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    Christmas from the Back Side: A Different Look at the Story of Jesus Birth
    Christmas from the Back Side: A Different Look at the Story of Jesus Birth
    Christmas from the Back Side: A Different Look at the Story of Jesus Birth
    Ebook91 pages1 hour

    Christmas from the Back Side: A Different Look at the Story of Jesus Birth

    By Dr. J. Ellsworth Kalas

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    About this ebook

    CHRISTMAS
    FROM A DIFFERENT ANGLE




    Take a look at Christmas from alternative angles.



    Using an approach similar to his other “BackSide” books, Kalas crafts new insights into the scriptures of the Christmas story by looking at them from the “back side” –

    ...taking unique starting points...creative re-telling from different views...examining the story through new “lenses”...or looking through the eyes of a not-so-familiar character.



    Book session titles include:



    The Scandal of Christmas
    Three Votes for an Early Christmas
    Christmas Comes to a Back Fence
    How the Government Helped the First Christmas Happen
    Celebrating Christmas in a Hotel
    Christmas Comes to a Church
    Christmas and the Impossible Dream

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAbingdon Press
    Release dateOct 1, 2010
    ISBN9781426728334
    Christmas from the Back Side: A Different Look at the Story of Jesus Birth
    Author

    Dr. J. Ellsworth Kalas

    J. Ellsworth Kalas (1923-2015) was the author of over 35 books, including the popular Back Side series, A Faith of Her Own: Women of the Old Testament, Strong Was Her Faith: Women of the New Testament, I Bought a House on Gratitude Street, and the Christian Believer study, and was a presenter on DISCIPLE videos. He was part of the faculty of Asbury Theological Seminary since 1993, formerly serving as president and then as senior professor of homiletics. He was a United Methodist pastor for 38 years and also served five years in evangelism with the World Methodist Council.

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      Book preview

      Christmas from the Back Side - Dr. J. Ellsworth Kalas

      Christmas

      from the

      Back Side

      Christmas

      from the

      Back Side

      J. ELLSWORTH KALAS

      Abingdon Press

      NASHVILLE

      CHRISTMAS FROM THE BACK SIDE

      Copyright © 2003 by Abingdon Press

      All rights reserved.

      No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, except as may be expressly permitted by the 1976 Copyright Act or in writing from the publisher. Requests for permission should be addressed to Abingdon Press, P.O. Box 801, 201 Eighth Avenue South, Nashville, TN 37202-0801.

      This book is printed on acid-free, elemental-chlorine—free paper.

      Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

      Kalas, J. Ellsworth, 1923-

      Christmas from the back side / J. Ellsworth Kalas.

      p. cm.

      ISBN 0-687-02706-3 (pbk. : alk. paper)

      1. Jesus Christ—Nativity. 2. Christmas. I. Title.

      BT315.2.K27 2003

      263'.915—dc21

      2003007334

      Scripture quotations, unless otherwise noted, are from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1989, by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission.

      Scripture quotations noted NIV are from the Holy Bible: New International Version. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by the International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House.

      The scripture quotation noted J. B. Phillips is from The New Testament in Modern English, rev. edn., trans. J. B. Phillips, published by Macmillan.

      Scripture quotations noted KJV are from the King James Version.

      The poetry on page 43 is by G. K. Chesterton, from The House of Christmas; used by permission of A. P. Watt Ltd., on behalf of the Royal Literary Fund.

      Study Guide prepared by John D. Schroeder.

      ISBN 13:978-0-687-02706-4

      08 09 10 11 12—17 16 15 14

      MANUFACTURED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

      To Albin Whitworth,

      whose musical genius has blessed untold thousands,

      at Christmas, and in every season;

      and to Katie and Albin, together,

      because, there is always room in their inn

      CONTENTS

      INTRODUCTION

      CHAPTER 1: The Scandal of Christmas

      GENESIS 3:1-10

      CHAPTER 2: Three Votes for an Early Christmas

      ISAIAH 9:2-7; MICAH 5:2-5a; JOB 9:25-33

      CHAPTER 3: Christmas Comes to a Back Fence

      LUKE 1:39-45

      CHAPTER 4: Celebrating Christmas in a Hotel

      LUKE 2:1-7

      CHAPTER 5: How the Government Helped the First Christmas Happen

      LUKE 2:1-7; MATTHEW 2:1-8

      CHAPTER 6: Christmas and the Impossible Dream

      MATTHEW 2:1-12

      CHAPTER 7: Christmas Comes to a Church

      LUKE 2:22-32

      STUDY GUIDE

      INTRODUCTION

      Of course, all of us know the Christmas story. Or do we?

      We hear so many conversations during the Advent and Christmas seasons that should make us wonder what Christmas means to the average person in the shopping mall or at the neighborhood Christmas party. Getting together with friends, one person says. That's what Christmas is all about. Another says, Seeing the whole family again. That's what Christmas is all about. Or someone with altruistic vision ventures, Peace on earth. That's what Christmas is all about.

      Mind you, these are all nice ideas, and I applaud them. But they're hardly what Christmas is all about. There's much more to the Christmas story. Infinitely more. But of course as a reader of this book, you aren't the average person in the shopping mall or at the neighborhood Christmas party. Christmas means enough to you that you're reading a religious book about Christmas, and you may very well be part of a church study group or class. So I venture you know that the basic Christmas story is found in two places in the New Testament: in the first and second chapters of Matthew, and in the first and second chapters of Luke.

      But I'd like by this little book to enlarge the familiar borders of the Christmas story. I'd like for us to visit Christmas together from the back side—sometimes by way of a new look at some of the familiar stories, and sometimes by reminding ourselves that the roots of the Christmas story are much deeper than we often realize. And also, we should keep in mind that although the story dates to around two thousand years ago, it is in truth even older than that.

      You're getting this book from someone who loves the Christmas story. I've celebrated Christmas through days of war and through the Great Depression, through times with full family and times of family diminished, through times of abundance and times of severe restriction. But always it has been Christmas! The reality of God's love as shown in the gift of Jesus Christ has blessed my life through all of my years, thanks to a home and church that introduced me early to the magnificent story of God's love in Jesus Christ. I wish such a blessing for you, and I pray that its wonder will only increase as the years go by.

      J. Ellsworth Kalas

      CHAPTER 1

      The Scandal of Christmas

      GENESIS 3:1-10: Now the serpent was more crafty than any other wild animal that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, Did God say, 'You shall not eat from any tree in the garden'? The woman said to the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden; but God said, 'You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, nor shall you touch it, or you shall die.' But the serpent said to the woman, You will not die; for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves.

      They heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. But the LORD God called to the man, and said to him, Where are you? He said, I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.

      I'm quite sure my title has offended you. Believe me, I mean no offense nor do I intend to shock. I suppose that sometimes the preacher in me

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