Cowboy Church #253

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

Today's musical selection starts off with Roy Rogers and Dale Evans with Christmas is Always. 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." This is the title track off of her and her husband Roy Rogers' 1967 Christmas album.

This is followed by Roy Rogers, Dale Evans, Foy Willing and Riders of the Purple Sage with their 1949 recording of Christmas on the Plains. 

Then comes Eddy Arnold with I Love to Tell the Story. When recovering from a sickness, Arabella Katherine Hankey wrote a poem about the life of Christ. This poem was broken into two parts the first being called The Story Wanted (published in January 1866) and the second called The Story Told (published in November 1866). I Love to Tell the Story comes from this second part. In 1869 William G. Fisher put this text to music and that is the version we know today. Still, it is worth noting that Hankey wrote her own music for these words, but her music was seldom used and is now forgotten.

Next is Don Edwards with Every Day is Christmas in the West. This song was written by Jack Elliot and was first heard in the Roy Rogers movie, Trail of Robin Hood (1950). 

Now for George Jones with O Come All Ye Faithful.  It is unknown who wrote this hymn, but it first appeared in a 1751 collection of hymns by John Francis Wade. Some believe that the hymn was actually written by Wade but there is no definitive proof for this. 

Afterwards is The Maddox Brothers and Rose with their 1949 recording of Silent Night. 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.

Then comes Gene Autry with his 1949 recording of If it Doesn't Snow on Christmas. This was the B-side to Gene's hit making version of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.  

Today's musical selection ends with The Sons of the Pioneers with Wonders of God's Green Earth. This is a song about appreciating the things that we always take for granted. This whole world is filled with the incredible wonders of nature. The fact that we get to live on a planet that is filled with such amazing natural beauty is an incredible blessing and something we should thank God for every day. So make sure that this Christmas season, you take a little time to enjoy all the wonderful blessings that the Lord has given us.  

Next enjoy one of Johnny Cash's TV Christmas specials. 

Now for the C.S. Lewis Essay,

Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. Romans 13:8

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8

Only, they asked us to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do. Galatians 2:10

Whoever oppresses a poor man insults his Maker, but he who is generous to the needy honors him. Proverbs 14:31 

Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. Hebrews 11:1

So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. Romans 10:17

But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. 1 Timothy 6:11

We ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters, and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love all of you have for one another is increasing. 2 Thessalonians 1:3

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. Romans 1:16

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