You’ve heard the story of Jesus’ birth many times. Perhaps it’s time for some fresh insight into this beautiful and hope-filled story.

This is exactly what Russ Ramsey gives us in this conversation. Russ is the pastor of Christ Presbyterian Church in Nashville, Tennessee. Where’s he’s also a writer and a speaker aiming to communicate the truths of Scripture in accessible ways to people in process.
He’s written several books including the Retelling the Story Series, featuring The Advent of the Lamb of God.

NOTE: You can receive 30% off Russ’s book, The Advent of the Lamb of God, at the following link until January 4, 2023 with the code MUCHMORE.
https://www.ivpress.com/the-advent-of-the-lamb-of-god

Some highlights from our conversation:
-Russ starts with a pastoral encouragement to let Christmas, which falls on Sunday, disrupt our traditions.
-Russ retells the Gospel story as narrative while still holding a high view of Scripture. His deep hope is to help increase biblical literacy.
-Russ says we need to read Scripture with an engaged imagination. This is because Scripture was written in thrift as the resources for writing were scarce and hard to come by.
-One area where Russ’s imagination is captured with Jesus’s birth is the story of Joseph. He wonders with us about how Joseph might have felt as he witnessed the birth of Jesus.
-We also talk about the story of Elizabeth and Zachariah. Lord takes away Zachariah’s voice – but not his role. He’s became a silent priest.
-We talk about shepherds. And Russ helps us understand why a shepherd’s life was ironic – caring for the sheep that would become sacrifices which disqualified them from making sacrifices.
-We also talk about why it was that the angel appeared first to the shepherds and what that says about Jesus and his ministry.
-Finally, Russ encourages us to look at Christmas through the lens of Easter. We’re not just celebrating the birth of a baby. We’re celebrating the birth of a baby who came to do something – and what it would mean for us.


You can connect with Russ at http://russ-ramsey.com/
On Instagram https://www.instagram.com/russramsey1/
On Facebook https://www.facebook.com/russ.ramsey

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