Tuesday's Musical Notes - "Rudolph, The Red Nosed Reindeer" (Gene Autry)

Good Tuesday to ya friend!!!  Welcome to Tuesday's Musical Notes...the Christmastime editions!  This week, part 2 of our 3 part salute to Children's Christmas specials (let's face it, you love to watch them too..).  Some of our favorite Christmas specials from TV were based on songs that had been around for quite some time.  As a product of the 60's and 70's, I can fondly remember the stop motion classics that dominated the holidays.  We would follow TV Guide or wait for a commercial to announce the air date and then count the days down.  Ahh...the days when we only had 4 channels (on a clear day and if the wind hadn't moved the antenna).  It was a time when the Christmas classics of our childhood aired only 1 time during the Christmas season and in the event you missed it, you began the count down until next year as there was no recording devices until the advent of VCRs in the 80's.  Fortunately, today we have the opportunity to reminisce and share with the next generation these pre-CG Christmas specials at the push of a button or the purchase of a dvd.  You probably have favorites that you are thinking of right now, however if you think stop motion animation, you have to know..."Dasher, and Dancer, and Prancer, and Vixen, Comet and Cupid, Donner and Biltzen..."

Gene Autry - "Rudolph, The Red Nosed Reindeer"

"Rudolph, The Red Nosed Reindeer" was one of the first television specials based on a popular Christmas song.  In reality, the song had come from a popular Christmas time story written in 1939 by ad man Robert L. May.  That's right Rudolph is celebrating 75 years of existence this year as a story.  Rudolph was written as a cost saving measure.  Many retailers would feature Christmas themed children's books by the major publishing houses.  Some retailers discovered that it was cheaper to publish your own children's book than to purchase from the regular sources. This "in house" publishing turned out to be an incredible success, especially for retailer Montgomery Ward, as they would go on to sell 2 million copies of Rudolph at stores all across the country.  You can read the original "Rudolph, The Red Nosed Reindeer" book as well as the story behind its conception here:

 

Writing 'Rudolph': The Original Red-Nosed Manuscript - NPR December 25, 2013

"Rudolph", the TV special is also celebrating a milestone this year.  It has become the longest annually run Christmas television special in history.  Its debut was on December 6, 1964 on NBC, again...the time of only 4 channels at one time...

Robert L. May's brother-in-law was Johnny Marks, the gifted songwriter behind many Christmas classics (Tuesday's Musical Notes - "Have A Holly Jolly Christmas") and would pen the lyrics to "Rudolph" in 1949.  Singing cowboy Gene Autry's recording would reach #1 for 1 week (week ending January 7, 1950) and then fall completely off the charts, the only chart topping hit single to do so.  Gene Autry's "Rudolph" has sold over 14 million copies as a single, making it the #15 best selling single of all time.  Including cover versions, "Rudolph, The Red Nosed Reindeer" has sold over 150 million copies, second only to Bing Crosby's "White Christmas".  

Part of the allure of "Rudolph" is that fact that so many of us can relate to his "underdog" status.   The ridicule he endured as a result of his peculiarity generates immediate sympathy.  His usefulness to Santa later on and his ultimate "hero" status is a story that each of us would like to have. While we may not have a genetic "enhancement" in the form of a red nose that causes us to save Christmas, each of us have the opportunity for a spiritual "enhancement" that allows us to be used as a tool for the salvation of many.

But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light;  1 Peter 2:9  KJV

If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. John 15:19 KJV

Now I’m returning to you.
I’m saying these things in the world’s hearing
So my people can experience
My joy completed in them.
I gave them your word;
The godless world hated them because of it,
Because they didn’t join the world’s ways,
Just as I didn’t join the world’s ways.
I’m not asking that you take them out of the world
But that you guard them from the Evil One.
They are no more defined by the world
Than I am defined by the world.
Make them holy—consecrated—with the truth;
Your word is consecrating truth.
In the same way that you gave me a mission in the world,
I give them a mission in the world.
I’m consecrating myself for their sakes
So they’ll be truth-consecrated in their mission.  John 17:13-19 The Message

The above passages from the Bible indicate that as followers of Jesus, we are supposed to be different.  The spiritual "enhancements" we receive from God, when we believe in Jesus, equip us to be the "heroes" of our world.  In fact, Jesus said that we would be overcomers of this world if we rely on His strength to accomplish the "good works" that have been set before us.


"Jesus answered them, “Do you finally believe? In fact, you’re about to make a run for it—saving your own skins and abandoning me. But I’m not abandoned. The Father is with me. I’ve told you all this so that trusting me, you will be unshakable and assured, deeply at peace. In this godless world you will continue to experience difficulties. But take heart! I’ve conquered the world.” - John 16:33 The Message.
   

Those "good works" may require sacrifice of time and resources and could be the source of ridicule from the "evil one's" domain in this world.  They may challenge you in ways that you have never given thought.  There is risk involved in doing things for Jesus.  I pray that the risk for your life is ONLY ridicule from people who may be around you.  

 
"So, what do you think? With God on our side like this, how can we lose? If God didn’t hesitate to put everything on the line for us, embracing our condition and exposing himself to the worst by sending his own Son, is there anything else he wouldn’t gladly and freely do for us? And who would dare tangle with God by messing with one of God’s chosen? Who would dare even to point a finger? The One who died for us—who was raised to life for us!—is in the presence of God at this very moment sticking up for us. Do you think anyone is going to be able to drive a wedge between us and Christ’s love for us? There is no way! Not trouble, not hard times, not hatred, not hunger, not homelessness, not bullying threats, not backstabbing, not even the worst sins listed in Scripture:

They kill us in cold blood because they hate you.
We’re sitting ducks; they pick us off one by one.

None of this fazes us because Jesus loves us. I’m absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God’s love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us." - Romans 8: 31-39 The Message


Imagine a world where followers of Jesus live up to the calling in their life without fear or hesitation.  Imagine a church that throws off the worldliness it has allowed to creep into its pews and embrace the servant calling to their communities without timidity or fear.  Imagine a "peculiar" people, using the "spiritual enhancements" they have be blessed with to communicate THE powerful message of Jesus without doubt or reservation. When this occurs, you will see Christmas truly saved and not by a reindeer with a bright red nose, but by the people of The Messiah with the Gospel shining brightly in their lives.  It might even happen that they shout it out with glee...


"More Than Conquerors" - The Rend Collective Experiment from the 2014 album The Art Of Celebration
 

'Til Tuesday,

Serving HIM by serving you,
Randy