Who first recorded Where the roses never fade

The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever (Isaiah 40:8).

The rose is my favorite flower. I love its beauty but beyond that splendor I adore its aroma, nothing quite like it on earth. In fact the smell of a rose in bloom sticks to us as we put ourselves in their midst and travels where they go. Yet in a short time the beauty changes to dried leaves and the aroma fades. It was this idea of the beautiful rose that inspired Janie Metzgar to pen Where the Roses Never Fade in 1929.

Man, in all our might, are like an earthly rose. Many attain fabulous beauty, others obtain absolute power. Yet time takes its toll on the beautiful as man who lives long enough shrivels just like the tattered rose. The powerful eventually are replaced by others and find they have no control of their human fate, that all of us will die. Psalm 102:11 reads My days are like a shadow that declineth; and I am withered like grass. Many humans have acquired great riches but what good are they are the end; they too fade away. For the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withereth the grass, and the flower thereof falleth, and the grace of the fashion of it perisheth: so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways (James 1:11).

God is that rose is and more. His beauty is shown forth to us through the earth and the heavens and yet I am sure He is so much more than even they reveal. God is even referred to as the Rose of Sharon (Song of Solomon 2:1); oh what splendor! God is powerful, ruling over the whole world. The LORD hath prepared his throne in the heavens; and his kingdom ruleth over all (Ps 103:19).

God is rich, rich is glory, rich in mercy. He owns the whole world. Yet, God will not fade away. Neither will His word fade away. For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you (1 Pet 1:24-25). I am glad that God’s mercy is without end. As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth. For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone; and the place thereof shall know it no more. But the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children’s children (Ps 103:15-17).

For those of us that have placed trust in God’s only begotten son, Jesus Christ, our home awaits in Heaven, world without end. While our bodies will fade and return to dust our soul will unite with Christ in Heaven and bodies will be resurrected at His second coming. Loved ones that have gone on before wait for us there, now. I believe they are watching us for Hebrews 12:1 says Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses… It will not be that long until we join them.

In that haven of tomorrow we will have no fading of our bodies, no decay, no sickness, no death. There will be no sin to cast off. There will be no sorrow to bear. There will be no disappointment to set us back. There will be no tears to wipe away with only our heartache. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away (Rev 21:4). The rose will never fade there!

Where the Roses Never Fade is a popular funeral song but it says so much about living. Unlike many of the hymns in my heart I did not hear this song until my early twenties when I accompanied a friend, Tonya, to her church. They sang Where the Roses Never Fade that Sunday morning. A few months later I heard it sang at Southwest Baptist Church in Kingston, Tennessee. One of my more memorable memories of hearing Where the Roses Never Fade was at the funeral of my wife’s maternal grandmother almost thirty years ago. I can still hear Laura Ann’s sweet voice comforting the hearts of loved ones left behind. Today, the song is performed a few times each year by the choir at Liberty Baptist Church in Kingston where I am a member. I relish each occasion.

I am going to a city
Where the streets with gold are laid
Where the tree of life is blooming
And the roses never fade

chorus: Here they bloom but for a season
Soon their beauty is decayed
I am going to a city
Where the roses never fade

In this world we have our troubles
Satan snares we must evade
We’ll be free from all temptations
Where the roses never fade

Loved ones gone to be with Jesus
In their robes of white arrayed
Now are waiting for my coming
Where the roses never fade

Here they bloom but for a season
Soon their beauty is decayed
I am going to a city
Where the roses never fade

tag: O I am going to a city
Where the roses never fade

[Robert Metzgar wrote the melody for Where the Roses Never Fade.]

Have you thought about your fading rose petals? It’s not too late.

It’s August. Summer is going too fast! It’s nearly time for the State Fair.

As I sit looking at the beautiful flowers blooming outside my window at Scandia Shores, I wonder how long they will continue to bloom. Some may continue blooming until frost. I read if flowers are cut, some, for example roses, can continue blooming for approximately one week. Carnations, however, can last 2-3 weeks. My sister told her husband, “Buy me carnations instead of roses because they last longer.” She is the practical one! Never mind that roses symbolize love!

According to the song lyrics, there is a place where flowers do not fade. Janie West Metzgar wrote the lyrics:

I am going to a city where the streets with gold are laid

Where the tree of life is blooming and the roses never fade.

Here they bloom but for a season soon their beauty is decayed

I am going to a city where the roses never fade.

Loved ones gone to be with Jesus in their robes of white array

They are waiting for my coming where the roses never fade.

Here they bloom but for a season soon their beauty is decayed

I am going to a city where the roses never fade.

Janie wrote this song after a visit to Prayer Mountain just outside the small town of Liberty, Tennessee. She also wrote “Jacob’s Ladder.” Janie was an orphan who was left in a potato basket on the west steps of a Baptist orphanage that provided her with a nurturing environment in which to flourish. She became a devout believer in Jesus, wrote her first song at 12 years of age, and later studied music at Baylor University. Many notable artists have recorded her songs such as Elvis Presley, Patsy Cline, and Johnny Cash, plus gospel choirs. The Cathedrals Quartet recorded “Where the Roses Never Fade.”

Janie feared the commercialization of the Gospel message thus she refused to take royalties or receive credit for her work, so many of her compositions were listed as “anonymous” for many years. And, interestingly, Janie was a great advocate for civil rights and marched in the civil rights movement of the 1960’s.

The message of her song lingers. There is a place Jesus is preparing for those who follow Him. We cannot imagine the beauty of heaven. We cannot imagine the flowers, their varieties and colors, and all “the creation itself [that] will be liberated from its bondage to decay…” (Romans 8:21). How do I know that? “The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever” (Isaiah 40:8).

Think about that next time you breathe in the aroma of roses!!

Written by Chaplain Sherree Lane

“WHERE THE ROSES NEVER FADE”

“The tree of life…yielded her fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations” (Rev. 22:2)

     INTRO.:  A song which pictures heaven as the place where the tree of life yields its fruit and leaves is “Where the Roses Never Fade” (#199 in Hymns for Worship Revised, and #389 in Sacred Selections for the Church).  The text and the tune both are usually attributed to “Elsie, Jack and Jim.”  Some have assumed that this refers to a couple of people named Jack and Jim Elsie, but in fact, according to Praise!: Our Songs and Hymns, compiled in 1979 by John W. Peterson and Norman Johnson for Singspiration Music, formerly a division of the Zondervan Corporation which had purchased the Stamps-Baxter Co., the authors and composers are Jack and Elsie Osborn and James (Jim) C. Miller.  Little is known about these individuals, other than that they lived in the early twentieth century.  The song may have been produced in 1940, the date used in Praise!, with a renewal date of 1968, but the claim Stamps-Baxter now makes for the song is that it was copyrighted and first published in their 1942 book Blessed Hope, with the renewal coming in 1970.  However, one website says that Janie West Metzgar, now deceased, wrote the lyrics and her son Robert Metzgar composed the music in 1929.  Given the Stamps-Baxter Company’s penchant for taking other people’s songs and claiming them as their own, there could be some truth in the Metzgars’ claims.  At the same time, a website devoted to the Metzgars makes some claims about other songs which are rather questionable.

     Another website says that Janie West was raised by the staff at Buckner’s Baptist Orphanage in Dallas, TX, and earned a degree from Baylor University in Waco, TX, becoming an English teacher.  Marrying William Metzgar, who was a preacher with the Assembly of God, she became the mother of five children.  In addition to being a teacher, a minister’s wife, and a mother, she was also a singer and song writer, with her first songs published in the early 1920s as sheet music, and she received several awards for her literary and song contributions.  Diagnosed with leukemia at an early age, she was given no hope of recovery and suffered great pain for many years, though she went into remission.   Among hymnbooks published by member of the Lord’s church for use in churches of Christ, the song has appeared in the 1978/1983 Church Gospel Songs and Hymns edited by V. E. Howard; the 2008 Sacred Songs of the Church edited by William D. Jeffcoat; and the 2009 Favorite Songs of the Church and the 2010 Songs for Worship and Praise both edited by Robert J. Taylor Jr.; in addition to Hymns for Worship and Sacred Selections.  The only other book in which I have ever seen the song is Praise!

     The song focuses our attention on the beauty and glory of heaven.

I. Stanza 1 tells us what will be there

I am going to a city

Where the streets with gold are laid,

Where the tree of life is blooming,

And the roses never fade.

 A. Heaven is often pictured in Scripture as a city: Heb. 11:16, 13:14

 B. The beauty and glory of this city are symbolized as having a street that is paved with gold: Rev. 21:21

 C. And in this city is blooming the tree of life which God had originally put in the garden of Eden: Gen. 2:8-9

II. Stanza 2 tells us what will not be there

In this world we have our troubles;

Satan snares we must evade.

We’ll be free from all temptations

Where the roses never fade.

 A. In this world we have our troubles because man that is born of woman is of few days and full of trouble: Job 14:1

 B. As long as we live upon this earth we must evade Satan’s snares because he goes about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour: 1 Pet. 5:8-9

 C. However, in heaven, we’ll be free from all our troubles and temptations because nothing that defiles or causes an abomination will be there: Rev. 21:27

III. Stanza 3 tells us who will be there

Loved ones gone to be with Jesus,

In their robes of white arrayed,

Now are waiting for my coming

Where the roses never fade.

 A. Again, with the implication that Christians cannot expect to see any “loved ones” in heaven, Sacred Selections editor Ellis Crum changed the opening of this stanza to read “Saved ones,” but certainly we can have the hope that our loved ones in Christ who have departed have gone to be with Christ: Phil. 1:23

 B. They are pictured as being arrayed in robes of white: Rev. 7:9-14

 C. Also, they are waiting for our coming and for that time when the Lord shall return with those who sleep in Jesus to raise the dead, change the living, and catch us up together in the clouds to meet Him in the air where we shall ever be with the Lord: 1 Thess. 1:13-17

     CONCL.:  The chorus contrasts the temporality of this life with the eternity of heaven.

Here they bloom but for a season;

Soon their beauty is decayed.

I am going to a city

Where the roses never fade.

Several years ago, an editor of a paper published among us wrote an article on “Our Singing” in which he made some comments that our singing is turning to music which emphasizes mechanics and rhythm to the neglect of spiritual thought and that he would rejoice to see congregations of God’s people distinguished by song services noted for their spirituality.  I agree with many of his observations, but he did cite this song individually in such a way as to imply that it was among the songs which emphasize mechanics and rhythm as opposed to those being noted for their spirituality.  I do not recall whether he mentioned a specific objection to the song or just a general objection to it as not truly spiritual, and I looked for the exact quote, but I could not find it.  Of course, the particular language of roses which never fade is not found in the scriptures, but nearly every other phrase in the song is taken directly from God’s word or is based on Biblical concepts.  I cannot think of any reason why it would violate any scriptural principle to view heaven as a place “Where the Roses Never Fade.”