Shine Jesus Shine

This Christian praise song was written in 1987 by Graham Kendrick. He recalled the story of the tune: "At the time most people were writing short songs or choruses and this is quite substantial like a hymn so I didn't think it would be picked up as quick. It was one of a number of songs which I had written and was originally written without a chorus with the verses similar to the version we use now. I used it in church and it seemed well received." "It was then left for a while and I returned to it a few months later with the feeling it needed a chorus. The chorus was a very quick process. The song was used and there seemed something special about it, but over the years it has developed its own identity."

"Shine" has proved enduringly popular among evangelical Christian congregations, staying at the top end of the Church Copyright License charts both in the UK and USA for a decade. In 2005 it was voted tenth in a survey conducted by the BBC's Songs Of Praise TV program of the UK's favorite hymns.

The song has also been vilified by a wide range of critics. For instance, the editor in chief at the Catholic Herald, Damian Thompson, called it "the most loathed of all happy-clappy hymns." Commenting on some of the criticism "Shine" has received, Kendrick wrote in Alpha magazine, "The term 'happy-clappy' came up a few times as a derogatory dismissal of enthusiastic praise. Dismissive terms have the effect of drawing a line on the floor and expecting us to jump either side of it. Well I for one am not going to jump." "If the happy-clappy label is being awarded then I hope I qualify! I will not apologize for following in the tradition of the apostle James (4:13), singing songs of praise if I am happy (and presumably clapping if I feel clappy). Mind you, please give me a label also for praying when I am in trouble, in the exact same tradition, of course, and for the times when I must weep with those who weep."