Mac Olsen
Express Staff
The Christmas spirit and fellowship were evident at the Catholic Education and Conference Centre in Peace River on December 16. Pastor Glen Snider and his wife, Marie Louise Snider, led the Peace River Alliance Church in a multi-denominational Christmas dinner. The true spirit of the Christmas season was certainly on their minds.
“It’s a time of getting together in fellowship,” says Pastor Snider. “It’s about sharing the blessings we have and blessing those that are less fortunate,” says Marie Louise Snider. “We’re all God’s children. Laughter is a wonderful healer for those who have lost loved ones.”
Approximately 150 people attended the event, which featured a dinner of turkey, mashed potatoes, home-made stuffing, vegetables and dessert. Many church volunteers prepared and served the dinner. Afterwards, Pastor Snider and Dr. Emily Marshall led a large cast, many of them children, in a live Christmas play entitled ‘Grandpa Glen’s Christmas Story’. Snider was the storyteller and Marshall played a mother who was so stressed out about the coming Christmas Day, that she just wanted the event over.
But screaming children, the many people who dropped by to wish the spirit of the season on her, and a plethora of other details drove her to the edge of insanity. She even threw in the occasional joke, like having a “silent night.” Meanwhile, Grandpa told the children about the birth of Jesus, the Three Wise Men and other facts about the meaning of Christmas.
As the play went on, the mother came to appreciate that the true spirit of the Christmas season was to remember why God sent Him to earth and that He died on the Cross for our sins.
