When Jason sent me the song list for this past Sunday, I glanced over it and was glad to see that I recognized all of them and didn’t have to work on learning anything new (because the past few weeks have been WHEW!) So, I thought I was 1000% prepared when I arrived for praise team practice early Sunday morning. And I was. Except…
We started in on an oldie, but a goodie, “Send the Light”. It goes a little something like this.
If you grew up Church of Christ, like I did, you know we have a penchant for singing verses 1, 2, and 4 of almost every song (or, 1, 2, and whatever the last verse is – or sometimes even just first and last). It is a rare occasion indeed that the poor third verse gets to shine. Apparently, Jason and Daniel had other thoughts. Because we skipped that second verse about the Macedonian call right over and and that third verse slid right on in. After I recovered from the shock, I told Jason, “I don’t think I even knew that verse existed, but I think it may be my favorite now.” He laughed and said his, too.
I want to briefly visit why.
The whole song is a missionary message. Sharing the light of the gospel, the good news, to those who need the Light in their life. It speaks of souls to save, working in love, and the call to the good work of Christ.
Verse 3 reads, “Let us pray that grace may everywhere abound, Send the light, send the light. And a Christ-like spirit everywhere be found, Send the light, send the light!”
“Let us pray that grace may everywhere abound.” What is grace? Grace is undeserved favor. Being blessed with what you didn’t earn. A gift, freely given by God our loving Father. But it’s also an action of God that works in us to change us. He fills us with His grace, and in turn our spirits become more Christ-like, just like the second part of the verse mentions. “And a Christ-like spirit everywhere be found.” When we experience the grace of God, we in turn show that grace to others. And when we show them grace, they see the light of Christ shining from us (Send the Light!).
I wonder how many other “third verse messages” we’ve missed over the years?
