Cowboy Church #148

 Hello, my friends and welcome back for another service of Cowboy Church. 

Today's musical selection begins with Roy Rogers and Dale Evans singing Christmas Is Always, the title track from their 1969 Christmas album. In 1958 Dale had written a book entitled Christmas is Always, where she not only talked about her Christmas seasons but her childhood summers visiting with her family. About these summers she stated, "This was Christmas too in our hearts, for there was an abundance of peace and love for God and each other." Next comes everyone's favorite cowboy/hippie Willie Nelson with It Came Upon a Midnight Clear. The song was written by Edmund H. Sears. This hymn first appeared in Boston's Christian Register, on December 29, 1849 (yes after Christmas). That version has a verse that does not appear in this version, "But with the woes of sin and strife the world has suffered long; Beneath the angel-strain have rolled Two thousand years of wrong; And man, at war with man, hears not the love-song, which they bring: O hush the noise, ye men of strife, and hear the angels sing!" This verse reflects the state if America at the time this song was written. The Civil War was approaching, and Sears found himself concerned with the division in our country. Unlike many Christmas songs, It Came Upon a Midnight Clear is not a song about peace on Earth but rather a plea for it. With the division and anger that is so prevalent today, this is a perfect Christmas song for our time. This song has been put to different tunes over the years and the two most prevalent are Carol (by Richard Storis Willis in 1850) and Noel (by Sir Arthur Sullivan in 1878). Carol is the preferred version of this song in the U.S. and is the one Willie performs here. The tune had been used for other lyrics dating back to when it was written in 1850, and was first used to accompany, It Came Upon a Midnight Clear in 1878. Willie's version comes from his 1997 Christmas album, Christmas with Willie Nelson. Next comes the Maddox Brothers and Rose with their 1949 recording of The Unclouded Day. This song was written in 1879 by Josiah Kelly Alwood. Alwood later wrote about how this song came to be, “It was a balmy night in August 1879, when returning from a debate in Spring Hill, Ohio, to my home in Morenci, Michigan, about 1:00 a.m. I saw a beautiful rainbow north by northwest against a dense black nimbus cloud. The sky was all perfectly clear except this dark cloud which covered about forty degrees of the horizon and extended about halfway to the zenith. The phenomenon was entirely new to me and my nerves refreshed by the balmy air and the lovely sight. Old Morpheus was playing his sweetest lullaby. Another mile of travel, a few moments of time, a fellow of my size was ensconced in sweet home and wrapped in sweet sleep. A first class know-nothing till rosy-sweet morning was wide over the fields. To awake and look abroad and remember the night was to be filled with sweet melody. A while at the organ brought forth a piece of music now known as “The Unclouded Day.” A Day and a half was bestowed on the four stanzas.” I have mentioned before on this blog, how much I love Waylon Jennings' recordings of classic Christmas hymns. His voice suits this material just as well as it suits the outlaw country he is known for, which is to say absolutely perfectly. Well today's music selection continues with him and his wife, Jessi Colter's lovely version of Silent Night and once again this is Christmas music perfection. This song was written in 1818 by Josef Mohr and Franz Xaver Gruber. Raised in Salzburg, Mohr became an ordained priest on August 21, 1815. He was then sent to a town just north of Salzburg called Obendorf. That is where he met a schoolteacher named Franz Xaver Gruber, who would later become the organist at Old Saint Nicholas Church in 1816. They were in a need for a song on Christmas Eve, 1818. Mohr presented Gruber with a poem he had written a few years before and Gruber quickly put it to music on his guitar (the organ was broken) and that Christmas Eve the first ever audience heard Silent Night. The tempo of that earlier version was faster paced than the one we know today but it was still very popular with the audience and would soon become a song synonymous with Christmas. Next comes Hank Williams with Lord Build Me a Cabin. This song was written by Corporal Curtis Stewart, who little is known about and who has seemingly written nothing else. By the time Hank recorded this song, there was only one other known recording (by Southland Dixie Quartet). Later, inspired by Hank's version Bill Monroe, Roy Acuff and ithers would record it. This is followed by The Statler Brothers with Who Do You Think. This song comes from their 1978 Christmas album, Christmas Card. I hope that this Christmas season, you will believe such a thing. We continue with Gene Autry singing Here Comes Santa Claus. Gene wrote this song's lyrics (the music was written by Oakley Haldeman). He was inspired by a time when he rode, Champion Jr. in Hollywood's Santa Claus Lane Parade. He rode in front of Santa Claus and heard a small boy shout, "Here comes Satna Claus." He knew that this would make a perfect Christmas song. This song became such a hit that many Christmas recordings followed as well as songs for other holidays like Easter and Thanksgiving. Today's musical selection ends with the Sons of the Pioneers with All Wild Things. This song was written by Stan Jones, who cowboy music fans might know for writing the Cowboy classic, Ghost Riders in the Sky. This recording comes from the band's 1963 gospel album, Hymns for the Cowboy. 

Next comes a 1952 Christmas episode of Roy Rogers' radio show.

Next is the Reverend Billy Graham with a special Christmas message. 

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. Ephesians 2:8-9

No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. John 6:44

And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." Acts 2:38

We love because he first loved us. 1 John 4:19 

Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all offenses. Proverbs 10:12

See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 1 John 3:1

When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick up the grapes that have fallen. Leave them for the poor and the foreigner. I am the Lord your God. Leviticus 19:9–10

Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great, but judge your neighbor fairly. Leviticus 19:15

It is a sin to despise one's neighbor, but blessed is the one who is kind to the needy. Proverbs 14:21

Whoever mocks the poor shows contempt for their Maker; whoever gloats over disaster will not go unpunished. Proverbs 17:5

Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? Isaiah 58:6–10

Thanks for joining me, come back next week for another service of Cowboy Church. Happy trails to you until we meet again.