A command or stating the obvious?

Yes, it's that dire little ditty that I once translated into Latin. I thought that since I had spent some time below on the error of I'm Accepted I ought to consider the error of an infamous song.

Lord, the light of Your love is shining,

In the midst of the darkness shining.

Jesus, Light of the World, shine upon us;

Set us free by the truth You now bring us.

Shine on me, Shine on me!

Shine, Jesus, shine;

Fill this land with the Father's glory;

Blaze, Spirit blaze,Set our hearts on fire.

Flow, river flow,

Flood the nations with grace and mercy;

Send forth Your Word, Lord,

And let there be light.

Lord, I come to Your awesome presence,

From the shadows into Your radiance;

By the blood I may enter Your brightness,

Search me, try me, consume all my darkness,

Shine on me, shine on me.

Shine, Jesus ...........

As we gaze on Your Kingly brightness,

So our faces display Your likeness;

Ever changing from glory to glory,

Mirror'd here may our lives tell Your story,

Shine on me, shine on me.

Shine Jesus ............

The question is: what is this song actually saying?

The first two lines "Lord, the light of Your love is shining, In the midst of the darkness shining." This is just a statement of fact, that the Light shines in the darkness and the darkness comprehends it not. A sound biblical idea, so why then "Jesus, Light of the World, shine upon us; Set us free by the truth You now bring us. Shine on me, Shine on me!"

From a purely logical point of view, either the light is shining on "me" or it isn't, since we have established in the first line that it is, there is no need for the second line. So much for logic.

The more important issue is this "Shine on me" business. When I translated this into Latin of course I had to use the imperative which is used to express commands and urgent requests. If this were an urgent request, I would expect to see some act of supplication, reverence and recognition of a need. I don't perceive that here, and even if it was here, the sheer gusto and hand-waving and general abandonment to the pleasure of singing for its own sake make it quite clear that this has none of the flavour of a request, but rather a demand. If that is the case then the song is guilty of Blasphemy in denying the Kingship and Authority of the Divine Christ.

Don't misunderstand me here, please. I am fully aware of the outpouring of love that the Saviour has for all Mankind, that it is boundless, that it is pure and overflowing with a liberality that one cannot truly fathom. But it isn't cheap and has come at a terrible price. Thus Our Christ's gift of love must not be held in as scant disregard as this song implies. Yes it talks about the Lord's "Kingly Brightness" but where is the humility?

Unlike "I'm accepted" there seems to be (albeit scant) reference to our need for cleansing: "Search me, try me, consume all my darkness". However consider that this is one line, sung quickly and triumphally, it renders it more of a boast, than an act of humility. What of the self-examination and confession for the individual to do?

Notice that the whole song is Christ do this, Lord do that. I hear in my head Our Lord saying "Yes, I'm doing this already, but what are you going to do?" I seem to remember in one of my previous sermons a mention of the Prattler of Pious Platitudes, the phenomenon of heaping praise and praise upon God until the words become meaningless and God Himself cannot get a word in edgewise. What of sitting and listening to God? How does this song allow God to speak to us? At its best it is just a meaningless sing-a-long. It's only when you try and put meaning to it that it truly gets worse!