Have you ever had that fantastic experience of sitting around with family or friends, maybe after a good meal together or around a campfire, and “the stories” get pulled out and told? Many you have heard before, some you haven’t, some you anticipate and can’t wait to get retold, some would be embarrassing but now they are defining moments you wear with a bit of pride, and none of them get old as each story reminds someone of the next one. And you laugh together and wistfully remember together and feel the rewards of togetherness. The Christmas season with its gatherings and meals often brings these moments. And the original Christmas story is a lot like this. Join us to hear how that story is in a long line of stories that goes back through the Bible—but also extends forward, and weaves into the stories we tell about our lives here and now.

Andy Reimer always has a story to tell. From a childhood filled with unspeakable tragedy and an adulthood that has included doing a PhD on miracle workers and magicians in the New Testament and the Greco-Roman world, publishing on angels and demons in the Dead Sea Scrolls, working in First Nations church contexts as well as Bible colleges, theological seminaries, and universities, and then, unpredictably, for some of the largest companies in business software and oil and gas pipelines, as well as the only not-for-profit oil and gas outfit in Calgary—while raising five children. These days Andy combines working on safety in the pipeline industry with teaching courses for the North American Institute for Indigenous Theological Studies (NAIITS) and the Vancouver School of Theology Indigenous Studies Program.

The Willms family are a bluegrass family group who have been playing together since 2006 with a desire to give God all the glory for anything they would accomplish, a desire they still have today.  While it hasn't always been easy, He's brought them a long way, and they are excited to see what He has for them in the future.