my mission field? That where I am is where you have sent me? (Realization setting in) Oh, God, forgive my blindness, my self-centeredness! Of course this is my calling, my mission. As the Father sent His Son, so Jesus has sent me. “So send I you.” (Get a rhythm.) “So send I you.” (Slower, thinking—a poem is coming) “So send...”
(Energizes, looks around) Where’s my pencil? (Grabbing paper and pen, she starts to scribble that great poem, “So Send I You”. As the actor speaks the words of the poem, they must be real. At times halting, at other times coming out in a blurt as she writes the poem. Remember this is the first time Margaret speaks the words—they are new to her.)
So send I you to labor (searches for word, finds it and writes) unrewarded…(The actor may then recite the entire poem—it can be found in many hymnals or on line. One such site is https://hymnoftheweek.net/?p=40. Move around, take your time with it, live with it, breathe it. As you continue through the poem, it should get harder and harder as the truth of it pours into her.)
(The last line)… So send I you to taste of Calvary.
(Her head is now bowed as she is yielded to the work God is doing in her. She holds this position for a few beats and then a solo flute or oboe plays hauntingly the coda from the John W. Peterson tune, “As the Father hath sent me, so send I You.” Lacking a flute, a soprano voice could sing the words a cappella. She holds her position.)
MC: (Takes center stage. Margaret quietly exits at this point)
A few years after this poem was published, John W. Peterson discovered it and set it to music. “So Send I You” soon became one of the greatest missionary hymns o
f the 20th century. Margaret Clarkson, however, wasn’t completely happy with the tone of the hymn. She felt it spoke too much of the sorrows and privations of the call of God and not enough of its joy and victory. Thirty years later she wrote additional verses which can be used interchangeably with those of the original song. Please stand and sing with us the newer verses of this hymn.
(I found the lyrics of the newer version here: https://www.hymnlyrics.org/newlyrics_s/so_send_i_you_by_grace_made_strong.php. It, too, can be found in a number of hymnals.)
Original hymn copyright: 1954 Singspiration Music (ASCAP) ARR UBP of Benson Music Group, Inc. (365 Great Circle Road, Nashville, TN)
Newer hymn copyright: 1963 Singspiration (ASCAP), Div. of Zondervan Corp.
Curtain
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